DESKTOP 2068 - MAGPIE ON ROCKS

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

DESKTOP 2067 - ANT

On its way to work...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

DESKTOP 2066 - SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

DESKTOP 2065 - COUROUPITA

Couroupita guianensis, known by several common names, including cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the family Lecythidaceae, which also contains the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). It is native to the rainforests of Central and South America. The tree grows up to 35 metres in height. The clustered leaves vary in length, generally from 8 to 31 cm, but reaching up to 57 cm.

The fragrant flowers are borne in large bunches up to 80 meters long. Some trees flower profusely, until the entire trunk is buried in flowers. One tree can bear 1000 flowers per day. They are strongly scented, especially at night, and in the early morning. They are large, up to 6 cm wide, and often brightly coloured, the six petals in shades of pink and red near the bases and yellowish toward the tips. There is a ring of stamens at the centre, and an arrangement to stamens that have been modified into a hood.

The large fruit, which is woody and very spherical, measuring up to 25 cm wide, gives the species the common name “cannonball tree”. A smaller fruit contains perhaps 65 seeds, while a large one can have 550. One tree can bear 150 fruits. The fruit takes up to a year to mature in most areas, sometimes as long as 18 months.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 2064 - LOVE'S LOCKS

We’ve all seen bridges around the world bedecked in shiny (or not so shiny) locks with engraved initials or messages to lovers, best friends or family. This is from the Yarra River Footbridge in Melbourne, which links the City with Southbank.

Yet whilst love lock bridges look picturesque and romantic, they’re not as good an idea as they seem. One of the most famous love lock bridges, the Pont des Arts in Paris, took a stand against the thousands of padlocks along the bridge back in 2015 by removing every single one and any that came after. Why? Because the massive number of locks on the bridge is actually dangerous. Adding all those metal locks to a bridge that was built to hold and carry a certain weight creates structural damage and even the risk of the bridge collapsing into the river.

Hundreds of kilos of locks added every month may cause damage to the bridge railing or even parts of the bridge to collapse. Send flowers instead.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 2063 - SANTA BARBARA, USA

Santa Barbara (Spanish for ‘Saint Barbara’) is the county seat of Santa Barbara County in the U.S. state of California. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara’s climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the ‘American Riviera’.

Mission Santa Barbara, also known as Santa Barbara Mission, is a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order near present-day Santa Barbara, California. It was founded by Padre Fermín Lasuén on December 4, 1786, the feast day of Saint Barbara, as the tenth mission for the religious conversion of the indigenous local Chumash-Barbareño tribe of Native American people. The mission is the namesake of the city of Santa Barbara as well as of Santa Barbara County.

The Mission grounds occupy a rise between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains, and were consecrated by Father Fermín Lasuén, who had taken over the presidency of the California mission chain upon the death of Father Presidente Junípero Serra. Mission Santa Barbara is the only mission to remain under the leadership of the Franciscan Friars since its founding, and today is a parish church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

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 2062 - AUTUMN

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.

DESKTOP 2061 - BAKLAVA

Baklava is a rich, sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the Levant, the Caucasus, Balkans, Maghreb, and of Central and West Asia. In Greece it is traditionally cut into lozenge-shaped pieces as seen below.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

DESKTOP 2060 - BEE

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

DESKTOP 2059 - SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.