April Photo Scavenger Hunt

Hi everyone, time for another Photo Scavenger Hunt - this time for April.  As the first 12 days of April were spent in Jordan the photos are all from that beautiful country once again.  I tried uploading the photos first but then couldnt type above the first one - so picture first, text second this time - well they say a change is as good as a rest dont they?!  OK, so the first item on the list was ROCK - here we have trees and plants growing out of the rock face in Petra.  This photo was taken in the Siq, the mile-long narrow canyon that leads up to the Treasury.

Next up -IN/OUT - this is the entrance to one of the many tombs we visited in Petra.  While we were taking a well-earned rest, a German tour guide came in and started singing - the acoustics were amazing.  The whole effect was quite spine-tingling.

This is the ceiling of the tomb and covers the two challenges of MULTI-COLOURED and AMAZING.  This is not painted, it is the colour of the rock.  It is even brighter in real life - a real wonder of nature.  And even more astonishing as Petra is smack in the middle of the desert. So these colours seem even more eye-popping.

CANT LIVE WITHOUT - water of course!  And boy, did we drink loads of it on that day out to Petra.  The temperature was about 38C - and then we came back to this grey and cold weather - all a bit of a shock!!  In fact, it takes me ages to get back into the swing of things on my return from these trips - each time seems to take longer than the last.  The other day I looked the wrong way to cross the road!  And then yesterday we were looking at a personalised number plate on a car that passed us and quipped "do you think that car is from Turkey"?!  We were so used to seeing the Jordanian plates that anything remotely European looking was usually from Turkey.  People drive there to Jordan.  Another cool thing in Jordan is that you see road signs to all sorts of other countries - so unlike being here when you might spot a sign for Wales (if you live in the Midlands) and Scotland (if you are living up north) in Jordan you regularly see signs for Saudi, Iraq and Syria, and Yemen!!!!!

ON THE MOVE - a centipede spotted in Jerash.  When we visited this ancient city when our kids were small, our second eldest son was reading Harry the Poisonous Centipede, so these are now lovingly known as Harry!  At this time of the year they are everywhere.  They are about 8 inches long - quite cute if you are that way inclined, as we are, but if you dont like mini-beasts, perhaps we should move onto the next pic....

SPRING - this is the black Iris, the national flower of Jordan.  This picture was taken high up on a hillside in the North of the country.  This winter Jordan was blessed with a lot of rain and snow, so this spring was the greenest and most flower-filled that the folks there had seen for many a long year.  And we were lucky enough to witness it.  We had some fun getting to take this picture though, as it was very much "off road" and we were travelling by landrover - the journey up there was like an episode of Top Gear - getting stuck on boulders and then finally breaking down at the top!!  So we went off for a nice walk, let the "rover" cool down, tried again and she fired up!!!  It was such fun as in Jordan people have more times for things, no-one got stressed, we all had a good laugh.  And it was all fine!  Dont worry, be happy....

SMILE - I really did smile when I saw this cat as it looks exactly like one of my darling mum's cats back here in the UK!  We thought she must have sneaked into our suitcases...

TANGLE - this amazing mosaic with its interwoven lines was photographed in Jerash.  My daughter is doing arts award with me at the moment (I teach it at work, so although her school run it she is doing it with me at home instead.  This means she is able to go out on a community action project in a local special school, where she helps out in the classroom once a week for a whole afternoon.  She wants to follow her old mum into the teaching trade, but would rather be in primary/SEN than post-16 with the naughty kids which is what I do!) and her project is looking at mosaic and middle eastern art.  So we were taking loads of pics for her portfolio.

This pic covers both STICKY and INDULGENCE - Jordanian style pizzas.  And then I wonder why I put two pounds on.....

 And finally - direction.  All those dishes pointing up to their respective satellites!  Jordan is such an amazing place, cant wait to go back!

Have a great day, Helenxx