THE Scarecrow

So for today's countdown to Halloween post: scarecrows. So we went to the Scarecrow Festival two days ago.And there was a lot to love and blog about, but I wanted to share the best scarecrow we saw. This one. Many were cute and inventive, but I thought not enough of them were scary. Then, walking back to our car, cutting through the woods, we got slightly lost, then quickly found our way back to the village. And we saw this scarecrow. A Jack O'Lantern as the head, surrounded by actual crows, punpkins at its feet, the evening was falling down, a quintessential autumnal image... I could have watched it until night time. Then again, maybe he'd have started moving and chasing us. This scarecrow belongs to a horror story, which I hope to write one day.

NIMH (a childhood classic)

 Oh the treasures you find in charity shops! This is what I found last time I went to one: the novel which inspired The Secret of NIMH, a chilchood classic which fascinated me when I was a kid. It was surprisingly dark for a children movie. I first watched it in English, when I could not understand a word of it, but the imagery and the aesthetic kept me interested. Then I saw it dubbed in French a couple of times. I haven't watched it in years. I understand the source material considerably differs from its adaptation. The name Brisby was switched to Frisby, for instance. I'm not certain to read it with Wolfie, as I fear it might be a tad dark for his taste. But I'm looking forward to it all the same.

No More Scarecrows?

For today's countdown to Halloween post, a bit more of the "Scarecrow Festival."This was one of the cutest displays: one sympathetic to the crows. The only scarecrow there was, well, this faux scarecrow.

Well, crows need love too. And we need to see more of them come Halloween, they bring their own spookiness to the season. We found the display very sweet in any case.

A walk-round Crowmarsh(?)

 I stumbled upon this leaflet at my in-laws place. You may remember from this post dating back to 2017 that I have been wanting to properly visit the village of Crowmarsh Gifford, or Crowmarsh for short. Just because I find the village's name so darn cool. I have only walked in Crowmarsh once and only briefly, when rain was pouring and visibility was thus not brilliant. Now maybe one day I could borrow that leaflet, which has a map and everything, and we could explore this place with a very evocative name.

La corneille et la neige

J'ai déjà (et il n'y a pas si longtemps) blogué sur la photo d'une volée de corneilles sur la neige. Voici une autre photo de même nature, avec une seule corneille. Mon père l'a prise sans voir l'oiseau, moi je l'ai remarqué tout de suite. Comme pour l'autre photo, je trouve l'image saisissante.

Crows and snow

My wife took this picture during opur last stay in Québec: a murder of crows flying above a snowy ground, in the early evening, when dusk is about to set. It was striking, very beautiful and atmospheric. The picture does not give it justice. I really grew to love crows in the last few years, I came to like even their cry in fact. It is raspy, raw and beautiful in a primitive way, with a touch of eeriness, especially when there are lots of them like at that moment.

Encore les corneilles

J'ai récemment blogué sur les corneilles, mais j'ai décidé de le refaire aujourd'hui, rien que pour partager une autre photo que ma femme a prise. Je le fais un peu arbitrairement, parce que j'aime bien la photo et parce que je trouve que ça représente bien mon état d'esprit ces jours-ci: un brin mélancolique. Bon, je sais, je suis souvent mélancolique, mais il y a des moments comme maintenant où je le suis plus que d'autres. Je crois que j'ai besoin de vacances, le récent congé a été beaucoup trop court.

Les corneilles du Vendredi saint

Je cherchais une photo pour souligner le Vendredi saint, j'ai pensé que celle-ci ferait l'affaire. Ce n'est même pas une photo prise aujourd'hui. Ma femme était sortie avec notre petit loup et a vu ces corneilles perchées sur un arbre. Elle les a prises en photo pour moi, sachant que j'aime les corvidés et ce genre de tableau que la nature nous offre. Des corneilles sur un arbre, je trouve que ça a un côté vaguement sinistre et forcément mortuaire, donc c'est parfait pour aujourd'hui. Un Vendredi saint qui se respecte se doit d'être sombre.

