DESKTOP 3013 - JACKO

As the witching hour approaches Jacko keeps watch and waits to pounce!

This post is part of the  My Sunday Best meme.

DESKTOP 3012 - BEE AND ANEMONE

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

DESKTOP 3011 - SUNRISE

Sunrise on the Yarra River in Melbourne.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3010 - LEMON SCENTED GUM

Leptospermum petersonii (or Leptospermum citratum), lemon-scented teatree is a tall shrub to small tree, growing to a maximum of 5 metres which is cultivated as an ornamental and for essential oils. It naturally occurs near sclerophyll forest or rainforest, on sandy or rocky escarpments, on the east coast of Australia. It has simple leaves, 20–40 mm long, with a distinctive, strong, lemony aroma.

 

The flowers are white, followed by woody capsules. The leaves are distilled commercially for the essential oil which contains citronellal, citral, and pinene. It is grown in plantations in Kenya, Zaire, South Africa, Guatemala and Australia. The leaf of lemon-scented teatree is also used as a flavouring ingredient in boutique tea blends with standard black tea, Camelia sinensis. The essential oil from L.petersonii inhibits the pathological fungi Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus.

 

Lemon-scented teatree is well known as a garden plant, popular for its scent and attractiveness. It is fast growing and can be kept to shrub height by pruning. The ability to be pruned regularly also makes it well-suited for hedges, windbreaks and harvesting for distilled essential oils. Leptospermum liversidgei is also called "lemon-scented teatree" due to the presence of lemony essential oils.

 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3009 - SPRING SKY

We had a very beautiful Spring day today so it was good to go out and enjoy the sunshine a little. There was a warmth in the air, the sun was shining and the Spring flowers put on a show. The blooming wattle against the brilliant blue sky is a true-blue Aussie sight.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3008 - SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

Soon, very soon, life will be back to normal...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

PEACH BLOSSOM

We are rapidly approaching the 80% double vaccination of the population against COVID, and we have been promised an almost complete easing of restrictions. Life will hopefully go back to some semblance of normality, and all that next week. We've had a cool, wet Spring so far, but the flowers seem to enjoy it.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3006 - DAISIES

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3005 - DOG WALK

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3004 - SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3003 - TEA-TREE

White's Tea-Tree, Leptospermum whitei, is a sturdy, often multi-stemmed shrub reaching up to 5m in height (under ideal conditions). Its preferred habitat are margins of coastal swamp forests and tidal waterways (here growing on the banks of the Werribee River). The species is named after Cyril Tenison White (1890-1950), botanist. Young bark is mid-brown in colour turning grey with age and has a rough fibrous texture where old bark is shedding in papery short strips.

Flowers appear in tight clusters over spring to early summer featuring five bright white and obovate shaped petals characteristic for the Leptospermum genus. They measure up to 12 mm in diameter when fully opened. Young green stems are covered in short fine hair. Simple leaves with an alternate arrangement are; up to 3 cm in length, elliptic in shape with entire margins, hairless, dark green, rather dull on top, thick with a stiff texture. Venation is obscure except for mid vein. Leaf apex is acute ending in a blunt point, base shape is cuneate. The petiole is nearly non existent at 1 -2 mm in length.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3002 - VIETNAM

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme

DESKTOP 3001 - CHARLOTTE NC

Charlotte is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population was 842,051, making it the 17th-most populous city in the United States. The Charlotte metropolitan area ranks 22nd-largest in the U.S., and had a 2017 population of about 2,500,000. It is the second-largest city in the southeastern United States, just behind Jacksonville, Florida. It is the third-fastest growing major city in the United States. It is listed as a "gamma-minus" global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Residents are referred to as "Charlotteans".

 

Charlotte is home to the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and the east coast operations of Wells Fargo, which along with other financial institutions made it the second-largest banking centre in the United States from 1995 to 2017 and the third-largest from 2017 to present. Among Charlotte's many notable attractions, some of the most popular include the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL), the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Charlotte Independence of the United Soccer League (USL), the Charlotte Hounds of Major League Lacrosse, two NASCAR Cup Series races and the NASCAR All-Star Race, the Wells Fargo Championship, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Charlotte Ballet, Carowinds amusement park, and the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

 

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a major international hub, and was ranked the 23rd-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic in 2013. Charlotte has a humid subtropical climate. It is located several miles east of the Catawba River and southeast of Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in North Carolina. Lake Wylie and Mountain Island Lake are two smaller man-made lakes located near the city.

