DESKTOP 1886 - ART DIGITAL

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
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and also part of the Photo Sunday meme,
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DESKTOP 1885 - FETCH

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DESKTOP 1884 - SUNSET SILHOUETTES

Living in a big city like Melbourne can be quite stressful. Thankfully we still have many areas of unspoilt natural bushland right in the midst of our city. These little islands of serenity and repose are places where we can take refuge in and recover some of our sanity... This sunset is at the Yarra Bend Park.

This post is part of the Nature Notes meme,
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DESKTOP 1883 - WATTLE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 1882 - LETTER 1

"More than kisses, letters mingle souls." - John Donne

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 1881 - SFAKIÁ, GREECE

Sfakiá (Greek: Σφακιά) is a mountainous area in the southwestern part of the island of Crete, in the Chania regional unit. It is considered to be one of the few places in Greece that have never been fully occupied by foreign powers. With a 2011 census population of 1,889 inhabitants living on a land area of 467.589 km2, Sfakia is one of the largest and least densely populated municipalities on the island of Crete. The etymology of its name is disputed. According to the prevailing theory, it relates to its rugged terrain, deriving from the ancient Greek word σφαξ, meaning land chasm or gorge. The crystal clear sea and warm climate, as well as the hospitable population, the traditional food and crafts, make it a wonderful tourist destination.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

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DESKTOP1880 - EGG

Having a bit of fun with some lengths of rusty wire and stones I found on a walk. I wondered if cast iron ducks lay wiry eggs?

This post is part of the  Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
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DESKTOP1879 - PAPER

An image of a piece of lens cleaning tissue. It has been captured greatly magnified under microscope. The orange colour relates to the spaces between the interwoven cellulose fibres of the paper, which are the yellow/green coloured elongated structures.

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DESKTOP 1878 - IN FLIGHT

A flock of galahs in flight.

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DESKTOP 1877 - CAPEWEED

Arctotheca calendula is a plant in the sunflower family commonly known as capeweed, plain treasureflower, cape dandelion, or cape marigold because it originates from the Cape Province in South Africa.cIt is also found in neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal. Arctotheca calendula is naturalised in California, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, and considered a noxious weed in some of those places.

Arctotheca calendula is a squat perennial or annual which grows in rosettes and sends out stolons and can spread across the ground quickly. The leaves are covered with white woolly hairs, especially on their undersides. The leaves are lobed or deeply toothed. Hairy stems bear daisy-like flowers with small yellow petals that sometimes have a green or purple tint surrounded by white or yellow ray petals extending further out from the flower centres.

It is cultivated as an attractive ornamental groundcover but has invasive potential when introduced to a new area. The plant can reproduce vegetatively or via seed. Seed-bearing plants are most likely to become weedy, taking hold most easily in bare or sparsely vegetated soil or disturbed areas.

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DESKTOP 1876 - KEYS 1

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CARIBBEAN CHINOISERIE

Caribbean Gardens and Market have been operating in Melbourne since the 1970's when a market there started with only a handful of traders selling wares from their car boots. Today the market on the shores of Lake Caribbean has grown into one of the largest markets in Victoria with more than 1500 stalls. The market offers a huge variety of goods ranging from clothing, fresh produce, lollies, plants, art and crafts, household goods, tools, prints, shoes, toys, giftware and bric-a-brac plus a Computer Swap Meet Market operating every Sunday. 

 

The Gardens cover an area of approximately 100 acres surrounding the beautiful Lake Caribbean. Throughout the picnic grounds are BBQs and plenty of picnic tables under the share of beautiful elms, gums and pine trees. Rides include the Chair Lift (over the lake), Jungle Cruises and Train that operate every Sunday, plus Wednesday during school holidays. The train ride takes a five kilometre journey around the lake with spectacular views of the entire Caribbean Gardens.

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DESKTOP 1874 - STATUE VARIATIONS

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DESKTOP 1873 - GLOBE

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DESKTOP 1872 - POND REFLECTIONS

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DESKTOP 1871 - BIRDS

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DESKTOP 1870 - WATERLILY

White waterlily in a pond...

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DESKTOP 1869 - JACK 1

Jack London (John Griffith London [born John Griffith Chaney] January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories To Build a Fire, An Odyssey of the North, and Love of Life. He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as The Pearls of Parlay and The Heathen, and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 1868 - WARSAW

Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa), is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.711 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 2.666 million residents, which makes Warsaw the 9th most populous capital city in the European Union. The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres, while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres.

Warsaw is an Alpha–global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in East-Central Europe. It is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived so many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered in World War II, during which 85% of its buildings were destroyed. On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, during the Siege of Warsaw (1939).

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

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DESKTOP 1867 - RED, GREEN, YELLOW

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DESKTOP 1866 - FAUX

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CAT

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DESKTOP 1864 - SPRING SUNSHINE

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DESKTOP 1863 - SPRING PAIR

A happy coexistence between the blue Ipheion and the orange Lampranthus in our garden, now that Spring is springing.

Ipheion uniflorum (starflower, spring starflower) belongs to Allioideae, a subfamily of the family Amaryllidaceae. They are small bulbous perennials with narrow grass-like leaves and honey-scented star-shaped flowers in spring, usually in shades of white or pale blue. The genus occurs naturally in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, although Ipheion uniflorum has naturalized elsewhere.

Lampranthus is a genus of succulent plants in the family Aizoaceae, indigenous to southern Africa. All species of this genus have unusually large, bright flowers, of a range of colours (sometimes even bi-coloured), that usually appear in spring to summer, and frequently cover the plants entirely. The species of this genus typically have long, smooth, elongated, succulent leaves. These can be triangular or cylindrical, and like all plants in its family, appear in opposite pairs on the shrubs' branches.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 1862 - IRIS

Iris is a genus of 260-300 species of flowering plants in the Iridaceae family, possessing showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colours found among the many species. As well as being the scientific name, iris is also very widely used as a common name for all Iris species, though some plants called thus belong to other closely related genera. A common name for some species is 'flags', while the plants of the subgenus Scorpiris are widely known as 'junos', particularly in horticulture.

Irises are popular garden flowers. The showy graceful blooms of Dutch Iris (Iris xiphium - also called Spanish Iris!) shown here, provide height and colour in mid- to late spring. Definitely one of the easiest and most reliable spring bulbs to grow, they perform well in both open sunny positions as well as in part or full shade. Flower colour varies from white and yellows through to many shades of blue and purple in either single colour standards and falls through to a combination of both. They are very frost hardy and prefer a sunny position with ample moisture during growth, but none during their dormancy in summer. They can be grown in pots and terrace planters and are ideal as cut flowers for vases and arrangements. Dutch Iris grow to a height of 40 to 50cm.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

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DESKTOP 1861 - KIAMA, AUSTRALIA

Kiama is a township 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia in the Municipality of Kiama. At the 2011 census, Kiama had a population of 12,817 people. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. The seaside town features several popular surfing beaches, caravan parks and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants. Its proximity to the south of Sydney makes it an attractive destination for a large number of day trippers.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

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DESKTOP 1860 - GLADE

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DESKTOP 1859 - VENUS

Venus, also known as the Evening Star or the Morning Star, depending on its position in the sky and its relationship to setting or rising sun. As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a major fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed. It has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a prime inspiration for writers and poets. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC, and was a prime target for early interplanetary exploration as the closest planet to Earth (as much as 261 million kilometres far - that's very far!).

It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft (Mariner 2) in 1962, and the first to be successfully landed on (by Venera 7) in 1970. Venus's thick clouds render observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the first detailed maps did not emerge until the arrival of the Magellan orbiter in 1991. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more complex missions, but they are hindered by Venus's hostile surface conditions.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

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DESKTOP 1858 - POND

Coot happily swimming in a pond...

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
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