Crowmarsh

There is something I love about England and it is the many great names one can find in the smallest places. You know how much I love the town of Wallingford. Well, I now discovered that the village opposite Wallingford, on the other side of the River Thames, is called Crowmarsh Gifford, or Crowmarsh for short. Now that is a name! Very much like Crowthorne, which I love a lot. it has crow, the dark and bird of bad omen, and it has marsh, a menacing and dangerous place, full of muddy water and eerie creatures. The name itself is very menacing and evocative. It belongs to a scary story or a D&Dr setting. Again, like Crowthorne. And just like Crowthorne, I have been through Crowmarsh a number of times without even stopping there. And until yesterday, I did not even know its name. Now I intend to correct this one day and visit the village.

Les corneilles dans le parc

J'ai pris cette photo hier, lors de ce qui est peut-être notre première promenade printanière dans le parc près de chez nous. Les corneilles sont de retour. Enfin, je dis elles sont de retour, mais je ne crois pas qu'elles soient parties à quelque moment de l'année que ce soit. Je les remarque plus facilement en avril, c'est tout. L'année dernière, j'avais pris cette photo au même moment de l'année. Il y avait tout de même une différence majeure: hier était une journée chaude alors que l'année dernière on gelait. La seule constance, ce sont les corneilles sur le gazon. J'aime bien les revoir. On dirait qu'elles prennent possession du parc chaque mois d'avril.

Eerie tea mug

This is tonight's countdown to Halloween post. It is again about a product from David's Tea. This is one of their perfect tea mugs, the navy birch trees perfect tea mug. It is of course from their autumn collection. They always make great designs for their autumn collection and this year is no exception. I know this is not strictly speaking one of their Halloween mugs, but I decided to make it a Halloween related topic because of its look: gloomy, sinister, very atmospheric. And I don't know if you can see it on this picture,  but there is a corvid on one of the branches, a crow or a raven, which gives it an more sinister twist. As I had already bought a David's Tea's mug (more about it on this blog post) and this place is crammed enough as it is when it comes to mugs (including a Halloween tea mug also from David's Tea), I did not buy this one. That said, for those readers who live in Canada or the US, please go and have a look into your nearest David's Tea shop. This tea mug is perfect to drink tea on a cold autumn day, when Halloween is coming.

A murder of crows in the park

I have decided to publish this picture partially because I wanted to use (again and I may add shamelessly) this expression, which I absolutely love. It is also and mainly because I wanted to share this picture. I took it a two weeks ago in a nearby park, on a cold Saturday of April, when we went to see my wife's friend who was there with her grandson, her daughter (Buffy's owner) and a friend of her daughter. It was sunny but there was a chilling wind that made it borderline freezing. The crows were in the middle of the park, walking there, indifferent to us, as if they were dominating the place. I thought it was beautiful and atmospheric.

Les vents de Mars

Mars est un mois printanier traître, puisque le printemps est une saison traîtresse. Parfois, mars est un mois délicieusement sinistre. Comme par exemple ce soir. Il vente à écorner les boeufs. Il fait soleil, il fait assez sec, mais le vent souffle comme s'il voulait déraciner les arbres. J'en ai vu quelques uns plier. On entend aussi beaucoup d'oiseau gazouiller et mes amies les corneilles croasser. Enfin bref, c'est la dernière journée de mars et on dirait que le mois a voulu être typique et garder l'allure du dieu qui lui a donné son nom. (Note: c'est pourquoi le titre de ce billet n'est pas fautif avec sa majuscule à mars) Enfin, j'ai décidé, afin d'illustrer ce billet et la fin du mois de télécharger cette seconde photo prise samedi des corneilles dans les branches du grand hêtre. Superbe. Et la photo ne lui rend pas justice.

A murder of crows in the branches

I took this picture today, which was a dark and gloomy March day. This is maybe the most beautiful tree in town. It is big, old, tall (very tall in fact). About five years ago, I took a picture of it in May, which I blogged about here. It might be a beech tree. It is difficult to say for me, I know zilch about trees and this one is bare. When I first took picture of him, I had been impressed with the display of lights and shadows. Now, with the bare branches, it was mainly shadows, a tall dark blotch of ink on a grey sky. But like last time I took a picture of the tree and blogged about it, what also and especially made a strong impression on me were the crows cawing in its branches.

