\nI start with an image from cycling in the mountains last weekend. A rather threatening cloud was closing in, but it remained an empty threat:
\n
![\"P1010571\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe next several images are from my backyard. <\/p>\n
24_2<\/strong> 24_3<\/strong> 24_4<\/strong> 24_5<\/strong> 24_6<\/strong> 24_7<\/strong> 24_8<\/strong> 24_9<\/strong> Then some pictures from the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n 24_10<\/strong> 24_11<\/strong> 24_12<\/strong> 24_13<\/strong> 24_14<\/strong> 24_15<\/strong> 24_16<\/strong> 24_17<\/strong>
\nThis little weed growing next to my swimming pool makes me think of the phrase from “Jurassic Park”, nature will find a way<\/em>:
\n![\"IGP4893\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_2.jpg\")
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\nI was in the garden with my macro lens because my late mother’s cactus plant was about to perform its periodic miracle:
\n![\"IGP4891\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_3.jpg\")
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\nA few days later, the flower in all its glory:
\n![\"IGP4916\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_4.jpg\")
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\nOur backyard is adjacent to a golf course, and the skills of the local golfers leave a lot to be desired. We get 3-4 balls in the pool each week and keep them in the sink in the backyard. Occasionally, I throw one onto the golf course and watch with amusement as people try to figure out whose ball it is and where it came from:
\n![\"IGP4926\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_5.jpg\")
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\nCheeta was accompanying me while I was photographing the cactus:
\n![\"IGP4898\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_6.jpg\")
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\nThe problem with photographing Cheeta is that she immediately starts running towards me:
\n![\"IGP4900\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_7.jpg\")
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\n…and tries to lick the lens:
\n![\"IGP4897\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_8.jpg\")
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\nBut sometimes I get lucky, like with this close-up of her face:
\n![\"IGP4902\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_9.jpg\")
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\nOur local park, early on a Sunday morning. A botell\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00b3n<\/em> clearly took place on Saturday night:
\n![\"DSF0472\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_10.jpg\")
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\nThis building contains three common features of Spanish life right now; a closed restaurant on the ground floor, a “For Sale” sign on one of the apartments, and the Spanish flag displayed for the European football championship taking place this month:
\n![\"L1007833\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_11.jpg\")
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\nA billboard advertising a real estate development, with a huge empty lot as background:
\n![\"L1007834\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_12.jpg\")
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\nAnother huge empty lot, just 100 metres down the street. Somebody was going to build another large apartment building here, like the ones in the background:
\n![\"DSF0483\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_13.jpg\")
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\nInstead, discarded construction materials litter the site. This is the explanation behind Spain’s banking crisis. Someone financed all this, someone went bankrupt, someone did not repay the loans:
\n![\"DSF0489\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_14.jpg\")
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\nEven the billboard is apparently impossible to rent out:
\n![\"DSF0485\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_15.jpg\")
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\nA more cheerful note. This the Bar 4 Estaciones during the Spain-Ireland match. My Scottish friend Mark, for whom this bar is his second home, bravely showed up in a green shirt. Spain won 4-0:
\n![\"DSF0476\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_16.jpg\")
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\nFinally, another Eurocopa image, from the Carrefour supermarket. It is common to see promotions of items such as beer and crisps during major championships. But this is the first time I have seen vegetables promoted in this manner. This is allegedly the salad of the Spanish national team (known as La Roja):
\n![\"DSF0492\"](\"uploads\/2012\/24_17.jpg\")
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