It might be Monday and it might still be winter, but thanks to Nightjar we have Portuguese wildflowers and sunshine. All the photos were taken in mid-January.
Childing Pink (Petrorhagia nanteuilii) ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
It’s time to take a walk again with Ice Swimmer who’s here with the next chapter in his series.
Railing and Autumn Colours ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
A look back north to the path that goes to the western cliffs. The Artists’ Building is in the right behind the earthworks. [Read more…]
Even Buddha is confused by the weather ©voyager, all rights reserved
We had some very strange weather overnight. Let’s see…at 9 pm the temp was -2º C with light freezing rain and everything was covered in a heavy layer of ice. By midnight the temp had climbed to +11º C with heavy pouring rain and over the next few hours the heavy accumulation of ice just melted away. By 6 am almost all of the ice was gone, the rain had stopped and the temp had plummeted back down to -6º C with high winds and intermittent bouts of fine snow. If I hadn’t checked the forecast I would have woken this morning to temps colder than when I went to bed and I would have been completely baffled about the disappearance of so much ice.
Florence was back last week. Then we had some snow and my garden ornament turned surreal.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved. I swear it’s photography, not painting
It’s time for the next chapter in Ice Swimmer’s series.
Small Concrete Building ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
This concrete shed is on the northeastern corner of the island. [Read more…]
That, apparently, is a quote by R Buckminster Fuller. It is also the title of a series of photographs by Reuben Wu, taken in Spitzbergen, with a particular focus on the Svalbard Satellite Station. About the series:
Taken on Spitzbergen, in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Reuben Wu’s images detail the breathtaking appearance of our planet’s extremities. His photograph series Love Is Metaphysical Gravity is a visual feast of soft pink and blue colour tones, artic landscapes, dreamy auroras and the incomprehensible beauty of the unpolluted night’s sky.
[…]
While Love Is Metaphysical Gravity in part serves as a documentary of the remote islands and the radomes of the Svalbard Satellite Station, what it is perhaps most sensitive to is this: It may be one of the most uninhabited places on Earth, but Spitsbergen is no stranger to communication.
Picking out favourites out of that icy landscape is a challenge, but here’s a couple from Reuben’s website:
Love Is Metaphysical Gravity by Reuben Wu
Love Is Metaphysical Gravity by Reuben Wu. This one is by far my absolute favourite. Turns out it is possible to choose after all!
Love Is Metaphysical Gravity by Reuben Wu
For full effect and full-size pictures, visit his site, and there’s plenty more to explore, too. I sense a timesink of the best kind.
An interesting find from Avalus.
I found this little piece of (oil) shale next to roadway currently under maintenance/construction. It is the imprint of a fern and something else. The stone might have come from the near Saar-region, where coal was dug up from the ground. The ‘waste-rocks’ are used as road-gravel.
‘We are walking on history’ gets a deeper meaning here, I guess.
(I need to take a picture of the fossil fern next to a living fern in spring :) )
schieferfossil, ©Avalus, all rights reserved
Japanese Maple, ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s been raining here most of the day and with the temp hovering between -1º C and +1º C all that rain has been freezing and accumulating. Just stepping out of the house is dangerous. I slipped several times going down my front stairs and once I was at the bottom there was no-where I could go beyond a small patch of grass. Every surface is coated with about 1.5 cm of ice. Even poor low to the ground and 4-footed Jack fell twice going out to pee. The schools are closed, city buses have been canceled and I haven’t seen a single car drive past my house all day. The big, heavy trees are groaning and cracking under the weight and my birch tree has already lost a sizable limb. The forecast says it should all melt soon though, with temps expected to warm up overnight and reach a high of +12º C tomorrow. I hope they’re right.
Lofty has sent us a few follow-up photos to his post of January 21/19, Mt. Lofty.
Here are some pictures taken from Mt Lofty on the morning of the day after the super Bloody Full Moon Eclipse Thingy. The first shot is of moonset over the city, the second and third are of the sun about to rise over Mt Barker, the next little mountain to the ESE. They only vary in zoom and where the auto exposure is pointed. The building on the right of the picture is Mt Lofty House, nowadays an upmarket hotel. Notice how they are taking fire safety seriously, with a row of large water tanks set below the main entrance.
©Lofty, all rights reserved
©Lofty, all rights reserved
©Lofty, all rights reserved
Beautiful shots, Lofty. Thanks for sharing.
There’s a small (30 animals or so) troupe of starling foraging in the village.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
We’re back at Harakka with Ice Swimmer for the next chapter in his series.
Sunday Indeed ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
Days aren’t siblings. Sunday was a sun day. This is the view from the Ullanlinna jetty towards Kaivopuisto. [Read more…]
Fishing at the Creek, ©voyager, all rights reserved
What do you do when the creek is full and flowing and there’s not a speck of ice in sight? You go fishing, of course. That’s what Jack is doing in this photo in case it’s not immediately obvious. He’s still hoping to repeat his lucky catch of a few years ago. Meanwhile, I stand onshore explaining to curious onlookers why my dog is standing up to his chest in cold water, not moving a muscle and staring at something that no-one else sees.
