the return of the heat, a spike in humidity, the weather forecast offering a prediction of a week of thunderstorms to come as the first typhoon of the season meandered its way north along the east coast... but there was a restlessness in the caffeine drenched morning, an urge to get out before the storm hit.... so off to the mountain, what could laughingly be termed as a quest to attempt to fulfil...

as the saying goes, seek and you shall find... or as the full saying goes, seek and you shall find that whatever it is that you're looking for has disappeared, removed itself completely from any of those places that you go looking for it.... it's akin to the blue magpies, since thinking that i'd really like to use one as a blip there have been zero sightings, the same with the eagles which spiral over the valleys off towards 9-5 hill... it makes me wonder if the eagles have eaten the magpies and are now snoozing off their banquet somewhere out of the reach of my camera... 

so, anyway, Dreich asked if i could find one of the lizards that i'd mentioned which live on the hills, in my head i thought about the blue tailed variety, but today despite it being a feast day for them, the air thick and humid, swarming with available protein in the shape of mosquitos and other unnamed bitey things, hanging around, devouring ankles at any pause, fierce and fiery itches forcing the pace above what would be the norm on a day such as this, there were none to be found...

maybe they're fasting i thought as i sweated a trail along the lower path, through the ribbon of sky gap in the rocks and down through the overgrown paths which lead to the small buddhist shrine and the temple with the huge figure from a few days ago... where, at last, a lizard showed itself....