Tuesday; Oh why, oh why...does evolution take humans to annihilate themselves..?

Effects of human waste; garbage, human made marine debris concentrated in the central North Pacific Ocean.  A Gyre made up of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge  and other human made  garbage. Marine pollution of the highest grade gathered by oceanic currents.

Pardon me, this is necessary for us, this is our life, what's the problem it's out in the ocean and we do not see it everyday. Out of sight out of mind.




Castle Bravo was the name  given to the first United States test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, detonated on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Isalnds on March 1, 1954.
The  the first test of Operation Castle, the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the USA at that time. This disaster lead to the most significant accidental radiological contamination  caused by the USA.

Pardon me, we have so many enemies, terror, this was a must have; out of sight out of mind.

The three mile island  nuclear accident was a partial nuclear meltdown which occurred in one of the two United States nuclear reactors on March 28, 1979 .  Located on the three mile island in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania;  The meltdown resulted in the release of  of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment.


Pardon me; we need this for our economy; it's cheap and SAFE; a few cancers here and there, does it matter. What? Wind, Sun, Water Power, no way, we need nuclear power, it makes a lot of money for us and as you can see it is SAFE.
Out of sight out of mind.





Ghost town Prypyat Ukraine

26/04/1986 happenend a catastrophic nuclear accident  at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The explosion that occurred on 26 April 1986 in one of the reactors of the nuclear power plant, and the consequent fires that lasted for 10 days, led to huge amounts of radioactive materials being released into the environment. A radioactive cloud spread over much of Europe.

Pardon me; we said sorry, it won't happen again. What  about the suffering of  all the contaminated people, animals, nature?  Discussion is finished we said; we are sorry.

Out of sight? out of mind.

Kuwait oil fires 1991;  600 oil wells were set afire as part of the scorched earth policy by the retreating Iraqi military forces. The fires  caused heavy pollution to the soil and air.

Pardon me; we have always messed around in the Middle East; this was just a hick up, nothing to worry about. It was yesterday's news!

Out of sigh,out of mind.

Sidoarjo Mud flow;

 Lapindo, the largest mud volcano exists today because of gas blowout.

Wells drilled by PT Lapindo Branta. 

180,000 m³ of mud per day is spewed at its peak and has been in eruption since May, 2006.

Pardon me; it was not us it was an earthquake,  Cross my heart  and  hope to die.

 Out of sight out of mind.

During the Vietnam war the destruction of farmland, rice paddies, flora and fauna of the jungle, everything which was a source of food for the native Vietnamese population, was destroyed, poisoned, promulgated by American military strategists.

Pardon me, they were the enemy and they had to be taught a lesson. But, the Vietnamese did not invade the USA and you actually lost that war!

Out of sight out of mind.





Guiyu, China is the location of what may be the largest electronic waste (e-waste) site on earth. The population suffers  from lead poisoning. The province is referred to as the “electronic graveyard”.

Pardon me; it is all about the economy, after all money makes the world go round.
The  environment is save with us, no worries, we always say sorry if something goes wrong.


There are so many, many  more  from Maralinga to Hiroshima to the destruction of the Aral Sea. The Exxon Valdon oil spill; Italy  ICMESA chemical company exploded. This led to a toxic cloud of dioxin being released into the atmosphere...  and more and more there is no end thousands and thousands and more.

The world has experienced so many man made disasters. I wonder if this belongs into the category of evolution? Where does  this gung-ho attitude  lead us, perhaps into annihilation?

Pictures man made disasters. Text Ts

Sepia Saturday 319 : 27 February 2016

My Mother used an iron like this one.

I was a keen participant to iron handkerchiefs as these items were in  constant demand in wintertime. When I advanced to tea towels the first excitement was gone, When I advanced to shirts and such I fled the scene.

We children had also a very small Iron to iron dolls dresses. It was small, shaped like a mouse and inside it had an iron mouse to heat up on the stove.. I should have kept it. It was well made with a small, polished wooden  handle. 

An 18th century coal iron

In China,  people were  ironing using hot metal before anywhere else. They filled pans with hot coals. A hot  pan was pressed over stretched cloth . This method was already used some thousand years ago.
While people in Northern Europe used stones, glass and wood for smoothing. In the west blacksmiths forged smoothing irons in the late Middle Ages.

Cast iron sadiron;The sad in sad iron or sadiron is an old word for solid.

Gas Iron

Flat stones were used to rub over woven cloth to smooth it, or to press folds. Linen smoothers made of dark glass were found in  Viking women's graves. Many of those were in use across medieval Europe.  The linen might have been dampened befor using the glass smoother. It is not sure if the glass was made hot before its use.

Glass linen smoother with handle.

Smoothers were also called slickers, slickstones, sleekstones, or slickenstones.  Some were also made of hard wood or  marble. 

Iron with  exchangeable handle

Metal irons were heated by a fire or on a stove. Irons  were made of stone, like  soapstone irons from Italy. Earthenware was also used.

Flat Irons, Flea market Paris

Ironing without the benefit of electricity was a hot, arduous job. Irons had to be kept clean, sand-papered and polished. They had to be  lightly greased to avoid rusting. Beeswax prevented irons sticking to starched cloth. Constant care was needed over temperature, decide when the iron was hot enough, but not so hot  to  scorch the cloth. 

