Sunday Selections #239

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.  This week?  A bit same old, same old.  I have been gardening to excess (for a change).  Himself forbade me to buy any more plants.  And when I got home from Lifeline a few weeks ago there were two large boxes at the door.  Mr Do as I Say, Not as I Do had bought fifteen roses.

So we have squeezed them in the ground, and I have been weeding.  And pruning.

One morning last week a galah coloured dawn had me outside again.

There was a heavy dew, bejewelling the grass and leaves.

Even shortly after six am, the garden was starting to glow.

As were some individual plants.

Thinking, thinking, thinking,...

One evening last week the skinny one was indulging himself by playing St Vitus Dance with the remote control (a habit I loathe).

He briefly landed on a program about mud-skippers, and I have been thinking about it ever since.

Mudskippers are amphibious fish, and this link will tell you a little more about them, with pictures.  In the snippet I saw, the fish came out of the water at low tide, and using their flippers walked across the mud to feed.  At the first hint of danger, they dived back into the water.

I assume their amphibious nature is an expression of their path down the evolutionary trail.  But are they fish who are going to develop into land dwellers, or are they going back to the sea?
What will their final form look like?
And will the world last long enough for it to be realised?

It is crowded in my head, and there are some strange pathways to wander down...

Sunday Selections #238

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.   This week young crimson rosellas and king parrots, yet to come into their adult plumage have been visiting.  The crimson rosellas have moved much quicker than my shutter finger, so I have trawled through photos of them taken in 2007 to show you their adolescent garb.

First an adult, resplendent in red and blue

Then an adult and an adolescent.

I assume that their plumage is green until they reach adulthood as camoflague.  It is surprisingly effective too.  If they put their heads down they almost disappear into the grass.

Then to the king parrots.  Adult male King Parrots have red/orange heads and breasts.  Their beaks are also reddish.  Females and young birds are green.  The females have a greenish beak though.

Here is a young male, starting the journey to adult plumage - again an old photo.

And another young male who did deign to stay still long enough for me to take his photo this week.  His chest is a glorious bright red, but there is, so far, just a tiny touch of red above his beak.

And a pair of adults for comparion.

Beautiful birds - but they do look a bit scruffy as their adult colours come in.

And, because I know some of you don't share my bird obsession, some clouds.

WEP Challenge - Spectacular Settings

As I have often said, I am a bookaholic.  I have always been awed by writers and those I have found and followed here in the blogosphere have increased that awe.

I am amazed at their imagination, their skill, the dedication and the immense amount of work involved.  My naive self has also learnt that the work is far from over when the work is published.

This month I have stepped out of my comfort zone and entered the WEP (Write, Edit, Publish) Spectacular Settings Challenge.  This challenge is the brain child of Denise Covey and Yolanda Renee and is fully explained here  on their shared blog.  

Please visit the blog and track down the work other people have submitted.  You won't be disappointed.  And the very generous hosts have opened up the challenge to writers, photographers, artists...

The challenge comes in two parts, both of which I will take on.  Mind you, while I am dipping my toes in the water, I do have my floaties on for protection.  I am mostly going down the photographic path (and regular readers of this blog will have seen the photos) with just a few words to go with them.

The first part is to share a photograph with a spectacular setting which has stopped my heart - and explain why.

Ok, so what is so spectacular about a hazy photo of a blackened beach?

This black beach is in Antarctica! The haze is heat rising from the ground.  Heat from a still active volcano.  Yes, there is snow on those hills, but I swam there - and have had cooler baths.

Antarctica was a dream come true for me, and this was a totally unexpected (but still cherished) part of that dream.

The photo was taken of the flooded caldera at Deception Island.  

***

In the second part of the challenge I am sharing another photo (not of Antarctica this time) and trying to make you share the magic of the night (or at least to make you wish you were there).

Fiers A Cheval
This was an amazing spectacle.  The flyer advertising it simply said 'Giant, inflatable illuminated horse puppets'.  It was brought to Australia from France for two performances only...

MEMORIES.  MAGIC.  MYSTERY

A steaming hot day, with nightfall bringing no relief.

Baited with the promise of novelty we could not stay away.

In ones and twos, family groups, clusters of friends, young, old, the fit, the fat and the infirm.  Jostling for position on a hill too small to hold us.

Standing room only, and still we came.
 

Flavoured with perfume, beer, and sweat the heavy air crackled with anticipation.

Dark shapes moving mysterious objects, orchestrated by a steady rumble of conversation.

Haunting music severed that rumble.  Silenced, we stared at the dark space beneath us.

Three men materialised out of the gloom.  Three men in strange costumes. 
Standing still, pinned under a spotlight and pinned under our gaze.

A blink and they were gone.  Replaced by twelve foot horses.  Majestic, beautiful horses.

Dancing horses, prancing horses.

Squinting we could see reality shake, blur, and twist.

The men were there, forming the horse's hind legs.  There, and gone again, swallowed by a magnificent new reality. 

Open-eyed and mouthed we no longer squinted.

Chameleon coloured.  First red, then blue, now bi-coloured with cream accents.

They cavorted, they danced, they pranced.  And all the people watched.

They leapt, they ran, they fought. 

Entrancing the silent watchers. 


Who can tell me?  Who will tell me? 

Which are the promised puppets?

The giant, illuminated horses doing their Lipizzaner routine, skilfully manipulated by shadowy men hidden in their legs,

or the silent, watching crowd  whose heads swivelled in unpractised but perfectly choreographed unison with each move ?

Word count 256.  Full Critique Acceptable.  I think.  I need to learn to grow.

 

Sunday Selections #237

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.  It has become increasingly clear that despite what the calendar says, Spring is well on the way.  

We are still having foggy mornings, and one day this week it snowed - though it didn't stick.

Just the same, when the fog lifts there is a LOT of colour coming through.  So I wandered around the garden this week, revelling in what is out, and anticipating all that is nearly out, and the invisible plants that I hope will come out.

There are lots and lots of King Alfred Daffodils out.

 

  
There are also lots of different daffodils - doubles heavily in bud.

 

There are jonquils out, and coming out all over the garden too.

I love this camellia.  It is always the last to come out - and I think its flowers look a little like water lilies.

Our wattle is coming out.  Finally, when other wattles in the street have been and gone.

Three different grevilleas are blooming.

Lots of colour - and lots more to come.  And rather a lot of weeds too.  I don't know where they find the room to come up - but they do.

Sunday Selections #236

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.  This week I am returning to my avian obsession.  Birds, birds and more birds.

The Eastern rosellas adore apple (which for some reason has to be green).  The cockatoos and corellas also love it - and throw pieces to the ground.  Where they are not wasted.  Never wasted.

This male King Parrot was making it clear that sustenance was required.  And then his female companion ate from my hand.  Bliss.

There are some other birds visiting at the moment who are more camera shy:  Bearded Ravens, Wattle Birds and Spotted Pardalotes.  With luck, all of them will feature here soon.