THE WALRUS

The Walrus

The walrus lolls on icy shores

Of Arctic oceans frigid;

He barks then naps, and dreams and snores

How calm he looks, so rigid!

The walrus turns and smiles and drools,

He seems oddly familiar;

Could it be John, or Dick or Jules,

No, no, he’s too peculiar…

The walrus wakes and yawns and bleats,

And stares directly at me;

He nibbles crabs, and clams he eats

But he refuses chutney…

The walrus waits and then he goes

And dives quite deeply seaward;

In icy waters that are froze

He likes to gambol leeward.

Enjoy the ice while there, my friend,

For quickly it is melting,

Your home’s cool ease will shortly end
As we give Earth a belting...

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Poets United Midweek Motif.

MANATEES & MERMAIDS

The Manatee

The manatee’s a mammal,
In seas and rivers swimming;
It’s neither cow, nor camel,
The waters, rather, skimming.

The poor old beast is ugly,
Fat, heavy, wrinkled, tubby…
Yet smiles and giggles smugly
As it thinks: “Pretty’s chubby.”

When tars of old espied
Manatees on the shore sunning,
“Mermaids, we see!” they cried,
“Beauties of blue sea! Stunning!”

The manatee’s not fat, nor ugly,
Just Rubenesque, I think.
And mermaids rather fugly
As they swim, dive and sink.

And as for myopic sailors
Who saw in them sirens fair,
Too long were they in whalers,
Too long without women were…

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,

and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

LIONEL THE LION

Lionel the Lion

There was a Libyan lion,
(Yes, Lionel was his name),
Who was the hopeful scion
Of family of great fame.

He lingered by the lakeside
Lunching on tender lamb,
(And tears of pity cried
Because he hated Spam).

Lionel was a clement lion
With such a heart of gold,
But when it came luncheon
His taste, refined and bold.

Beware of kind-hearted foodies
Who will devour meats
While saying that such goodies
Are vegetarian treats.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

BURANO, ITALY

Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy; like Venice itself, it could more correctly be called an archipelago of four islands linked by bridges. It is situated near Torcello at the northern end of the Lagoon, and is widely known for its fine lace work, which is very expensive because it is extremely time-consuming to make.

Burano is also known for its small, brightly painted houses, which are popular with photographers and artists. The colours of the houses follow a specific system originating from the golden age of its development. If someone wishes to paint their home, one must send a request to the local government authority, which will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot.

Other attractions include the Church of San Martino, with a leaning campanile and a painting by Giambattista Tiepolo (Crufixion, 1727), the Oratorio di Santa Barbara and the Museum and School of Lacemaking.

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

DUCKS FROM DOVER

DUCKS

There were four ducks from Dover,
That flew so quickly over –
I hardly saw them streak
Up in the sky so quick!

Four ducks that darted past,
So hasty, swift and fast –
I thought they were airplanes
Or express rushing trains!

Four ducks so sleek and fleet,
No time to meet and greet –
Goodbye, Dick, Dot and Dean;
Des too far to be seen!

This post is part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. According to the 2011 census, on 9 August 2011 Adelaide had a population of 1.23 million. The demonym "Adelaidean" is used in reference to the city and its residents. Adelaide is north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges which surround the city. Adelaide stretches 20 km from the coast to the foothills, and 90 km from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south.

Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen consort to King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Light's design set out Adelaide in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parkland. Early Adelaide was shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties, which led to the moniker "City of Churches".

As South Australia's seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the cultural boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street and in various districts of the metropolitan area. Today, Adelaide is noted for its many festivals and sporting events, its food, wine and culture, its long beachfronts, and its large defence and manufacturing sectors. It ranks highly in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of The Economist's World's Most Liveable Cities index in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It has also been ranked the most liveable city in Australia by the Property Council of Australia in 2011, 2012 and again in 2013.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

XYLOCASTRO, GREECE

Xylokastro (Greek: Ξυλόκαστρο) is a seaside town or village and a former municipality in Corinthia in the Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Xylokastro-Evrostina, of which it is a unit or component. The municipal unit has an area of 310.252 km2. In 2011 its population was 5,715 for the town and 13,277 for the municipal unit. Geographic features include a large beach and semi-arid forests on varied terrain, scattered with early churches and evidence of early settlements and religious sites. It has narrowly separated upper and lower coastal roads and forms a medium-sized touristic village on the Gulf of Corinth.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,

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and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. It is in the dry tropics region of Queensland, adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2015 population estimate of 180,333. Considered the unofficial capital of North Queensland by locals, Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state.

