Just sharing a few sunset pictures from a recent trip to Kovalam.

The last is a close up shot of the one above.  

It is dusk.  As I water the plants, the light fades.  I hear the frightened squeak of a squirrel on a nearby tree.  I look to see why.  It's unusual to hear a squirrel squeak like this at this time of the day.  Is it a snake I wonder, or an early owl?  The squirrel comes racing down the tree and runs past me.  As I watch, I see a head poking down--a weasely sort of head and then an animal comes down the tree, so intent on the chase, it doesn't seem to notice me.  I instinctively turn the hose on it, so that the squirrel can escape.  The animal is startled and runs away.  There is not enough light for me to see any markings clearly.  The general shape is between that of a cat and a giant squirrel. It's probably a toddy cat and rare to see at that time in the day, it being very much a nocturnal creature.  As usual, no photo!
* After some googling, I think what I saw was an Asian Palm civet.

I love the moonlight!  Tonight is a full moon light and I can't resist the call of the moonlight.  I walk outside, with minimal lights on, so as to savour the moonlight fully.  It is so bright, I would be able to see a snake move, even without my glasses.  There is a faint gauzy mist and oh so pleasantly cool. Dog & I walk for a while.  I come back inside reluctantly.

We had gone to the island of Langkawi, off the coast of Malaysia, for 5 days last week.  The place where we stayed, was between cliffs and the beach and the hotel tried to maintain the rainforest as much as possible. We took a guided nature walk through the grounds of the resort and saw a lemur, and a group of dusky leaf langurs near the waters edge.  I later spied a monitor lizard, a kind we have here.  We heard and saw a pair of hornbills flying by.  I spied a pair of them later too.
As my camera is just an ordinary digital one, I couldn't zoom in and get too many shots.  Anyway I'll share a few.

A dusky leaf langur can just be spotted

A monitor lizard posing for me on a tree in the sun

Take a look at this link of Langkawi nature, and you can see better photographs of the monkey and one of the lemur and of the birds, some of which we have here in our country, in our state.

I was outside the house in the morning--around 8 am--when I heard 'Thud, thud thud'. I wondered who was hammering away this early and on a Sunday too. I heard the hammering again and nearer me. I looked up and there was a woodpecker on an old, dead toddy palm tree, knocking away. It reminded me of this song that my mother sang.

It's been a long, long while since I've been out of blog world.  I haven't felt driven to write and share and, most importantly, as far as this blog is concerned, my camera has been out of action.
I have been walking at dusk most days as always and now, that the monsoon has receded, the stars are visible.  I have been looking at some constellations that I have not seen properly before.  Today, on looking up the night sky for September, I find that one of the constellations is Sagittarius.  I feel so excited at being able to see so many constellations that I haven't really been able to see clearly before.  Normally, although the rain may have stopped, the sky tends to be quite cloudy. So, it's treat to get to see the stars so well.
My camera should be ok in a couple of days.  Then maybe I could upload some pictures.

Today was one of the 10 fine days there are supposed to be, in the otherwise rainy month of 'Karkidam' (the Malayalam month).  It hasn't rained the whole day and all the stars are out.  I went for my evening walk and it was such a pleasure to see the stars after quite a gap.  As I head out for my walk I see Scorpio, sprawled across the Southern sky.  As I walk, the gauzy cloud veil moves aside and the stars get clearer.  An occasional firefly adds it brilliance.  Alas, now  the light pollution is quite high even in our small town.  So, I finish my walk, sorry that I couldn't see the myriad stars in the night sky just a bit better.