The Changing Seasons – August 2019

 

It’s time again for the wonderful challenge The Changing Seasons hosted by my dear friend Su from Zimmerbitch!

 

First of all I want to apologize for having been quite absent from blogging and for not having visited all your wonderful blogs as much as I wanted to.

The reason for this is that I’m dealing with some rather annoying tinnitus since the beginning of this month. Frankly it’s more than just annoying, it’s terrible.

I used to have troubles with that during my years at university, and there’s more or less always a tiny bit of it going on in my ears but at a minimum level which doesn’t bother me this much.

But this one is one hell of a tinnitus – it’s a very load buzz or drone, like a fat fly or wasp trapped inside your ear, that heavily interrupts my power to concentrate on things and that keeps me from falling asleep at night.

It more or less feels like you’re on a continues battle throughout the day, that starts as soon as you wake up and won’t leave you until fatigue finally wins over.

I’ve been to an ENT specialist but there’s not much that they can do. There are multiple possibilities for its cause, the most likely being tension problems with my jaw and neck. Since I’m already wearing a night guard because of my tendency to gnash my teeth when I’m sleeping there’s not much else that I can do except for some stretching and strengthening exercises that so far failed to help.

My only refuge is to distract myself from the noise going on in my ear by either putting the telly on, listening to the radio or audio books on my MP3 player. Funnily putting in earplugs at night also helps a bit, although the source of my tinnitus comes from within.

 

Means to help me with my tinnitus (August 2019)

 

As you can imagine, I haven’t been much creative as a result this month, managing only one small pencil drawing:

 

Portrait of a Lady (pencil on paper; August 2019)

 

What I did however manage is practicing daily on my new digital piano that I got myself as a reward for having repaired my washing machine in July. 🙂

The last time I played somewhat regularly was about 8 years ago, so I’m still a little rusty. But it’s getting better on a daily basis and the most important thing is that I’m having so much fun at it!

 

My new digital piano (August 2019)

 

I also went a lot to the Berlin Zoo to make the most of my running out annual ticket and were really lucky to make some nice shots of the animals and their visitors.

 

This laughing elephant welcomed me one day and I couldn’t help but had to smile back. (Berlin Zoo August 2019)

 

Berlin is the only zoo in Germany that keeps not only one but two pandas! They’ve grown quite a bit over the last year and weigh about 90 kilos now.

 

Jiao Qing, the male panda, having an early lunch (August 2019)

 

And there are awesome news to share: Meng Meng (which means “Little Dream”), the female panda is pregnant!! So we can look forward to some cute baby panda pics in the near future. 😉

 

As you can see, pandas don’t just eat the soft bamboo leaves but also like to gnaw on the big stalks (August 2019) 

 

Jiao Qing (which means “Darling”) looks a bit like he’s picking his teeth in this one, don’t you think? 😉 (August 2019)

 

Other animals like the sloth, who even though they’ve got some mighty claws are not dangerous, get sometimes fed by hand.

 

Sloth stretching to reach a leaf of dandelion (August 2019)

 

I had a feeling those two would have loved for the window to disappear…

 

Orangutan and baby in touching distance (August 2019)

 

We can all use a helping hand from time to time…

 

Can you give me a lift? -Sure, no problem! (August 2019)

 

This Asian Black Bear looked like he was daydreaming…

… or simply posing for my camera. 😉

Asian Black Bear (August 2019)

 

These visitors were waiting for the hippos to peak out of the water.

 

Reflections (August 2019)

 

But instead they were gliding gently and silently underneath it:

 

Eye to eye with a hippo (August 2019)

 

This vulture seemed to like me, we were having a little tête-a-tête through the fence and he let me take lovely close-ups. Isn’t he/she a beauty?

 

Eye to eye with a Griffon vulture (August 2019)

 

Admittedly it has been very dry this year but no, this is not a sign of the drought but simply the vultures’ lunch and dinner. 😉

 

Picked to the bones (August 2019)

 

And here’s proof that you simply can’t watch monkeys and don’t want to join their party…

 

Little boy trying to imitate the monkeys he was watching (August 2019)

 

 

 

If you’re interested in participating, here are the guidelines for The Changing Seasons Challenge:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic):

• Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
• Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

• Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
• Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them.

If you do a ping-back to Su´s original monthly post, she can update it with links to yours.