 

When we visited Charlotte quite a few years ago we had a very experience mainly because of the people we met there, who were friendly, courteous and with a good sense of humour. We visited several museums and had a couple of very nice meals. 

 

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

 

DESKTOP 3000 - SEASONS

Southern vs Northern Hemisphere, Spring vs Autumn! Flowers and seeds, an ascent into Summer and a descent into Winter. Enjoy the antipodean teasing, all in seasonal fun.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 2999 - GLASS PAPERWEIGHT

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme

CATS

A couple of cats observing the world through the safety of a flywire screen.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 2997 - SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 2996 - ERIGERON

Erigeron glaucus is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name seaside fleabane, beach aster, or seaside daisy.It is a North American native.

It is a vigorous, spreading perennial plant growing from woody rhizomes to a maximum height of 15 cm. Its leaves are located along the stem, the basal leaves dying off as the plant bolts. They are sometimes slightly toothed or lobed near the tips.

The inflorescences hold one or more flower heads which are each about 1 cm wide. They have golden yellow disc florets in the center surrounded by a fringe of up to 80 white to pinkish ray florets.

 

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme,

and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 2995 - DAISIES

Nothing says "Spring" more eloquently than a bunch of blooming daisies like on this bush. This is a hybrid of the Argyranthemum genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. Members of this genus are sometimes also placed in the genus Chrysanthemum. The genus is endemic to Macaronesia, occurring only on the Canary Islands, the Savage Islands, and Madeira.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 2994 - BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of approximately 2.5 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, approximately 23 km from its mouth at Moreton Bay.

 

The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River valley between the bay and the Great Dividing Range. While the metropolitan area is governed by several municipalities, a large portion of central Brisbane is governed by the Brisbane City Council, which is by far Australia's largest Local Government Area by population.

 

Brisbane is named after the river on which it sits, which, in turn, was named after Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The first European settlement in Queensland was a penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres north of the Brisbane central business district, in 1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859. 

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 2993 - RONDELS

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 2992 - HOW DOTH?

"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how is she become as a widow?" Lamentations 1:1 KJV

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Weekend in Black and White meme.

DESKTOP 2991 - FLOTSAM & JETSAM

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

A stray kitten that our neighbour rescued is now a big cat!

DESKTOP 2990 - SUNRISE

"At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. You can love completely without complete understanding." - Norman Maclean

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 2989 - JASMINE

Jasminum polyanthum (Chinese: 多花素馨; pinyin: Duōhuāsùxīn), the many-flowered jasmine or pink jasmine, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae, native to China and Myanmar. A strong evergreen twining climber, it is especially noted for its abundant, highly fragrant pink to white flowers.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 2988 - RAIN

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 2987 - DARWIN AUSTRALIA

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities. It is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the “Top End’s” regional centre.

 

Darwin has grown from a pioneer outpost and small port into one of Australia’s most modern and multicultural cities. Its proximity to Asia makes it an important Australian gateway to countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The city itself is built on a low bluff overlooking the harbour. Its suburbs spread out over some area, beginning at Lee Point in the north and stretching to Berrimah in the east—past Berrimah, the Stuart Highway goes on to Darwin’s satellite city, Palmerston, and its suburbs.

 

The region, like the rest of the Top End, has a tropical climate, with a Wet and a Dry Season. The city is noted for its consistently warm to hot climate, all throughout the year. It receives heavy rainfall during the Wet Season, and is well known for its spectacular lightning. The original inhabitants of the greater Darwin area are the Larrakia people.

 

On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin harbour during its surveying of the area. John Clements Wickham named the region “Port Darwin” in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the ship's previous voyage which had ended in October 1836. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, and was renamed Darwin in 1911.

 

Having been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II, and again after being devastated by Tropical Cyclone Tracy in 1974, the city is one of Australia’s most modern capitals.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 2986 - IN THE PARKLANDS

In the Darebin Parklands, Melbourne. A little natural oasis in the midst of inner suburban Melbourne.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 2985 - HARM'S WAY

Yarra Bend Park has been one of Melbourne’s largest expanses of inner suburban parkland for nearly 150 years. Yarra Bend Park and neighbouring Studley Park were reserved in 1877. Both park areas and several reserves were combined in 1929 to create one large park. The combined area became known as Yarra Bend National Park despite never being raised to formal national park status.

During the 1930’s additions included picnic and sporting grounds, toilet facilities and a public golf course. The Yarra Bend Golf Club House, officially opened in May 1936, is an original example of American ‘Country Club’ type architecture. The Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 2984 - GULL AND MOON

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 2983 - SUNSET SILHOUETTES

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme