Knowledge;

Is it not wonderful to be alive?

Wednesday; Platypus;

     Old Man Platypus

   

Far from the trouble and toil of town,

Where the reed beds sweep and shiver,

Look at a fragment of velvet brown–

Old Man Platypus drifting down,

Drifting along the river.

And he plays and dives in the river bends

In a style that is most elusive;

With few relations and fewer friends,

For Old Man Platypus descends

From a family most exclusive.

He shares his burrow beneath the bank

With his wife and his son and daughter

At the roots of the reeds and the grasses rank;

And the bubbles show where our hero sank

To its entrance under water.

Safe in their burrow below the falls

They live in a world of wonder,

Where no one visits and no one calls,

They sleep like little brown billiard balls

With their beaks tucked neatly under.

And he talks in a deep unfriendly growl

As he goes on his journey lonely;

For he’s no relation to fish nor fowl,

Nor to bird nor beast, nor to horned owl;

In fact, he’s the one and only!

Banjo Patterson 1864-1941

The platypus is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. 

The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. 

It is one of the few venomous mammals, the male platypus having a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology and a recognizable and iconic symbol of Australia; 

Scientific name: Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Lifespan: 17 y (In captivity)

Mass: 0.7 – 2.4 kg

Rank: Species

Daily sleep: 14 h on average

Length: 50 cm on average (Male, Adult), 43 cm on average (Female, Adult)

Courtesy Wikipedia

Thursday; bold and stunning;

September/October is the time for Hippies. I love these bold, look at me, Hippeastrums.

Softie;

In the beginning I had one bulb.A couple of years later later I received 2 more from a friend, then the fun began. Hippeastrums produce a very generous amount of seed.  Now I have borders full of a great variety, from white, pink, red, orange, striped and nuances in between. It takes three years from seed to flower. The leaves die in the cool season and start to grow in September again. 

It all started with one like this red, bold bloom. Some flowers have round curved petals others are star like; Last year I added  plain white and a dark plain pink for even more variety.

Orange fizz has narrow petals and  a very beautiful pattern. It is always fun to see what nature produces.

White Tip has subtle white tips on  its curved petals.

Starlight; it's also fun to give the new ones individual names;

Surprise;

The red string of fate, or the the red thread of destiny, red thread of fate, and more variants is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese and 

 Japanese legends. According to this myth, the gods tie a red cord around the ankles of those that are to meet one another in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way. . 

©Photos my garden/Ts Titania-Everyday

Tuesday; seed;

The beauty of herbs; Dill from the herb garden.

It is not important to think,  I am right, it is more important  to do right. Ts

©Photos my garden; Ts/Titania-Everyday

Monday; beauty;

The beauty of a Palm leaf;

 41 Mondays since January 2013.
They come and go, no haste no slowing down, the Metronome is  beating time.
Have a nice week.


©Photo my garden/Text/ Ts Titania-Everyday.

Monday; fantasy;

Fabrizia, I love her fantasy and her wit. Here, sometime in September, simple games with stones, she made up for us to play.

Children who can grow up with lots of love, a carefree, happy childhood, I don't mean spoilt and pampered, can and will contribute so much later in adulthood. 

One more of her fantasies, made into a booklet,  I found tucked in a cookbook; It reads;

 Dear reader, you have steped into a magical word of creatures.

and magic

you will see a vision of diffrent things. Over the past years this book was my life. And you will never see the world the same ever again.

©Photos Titania-Everyday

Saturday; praise;

It seems to be rather  unpoetical and unimportant to sing the praise of onions. Not at all are they ordinary, when they grow in tidy rows of purple and white with fresh  tubular green leaves, sweet and waiting to grace any salad to give it zest, taste and health.

The truth is I love onions in my cooking. Not the old, self peeling, bitter monsters laying in untidy heaps at the green grocer's, which make your eyes burn and  cry bitter tears over them...
 To prove this tale and song of the fresh garden onion...look at these beautiful, . purple, spanish  onions, fresh and appetizing. Ah, such a pleasure to go up into the kitchen garden and get one, fresher is not possible.

 here the purple..

..here the white ones..

...and here. Aren't they worth a bit of poetry?

What are onions good for?

The total polyphenol content of onions is much higher than many people expect. (Polyphenols are one of the largest categories of phytonutrients in food. This category includes all flavonoids as well as tannins.) The total polyphenol content of onion is not only higher than its fellow allium vegetables, garlic and leeks, but also higher than tomatoes, carrots, and  red capsicums.

Within the polyphenol category, onions are also surprisingly high in flavonoids. For example, onions rank in the top 10 of commonly eaten vegetables in their quercetin content. The flavonoid content of onions can vary widely, depending on the exact variety, growing conditions and freshness. 

When we get quercetin by eating an onion-rather than consuming the quercetin in purified, supplement form-we may end up getting better protection from oxidative stress.  In studies, the best protection came from the onion version of this flavonoid, rather than the supplement form.

With their unique combination of flavonoids and sulfur-containing nutrients, the allium vegetables—such as onions—belong in your diet on a regular basis. There's research evidence for including at least one serving of an allium vegetable—such as onions—in your meal plan every day.

Text/Photos my garden; Ts