Late 19th century iron designs experimented with heat-retaining fillings. Designs of this period became more and more ingenious and complicated, with reversible bases, gas jets and other innovations. . By 1900 there were electric irons in use on both sides of the Atlantic.

Text Ts

Wednesday; Intriguing exoskeletons;

Shells found in Wooli, Yuraygir National Park; Northern New South Wales.

Yuraygir National Park
National park in New South Wales, Australia
Yuraygir is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, located 482 km northeast of Sydney. It was created in 1980, a result of the merger and enlargement of two national parks, Angourie and Red Rock ...
Area: 313.7 km²
Established: 1980

I love to display shells around the garden.

Humans have been intrigued by the exoskeletons of mollusks since they first noticed the beauty of  shells their sculpted decorations, delicate colours and patterns. In North Africa Shells have been used to make beads around 100’000 years ago. One of the earliest evidence of human culture.

An exoskeleton  is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton (endoskeleton) of, for example, a human. In usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells".

®Photos/Text Ts T

20/02/2016;

Man's best friend...

 ..the dog is my theme for Sepia Saturday this week. I have  many, many pictures with dogs. we always had dogs and they were always part of the family. Don't  be scared I will show only a few. 

I am happy to have this old photo of my grandmother , (mother of my father) and her dog Bläss. Two helpers I don't know their name. My mother mentioned that she was a very kind and loving person.






My dad and his dog Molly.

(I might have shown these photos before. I do so like these two photos.)








Rural bliss; My dear, lovely sister now 82 and I with Lumpi. In the late 1950s. We were wearing black for half a year as it was custom then, because our father had died.




My girls, puppy Dolly and I





Cleaning up the property around 1974.  There was a fire and everybody had to help, all were dirty and happy afterwards.



Jacquei and Boy; it was a good life and childhood for the girls.






They grew up together and were always good friends

Ali alias Ali Ben Ali Ben Jussef but just called Ali and Tomy was a Manx cat, he could not climb a tree because he did not have a tail just a little flap. There was a time when I could not imagine a life without them.  I remember every four legged friend with love and also with some sadness that life is so short.


I left the photos in black and white  and also those in colour as they have a certain charm as it is.

Photos Text Ts

Friday, early morning visitors...

....a flock of yellow tailed cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus) flew into the garden, to settle high up into different tall trees, but their eye was on the tall Alexandra Palm.  I was wondering what they had in mind. Knowing cockatoos it must be something mischievous. Not long and they were tearing at the palm leaves, broke them with their strong beaks and threw them down accompanied by raucous laughs and chatter at the poor, little human standing far down gazing up at them. It was hard to take photos as they were constantly moving and hiding behind the big leaves. Displaying a very playful mood, flying to and fro, tearing here and there bits of again and throwing them down at me.

A portrait of this playful, beautiful bird.  Everyday I see them fly past with lots of chatter. Sometimes they settle on the highest Araucaria in my garden, perhaps when the cones are ripe to crack.

(courtesy photo Leila Jeffreys)





One of them at work...

Courtesy photo birdlife org.au



...can you see some? On every leaf is one or two gnawing. My guess is also they eat some starch from the thick leaf rib. The seed is not yet ripe and I have never seen the cockatoos going for the seed berries as other birds come in droves to have a feed.

Araucaria cunninghamii and Alexandra palmtree.



©Photos/Text Ts 

Reclaimed by time...

Abandoned; neglected; decayed; destroyed; 



Libraries  all over the world have been deliberately  destroyed or badly damaged. Many libraries are or were on purpose destroyed as a form of cultural cleansing.

When a country became  or becomes war ravaged, libraries were always the first to be destroyed.One of the greatest libraries the world has known was the Bibliotheca Alexandrina; A fire ravaged the library at the time of Julius Ceasar 2000 years ago. Yet most of the work were spared. One of the greatest cultural vandals was Pope Theophilus in 391 AD, he regarded the books as heretical and had all of the books destroyed. The library was an oasis of culture and wisdom. Alexandria was the center of the world for scientific and intellectual learning.

Abandoned Detroit book depository...

How can  a beautiful home/ library get to this abandoned stage. What happened that people were in such a hurry to leave their home and left it to decay, books furniture etc. . I  would fight tooth and nail to keep a place like this. 

Here, another beautiful home  and books left to decay. Once it must have been a proud home looking at the carved panels and delicate colours. In the panel it looks like carved scrolls of paper and a pair of compasses and some other tool. 






Syria is an unstable place now, plundered of its many treasures. Stolen and sold to the highest bidder, to be hidden in private bank vaults. The Az-Zahiriya Library of Damascus was established in 1277. Around  22000 Books and manuscripts in this library date back to the first millenium.

The ancient world had many and great  libraries, per example in Greece, 

• Kos Library, (Kos) (100 A.D.)

The library was a local public library situated on the enclave Kos known as a crossroads for academia and philosophical faculties. A record of individuals who were supposedly responsible for the establishment of the library are acknowledged in an inscription near the monument.

or...

• The House of Wisdom (Baghdad) (9th-13th centuries)

Text Ts

Monday; Books and more books...BOOK of the DEAD.

If you want Horror ...here it is

When a massive sinkhole opens up and swallows a retired couple from Iowa it seems like a freak occurrence. But it's not the only one. Similar sinkholes are opening all over the world, 

Do not read it if....there is thunder and lightening...or a harvest moon...or you are scared of the dark...or you believe everything! Ts.