An electrifying kiss

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Suddenly crazy dazzling streaks across my laptop and TV screens, then a huge flash of light outside my window and a loud PATZ!!  And then my place and the whole neighborhood were plunged into darkness. 
I grabbed a big flashlight and walked down to the corner to check the big electric pole, the one that says "HIGH VOLTAGE,  DANGER OF DEATH!"

Our town's security team was already there, calling the Electric Company's emergency repair line.
Curious neighbors were milling about and pointed out to me what had fallen from above to the hard pavement below.

One pigeon sitting on one high tension wire had touched a second pigeon sitting on a parallel wire, forming a short circuit and causing the big bang and their own electrocution!
Totally charred wings, so sad.

The poor pair of pigeons had only wanted to kiss each other good night.
Even in death they were locked together. 
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)

Who Put The Art In Artica?

Finally, a post going up on time. It seems to take a quiet Saturday evening to get it done (except that Madeleine is on the floor next to me banging on her toy xylophone).

The Artica festival had music, performance art, some painting and a lot of sculpture. I get so fixed on cruising the area for images that I don't talk to the creators enough, missing out on titles and interpretation. The piece above is intriguing. Never seen a figure in a lotus position with up-stretched arms before. See what you like in the colors and symbols on the mannequin. The second photo is, literally, a bed of crutches. Someone said they were going to burn it after the main bonfire Sunday night. I wasn't out that late.      

The road is long...

When I downloaded this photo of me sitting in the road near Jansenville in the Karoo Heartland from my camera onto the laptop and saw it, the first thing that came to my mind was "The road is long..." from He ain't heavy, he's my brother by The Hollies.  The tune, melody, words, everything.  It's probably also the best description of my life lately.  Between work and personal life it's been busy, busy, busy with lots of time spent on the road and driving my desk when I'm not, catching up on admin.  I wouldn't have it any other way though because I love what I do, but in the process blogging was the one thing that was left on the luke hot back burner.  There just hasn't been much for blogging and I really need to make a plan to change that.  But a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.  So at one stage or another, I need to get back into blogging and this is as good a time as any.  I posted for the first time in over six weeks on Port Elizabeth Daily Photo earlier this week and its time to get Firefly the Travel Guy going again after this break.  So, "The road is long, With many a winding turn..."

Jiminy

It's been a bad week for posts. New dimensions in overwork and several other attention-suckers. I would so like to cut back but it's not easy.

Anyway, back at Artica, crickets were all over the place. A boy got one to rest on his wrist. He was fascinated but worried that the bug might bite him. Do crickets do that? No harm came to anyone.  Oh, and if you don't recognize the title click here.

Artica: Dangerous Clown

Performance art, I suppose. In a corner of the Artica field, a young man wore a collared shirt and skinny black tie, a bowler and clown makeup. He wielded a chainsaw and a machete, sometimes striking statuesque poses, sometimes attacking small logs at his feet. The clown never spoke. It was all very postured and, I must say, a bit puzzling. Maybe that was the idea.    

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