Jack’s Walk

Roadside Lilies, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Wild lilies, ©voyager, all rights reserved

These lilies grow wild in this area and right now is the height of their season. You see them everywhere, lining the roadside, filling the ditches and marking the edges of most every field. I love their bright colour and tall sturdy stems that allow them to sway in the breeze. I’ve tried to cut some to bring home in the past, but they don’t last so now I just admire them where they live.

Absolute Perfection.

An amazing gift, from Marcus & Kestrel, who collaborated on this little slice of perfection. It wouldn’t be perfection to some one else, but it is to me – absolutely gorgeous, fantastically sharp, my favourite colours in that magnificent braiding, giving a wonderful grip, and the beauty of the blade. Fits my hand perfectly, and is properly sharp and lethal. Honestly, I was speechless when I opened this up, and I still just babble about it. I will cherish this, always. I couldn’t possibly come up with enough of a thank you to you both for your work, especially such finely done and thoughtful work. Thank you, thank you, thank you.  She definitely needs to be named, but I have to spend more time with her to find what’s right.

Clickety for full size.

© C. Ford, all rights reserved.

Word Wednesday.

Shabby

Adjective.

1: Clothed with worn or seeding garments.

2a: Threadbare and faced from wear. b: ill-kept: Dilapidated.

3a: Mean, Despicable, Contemptible <must feel shabby…because of his compromises – Nat Hentoff>
b: Ungenerous, unfair. c: Inferior in quality.

-shabbily, adverb.

-shabbiness, noun.

[Origin: obsolete English shab a low fellow.]

(1669)

“She stole a glance round the office – the office of the senior partner of the firm. It suited Walter Fane, she decided. It was definitely old-fashioned, the furniture was shabby, but was made of good solid Victorian material.” – Sleeping Murder, Agatha Christie.

Reconstructing the fearsome Haast’s eagle.

A comparison of the huge claws of Haast's eagle with those of its close relative the Hieraaetus morphnoides, the "little" eagle. Image / Bunce M, Szulkin M, Lerner HRL, Barnes I, Shapiro B, et al.

A comparison of the huge claws of Haast’s eagle with those of its close relative the Hieraaetus morphnoides, the “little” eagle. Image / Bunce M, Szulkin M, Lerner HRL, Barnes I, Shapiro B, et al.

With a wingspan reaching as wide as 3m and huge claws that could crush bone, the Haast’s eagle was one of the most fearsome creatures ever to stalk New Zealand’s prehistoric wilderness.

The largest eagle known to have existed anywhere, its demise quickly followed that of its much-larger prey, the moa, which was hunted to extinction by early Maori settlers around 1400 CE.

Now a top international scientist and Kiwi collaborators hope to shed more light on the lost giant, in an innovative study that could help conserve those endangered predatory birds that remain today.

An artist's depiction of a Haast's eagle attacking two moa. Image / John Megahan.

An artist’s depiction of a Haast’s eagle attacking two moa. Image / John Megahan.

You can read more here, thanks to David for letting me know about this.

Jack’s Walk

We had a good rain last night and when it was over the humidity and high temps were gone. We slept with the windows open and this morning greeted us with a cloudless blue sky and a lovely breeze. It’s definitely an outside kind of day. I hope it is for you too.

Pittock Lake, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Anatomy Atlas Part 16 – Feet Muscles

Feet. Some may find them pretty, or even alluring. Not me. Whilst hands are true marvels of what evolution can achieve, our feet are very far removed from being such. Their ad-hoc nature is all too apparent.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Humans are plantigrade, as are many tree-dwelling creatures and only a few land-dwellers (like bears). That means our heels  touch the ground and not only the tips of the fingers. Most land dwellers are digitigrade, that is they walk on their fingers or their tips. That has the advantage of allowing for greater speed – and indeed even humans resort to moving on their toes when speed is the priority.

Professor Kos emphasised that although “plantigrade” means “touching the ground with the whole sole” this is not in fact true. Our feet do not touch the ground with the whole sole , not as such. There are only three points that bear weight – the heel, the big joint at the base of the big toe and the joint at the base of the fourth toe. That is why we are able to stand on one foot – it still provides three points of contact for stability.

And just as it is with the hand, most of the muscles that actually move the feet are not in the feet, but on the calf.

Tree Tuesday

This week we have a trio of beautiful trees from Lofty who says: They are all much the same species of Eucalypt in a nearby region of dairy farms. The big solitary trees can’t reproduce easily as they are surrounded by large munchie beasts.

I think they’re each lovely all by themselves, but together Lofty’s clever titling makes them a humorous and thoughtful grouping.

Thanks, Lofty. Click for full size.

cemetree, ©Lofty, all rights reserved

magestree, ©, Lofty all rights reserved

senilitree, ©Lofty, all rights reserved

 

Going Missing (Admin Stuff).

© C. Ford.

I’m so sorry, but I have been eaten alive by pain all day, and nothing has gotten it under control so far. Tuesday is the all day appointment day: labs/research/oncologist/Y program application/radiation/oncologist/caregiver group/possibly swimming if I stop wanting to scream, and probably more stuff I forgot. So I’m going to flake off entirely on Tuesday (17th).

If I somehow magically get the pain under control, I’ll show up.  Right now, I can’t cope with sitting at all, so the thought of sitting down to do blogging is not a welcome one. My apologies, I hope this will be under control quickly, so I can get back to doing the things I love to do.