Chani's Creative Space

Those days, we are quite lucky here at the coast. Tourists of different countries are enjoying short breaks and half term holidays here at the beach, mostly under the sun and with pleasant temperatures, while parts of our province (not even so far away) are in state of emergency, suffering severe floods. (We only have to struggle with the driftwood on the beach). I notice that the end of the year is approaching rapidly now. Clients ask about my (not planned yet) winter holidays, and yesterday, I ordered self-made Xmas cards at Fine Art America and new calendars. As always, I prefer to be prepared on time than having to rush in December. ;-) Sunny pool

That is our beach after the storm. Beautiful, but a bit scary. 

A quick abstraction of some cacti and flowers I saw last weekend while we were walking in a protected area near the town of El Puerto de Santa Maria (province of Cadiz, Spain). We are generally in this area twice a year, in the autumn and spring, which are the best seasons to see some birds and enjoy the vegetation!   Cacti and flowers

A bit late (after a couple of very busy weeks, tons of work and a conference in Valencia where I have just come back from), here are the last pictures of the Netherlands, of my dearest Schoorlse duinen , Schoorl dunes (province North Holland). N.B. For weeks already (o nce again), comments do not appear on my blog and the comments I put on some other blogs do not appear either. After browsing a bit, I see that the problem is not new, but I hoping that Google engineers will solve it quite soon. There is nothing more frustrating. This was just before a storm that was not announced, with thunder and hail. We had to walk back about one hour and a half without any shelter. But it was a unique scenery. That is how it looks like with good weather.  If you are lucky, you may meet birds of prey, wild horses and Highland cattle in this landscape . Always beautiful...

The island of Texel in the province North Holland, the biggest Wadden island north of the town of Den Helder, has many facets. I have always heard that more sheep than people live there (I do not know if it is true). Texel's colours are golden (the dunes), blue or grey (the sea, depending on the weather) and green (everything else). About one third of the island is covered by a national park. Because of its marshy environment, the island is rich in birds: we say many of them, water birds, geese and birds of prey. If you plan to go there, it may be wise to go during the autumn or winter: some paths are only accessible from August 1st / September 1st to March 1st because of the breeding season.  Enjoy some impressions of my short stay there! Path near the Mokbaai    Beach near De Slufter Along a path near De Muy Galloway cows near De Muy  Near De Muy  Sheep near De Muy  Near De Muy Near De Muy

Mid-September already, it is still hot and humid here in Spain but autumn has already arrived further north. We are just back from the Netherlands, where geese and other birds are preparing to migrate for the winter. We saw beautiful cows and sheep near Schoorl and on the island of Texel (both North Holland).  I will certainly come back with more landscape pictures soon but here are the first ones, all animals. Enjoy! Highland cow in Schoorl Geese on the island of Texel  Geese on Texel  Galloway cattle on Texel    Sheep in Texel's wide landscape

Days are getting shorter, I can smell the new season coming. It smells like melancholy and activity at the same time. Looking forward to seeing empty beaches soon, and pumpkins.    Chilling