19/12/2015; Christmas;

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all;

after a long rest and absence I am back again. 

I do love the old sepia tags, a smiling Santa takes center stage.

and here not so old; from 2006 my granddaughters decorating the Christmas tree.

Impressions at Christmastime in my garden;

Odd playful shapes of the soft, silky flowers of a tall fountain grass.

Eucalyptus trees are shedding their bark at Christmas time revealing beautiful, new colours. 

Beautifully coloured leaves on Cordylines.





Evening sun is gilding the leaves of  a Palm tree.  At the front the prominent christmas colours red/green of Mussaenda/Ashanti blood.




©Photos/Text Ts

The hidden power of plants;

A most beautiful tree; 

When you see a tree and its awesomeness takes your breath away then you may feel,

the most beautiful in the world is a tree  in full flower, holding on to its place with an intrinsic stubbornness, displaying innocence and fragrance in an abundance of beauty. Colour, layer upon layer, humming and trembling with life. Ts

Brachychiton acerifolius, commonly known as the Illawarra Flame Tree. A large tree of the family Malvaceae native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia. It is famous for the bright red bell-shaped flowers that often cover the whole tree when it is leafless. Along with other members of the genus Brachychiton, it is commonly referred to as a Kurrajong.

 Brachychiton is derived from the Greek brachys, meaning short, and chiton, a type of tunic, as a reference to the coating on the seed. The specific epithet acerifolius suggests the appearance of the foliage is similar to that of the genus Acer, the maples.

How plants communicate; interesting reading, most of it makes sense.

http://zazenlife.com/2015/08/09/the-incredible-similarities-between-human-plant-consciousness/

The parasitic vine called dodder is the sniffer dog of the vegetable world. It contains almost no chlorophyll – the pigment that most plants use to make food – so to eat it must suck the sugary sap from other plants. Dodder uses olfaction to hunt down its quarry. It can distinguish potential victims from their smell, homing in on its favorites and also using scents emitted by unhealthy specimens to avoid them (Science, vol 313, p 1964).

© Photos/some Text/ Ts  

Summer...

In Australia, the seasons are defined by grouping the calendar months in the following way: Spring - the three transition months September, October and November. Summer - the three hottest months December, January and February. Autumn - the transition months March, April and May. 

Summer may arrive with hot and humid days. Thunder, clouds and torrential rain.

Song of Summer;

The subtropics are  hot and dry; 

soil and plants are thirsty and get thirstier every day. 

Then the clouds roll in black and heavy with moisture. 

The first drops bless the soil; 

then the heavens open up in earnest. 

sheets of driving rain obscure any view. 

Earth  is caught in this wonderful dance of water, 

 soaked up quickly by a greedy dry soil, 

leaving no puddles.

When the rains come,

life is beginning again,

 this is summer. Ts

Roses and summer, petals burned, falling falling;  strong fragrance emphasized by heat and sun. No regrets, summer means summer..

©Photos/Text/ Ts

Psst...I am reading...Endurance; This Australian novel tells the story of Australian Photographer. Explorer and adventurer Frank Hurley.

It is advised to read the following book in a warm and cozy environment...

Endurance by Tim Griffith

I quote; 

Hurley's photographs and documentaries of Douglas Mawson's and Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expeditions, and his astounding images of World War I have been so widely exhibited and reproduced that in many cases they are the principal means by which we have come to see those world-shattering events. His iconic images of the ship Endurance trapped in an ocean of ice, of men battling the most extreme elements in the Antarctic, and suffering under unthinkable conditions in ice and war are imprinted on the Australian consciousness. 

Here now is the man, Hurley, telling us of his part in the two ill-fated Antarctic expeditions and recounting tales of great heroism and suffering as he fights for his life among the ice and the elements, and witnesses as photographer the worst ravages of war on the Western Front. 

 A few lines from the book…It is the better part of a year since we abandoned ship and it is four month we have been marooned on this piece of rock. Our stores are virtually gone…

My path is blocked by a fresh catch, a large blue whale…

Unimaginable that the blasted Norwegians could choose to sail to the opposite of the world to slaughter such extraordinary creatures and do so in such a barbarous fashion. They have turned this pristine harbour into a bloodbath…

…The image endures beyond the events we witness and the lives of all witnesses.

Ice Mask

The James Caird departing Elephant Island to seek rescue, Frank Hurley

Frank Hurley's  photos can be seen in the Australian Museum.

Well worth reading; the cold and hardships make you shudder and wonder what people can endure. Ts

Bookshelf;

Elemental is a captivating story of a girl, fish Meggie; her life in a poor fishing village on a remote coast of Scotland. Born  in the 1890s her hard life, her will to learn, her life tender and brutal at times.

Meggie Tulloch writes her life’s story for her granddaughter. It begins in the first years of he 20th century in a place where lives are ruled by men and men are ruled by the witchy sea, ruled by superstitions. The only thing lower than a girl in the order of things is a clever girl with accursed red hair.

The Scottish dialect of her childhood gives  authenticity.  An expansive glossary of the Scottish words are at the back of the book.
Some of the words: 
Bonnie clip = a good looking girl
Clooties = rags bandages
Fulpie = a puppy dog
Gansey = pullover
Grunnie = grandmother
Hash= hurry
Half loaves= crude, thick sanitary napkins made out of old rags
Howdie wifie = midwife
Kist = a chest
Limmer = slut
Loon = boy, young man
Muckle =  big


I enjoyed this Novel very much. 

Why?

Trapped in seconds, minutes, hours; we never know why.Ts

Small children use the word WHY persistently, my grand children did, never stopped. Children are never satisfied with answers they ask ‘why’ constantly. 

He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes;

he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

—Chinese Proverb

What is the universe made of?

Where do we put all the carbon?

What’s so weird about prime numbers?

What’s at the bottom of a black hole?

Some of science's unsolved questions.

©Photo/text Ts