A gathering of crows is commonly called a congregation of crows, which has a rather austere and religious overtone, or a murder of crows, which has a rather sinister one. even though crows have an undeserved bad reputation, I prefer the sinister name. It just sounds better. And I always found the cry of crows to be sinister. It does have a kind of sharp beauty to it. And I do love to see and hear crows in branches like this.

Friendly crows

My wife pointed me to this BBC News article about crows (and sometimes other birds) from all around the world who befriended humans, either because the humans fed them, or rescued them, or took care of them one way or another. There are many touching stories to read in there, some funny ones, but also some sad ones. It is a heart warming read. Strange how these wild birds can be in such good terms with at least some of our fellow primates, to the point of becoming... I wouldn't say exactly pets, but certainly friends. I am a cat person, but if I ever had a bird as a friend, I would want it to be a corvid.

Crowthorne (!)

Crowthorne is the name of a village and civil parish in Berkshire. I have never been there, however my wife and I drove through it a couple of times. The name struck me and I have developed a sort of obsession about the village. I never stopped in Crowthorne, but I want to go there one day, if only for one afternoon. The name mixes two things with sinister overtone: a crow and a thorn. It is the name of a place that belongs to a horror story, or a village in a Dungeons & Dragons setting. reading through its Wikipedia entry, the village seems to have little history. All the same, it deserves one, if imaginary. So I am very tempted to stop in Crowthorne to have a proper feel of the place and its atmosphere.

Rooks

This picture was taken at the Natural History Museum. It shows rooks, a member of the corvids family. Well, stuffed rooks really. I particularly like stuffed animals, I think they have some kind of old-fashioned charm. I thought about this picture this week as I saw a few crows here and there and maybe even some ravens. I used to dislike corvids as a child, but not anymore. Anyway, I do not know much about rooks, but I know that like all corvids they are smart. Anyway, I wanted to upload this picture for a while, so tonight I thought I would do it, for no particular reason.

The cry of the crow

This is another post about the wildlife at the train station. I took this picture about two weeks ago, when I was waiting for the train to go home. So I was waiting, being mildly bored, when I heard the distinctive cry of the crow. Unlike the last encounter with crows I blogged about, this was a single one, all alone. He cawing loudly, flying around, then settled for this tree just by the platform. And he kept cawing there. And that is all. I just love crows, love their attitude and I thought it was a good picture, so I uploaded it here tonight.

A concert of crows

This post is about one of those little meaningless details that make life. This evening, as I was waiting for the train home, I heard a few crows cawing. The environment at and around the little train station and near the railway leading home is quite full of animal life: there are cats prowling around, pheasants, rabbits, seagulls, dogs barking in nearby yards, etc. Usually I spend my waiting time awing at the cats like a sucker, but this time it was the crows that got my attention. I heard them first cawing from afar, loudly, then they came flying, two or three of them, and perched on a tree near the platform. So for a brief moment I enjoyed their song. As a child, I didn't like crows and corvids, I thought their cry sounded nasty and unpleasant, I thought their black feathers were sinister. Now I love them and even their cawing has a sort of primal beauty. I blogged about corvids before and I know this post sounds very much like my old one. But this evening, listening to them, I rediscovered how much enjoyable is their cawing.

Un corvidé (mais lequel?)

Vous vous rappelez de la photo du mois de janvier, le thème que j'avais choisi, "un", qui m'avait donné des mots de tête? J'avais finalement opté pour cette photo d'un corbeau/d'une corneille. Voici une deuxième photo du corvidé, vu de plus près. Elle n'est pas aussi évocatrice, mais on peut voir l'oiseau de plus près. Je l'ai téléchargée parce que je me demande toujours s'il est corbeau ou corneille. Il y a quelqu'un qui le sait? Morale de ce billet: ce que je suis mauvais ornithologue.