Great to hear that Dusty and Yildiz got the rain . We still have plenty to spare, so will try to send more!

Love those Bosphorus shots as always Yildiz, fabulous skies.

Rain! Blessed rain! Saturday and Sunday we had rain back to back! Not enough to get us to where we should be, but the very parched ground soaked it all up quickly, ant temps have fallen.

A high today of 90F/32C, and by the weekend highs in the 80'sF/ High teens C.

Much nicer than what we've been having!

Dusty

It's 11PM on the 8th and it's pouring down rain! YEAH!

More thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow.

Maybe we've broken the drought! In any case, it will take quite a bit to get the ground as damp as usual. My grass crunched as I walk on it!

Dusty

Very happy that you got your rain, Dusty!

I hope some more rainy days are due for us herein Istanbul too. It certainl is hard with the high levels of moisture and little wind with 33-34 degrees C.


Birma,

Thank you for your previous lovely comments on the Bosphorus and Hagia Sophia frames. : ) I'm sorry that I missed your message when it mattered the most.

I'll welcome any drop of rain the UK is willing to cool us down here.



Yildiz

Weather In Istanbul:
Partly cloudy or clear
Temperature:31 °C ;Feels Like 31 °C
Wind:(km/h) 20
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

Feels nice for 31 C in Istanbul. A little breeze and shades...and the prediction is that we'll see some rain by Monday. Feeling very happy with this news.

My contribution to the thread will not be a landscape photo.
I'll share a platter of 'İçli Köfte / Kibbe' with you. The first name is in Turkish and the second is the name they call it in Arabic countries, 'Kibbe', hence my inclusion here. In Turkish 'Kubbe' means 'dome' so I guess the name is given because it looks like a full round dome.

I'm sure our members from the Middle Eastern countries all know the dish well. It's renowned for being delicious while a little engaging for the maker of the 'domes'. : )
I made these myself which explain the rather thick shells...

Bon Appetit! : ))

Yildiz

It's great you've got some rain at last Dusty (Yildiz got a little the other day), but there are parts in the US I see on the news that are having a drought. A farmer was showing his ruined corn crop, they say food prices are set to go up now.
Those look yummy Yildiz, what sort of dish is it? (At first glance I thought of cake but I doubt that it is)
Greg
Townsville weather: fine, clear skies, and cool.

Ps Just a bit of a backyard snippet from me, this Spangled Drongo was making quite a racket so I stopped doing what I was doing and went to see. It wasn’t doing anything much as it turned out just sitting on the fence running through its large list of sounds…loudly, actually this one is an old friend, he/she makes a particular unique whistle as part of its repertoire, no Drongo I’ve heard elsewhere does that particular sound.
When it does ‘that’ sound after a prompt from me I spontaneously guffaw (no control) which of course he/she can hear (I think it knows my voice) and sort of starts ‘laughing’ as well, that Drongo really is special. Birds never cease to amaze me.
A700 KM100-300apod

Great, mouth watering shots of the Kibbe, Yildiz. I hope you get your rain soon.

I woke up to a very cool, overcast morning. Even now at an hour to noon, it's only 71F/22C. The high today will be only 79F/29C, quite a break from the scorchers we've been having.

Greg, the crops are toast. Corn is now at over $8 per bushel. Before we started making it into ethanol, it was $2.15. Food prices the world over will skyrocket. Soybeans usually do better in drought, as they have a very long tap root, but this year is too much for them.

Dusty

Thank you, Greg and Dusty.

Greg, when I get a chance I may share a photo-recipe of a similarly made dish which share the basics to clarify the making.
Fine-ground Bulgur, lamb's chopped meat, some fatless beef, a little butter, some virgin olive oil, garlic and some spices were the ingredients. Almost anyone I know or met likes them. : ) Can't be that popular if not delicious...


I like your blue-black Spangled Drongo that developed a certain phonetic to communicate with you. Again, I have to say that I love the colour and the symmetrical tail feathers that so gracefully curve at the ends.

Yildiz

A yummy looking dish, beautifully shot as ever Yidiz . Hope the rain gets to you soon.

Nice Drongo, Greg. Very nice plummage. He sounds quite a character.

Thanks Yildiz and Birma, for me its birds that make the world seem normal again, in between watching the news; I should give up watching the news.
Greg

Ps Soybeans were shown as well Dusty they did look parched too. (I almost forgot after seeing the wreckage of the corn as far as the eye could see, terrible to see, the farmer said even if they got rain now it's too late the entire crop is wasted)

Saturday night sunset at Banff in Scotland.
Using the newly aquired RX100.





Mike

Congratulations on the RX100 Mike . Lovely beach shots - I really like the sparkle in the sand in the forground of the portrait one so that's my fav.

It seems to be a very neat camera - the interweb is full of praise for it. If you need something for the pocket then this seems to be the top dog at the moment.

Birma,

Yup, DK was right, it is a great pocketable point and shoot but with real quality imaging.
The missus is very happy with it as am I.
She said she didn't want to take it out on her dog walks as it might get damaged and she'd take the mega cheap Canon!
You can't win!

I wanted it to avoid the "big camera" issue when out and about and encourage both of us to always take a camera with us.
I can see why DK had a dilema with it. I'd still prefer the A77 for moving targets but scenery etc it is excellent and will always be in the pocket or rucsack.

Mike

PS all from JPG and tweaked a wee bit in LR (contrast, levels and straighten the horizon)

The RX-100 does turn out a nice photo Mike, and I like the gold sparkles too.
Greg
Ps I reckon the main issue with interchangeable lens cameras is you always want to take all your lenses, I think the secret is to limit youself to one or two on an outing...it can be a struggle though.

Spot on Greg, but which lens....................

More often than not it used to be the 18-250 for versatility but I'm finding lately it's the 16-80 for superior IQ.
Sometimes when I think it will be longer shots, the 70-200G get strapped on but then I have a big lump to carry about.
Oh the dilema...but I have a solution, A77 with 70-200G AND the RX100. Solved.

Mike

PS, in the lanscape shot you can just make out a row of caravans on the edge of the beach. We were staying in one of them, lovely view.