Popular attractions include "The Strand", a long tropical beach and garden strip; Riverway, a riverfront parkland attraction located on the banks of Ross River; Reef HQ, a large tropical aquarium holding many of the Great Barrier Reef's native flora and fauna; the Museum of Tropical Queensland, built around a display of relics from the sunken British warship HMS Pandora; Castle Hill, the most prominent landmark of the area and a popular fitness destination; The Townsville Sports Reserve; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national park.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
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and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

ROME, ITALY

Rome ( Italian: Roma; Latin: Rōma) is a city and special comune (named "Roma Capitale") in Italy. Rome is the capital of Italy and also of the Province of Rome and of the region of Lazio. With 2.9 million residents in 1,285.3 km2, it is also the country's largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. The urban area of Rome extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 3.8 million. Between 3.2 and 4.2 million people live in Rome metropolitan area.

The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of Tiber river. Vatican City is an independent country within the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: For this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states. Rome's history spans more than two and a half thousand years, since its legendary founding in 753 BC. Rome is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe. It is referred to as "The Eternal City" (Latin: Roma Aeterna), a central notion in ancient Roman culture.

In the ancient world it was successively the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and is regarded as one of the birthplaces of Western civilisation. Since the 1st century AD, Rome has been considered the seat of the Papacy and in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
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and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

QUEANBEYAN, NEW SOUTH WALES

Queanbeyan is a regional centre on the Southern Tablelands in south-eastern New South Wales adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory. The city's mixed economy is based on light construction, manufacturing, service, retail and agriculture. It is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council.

At the 2011 census census, Queanbeyan had a population of 37,991. Following the founding of Canberra, Australia's federal capital, just 15 kilometres to the west, Queanbeyan has become an integral part of the capital city's economy. The word Queanbeyan is the anglicised form of Quinbean – an Aboriginal word meaning "clear waters".

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

PATRAS, GREECE

Patras (Modern Greek: Πάτρα, Classical Greek: Πάτραι (pl.), Latin: Patrae (pl.)) is Greece's third largest city and the regional capital of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km west of Athens. The city is built at the foothills of Mount Panachaikon, overlooking the Gulf of Patras. Patras has a population of 213,984 (in 2011). According to the results of 2011 census, the population of the metropolitan area has a population of 260,308 and extends over an area of 738.87 km2.

The core settlement has a history spanning four millennia; in the Roman period it had become a cosmopolitan centre of the eastern Mediterranean whilst, according to Christian tradition, it was also the place of Saint Andrew's martyrdom. St Andrew's Cathedral (Agios Andreas, Άγιος Ανδρέας in Greek) is a Greek Orthodox basilica in the east side of the city. Along with the nearby old church of St. Andrew, it constitutes a place of pilgrimage for Christians from all over the world. Construction of the Greek Byzantine-style church began in 1908 under the supervision of the architect Anastasios Metaxas, followed by Georgios Nomikos. It was inaugurated 66 years later, in 1974. It covers approximately 1,800 square meters. It is the largest church in Greece and the third-largest Byzantine-style church in the Balkans, after the Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. Over the central dome there is a 5-meter-long, gold-plated cross and over the other domes there are 12 smaller crosses. These crosses symbolise Jesus and His apostles. The interior of the church is decorated with Byzantine-style wall paintings and mosaics (see photos here).

Dubbed as Greece's Gate to the West, Patras is a commercial hub, while its busy port is a nodal point for trade and communication with Italy and the rest of Western Europe. The city has two public universities and one Technological Institute, hosting a large student population and rendering Patras a major scientific centre with a field of excellence in technological education.

The Rio-Antirio bridge connects Patras' easternmost suburb of Rio to the town of Antirrio, connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with mainland Greece. Every year, in February, the city hosts one of Europe's largest and most colourful carnivals: notable features of the Patras Carnival include its mammoth satirical floats and extravagant balls and parades, enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors in a pleasant Mediterranean climate. Patras is also famous for supporting an indigenous cultural scene active mainly in the performing arts and modern urban literature. It was European Capital of Culture in 2006.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

NISYROS, GREECE

Nisyros (Greek: Νίσυρος) is a volcanic Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos. Its shape is approximately round, with a diameter of about 8 km, and an area of 41.6 km2.

Several other islets are found in the direct vicinity of Nisyros, the largest of which is Gyali. The Municipality of Nisyros includes Gyalí (pop. 21) as well as uninhabited Pacheiá, Pergoússa, Kandelioússa, Ágios Antónios and Stroggýli. It has a total land area of 50.055 km2 and a total population of 1,008 inhabitants. The island was also called Nisiro in Italian and İncirli in Turkish.

The island has a 3-4 kilometre wide caldera, and was formed within the past 150,000 years, with 3 separate eruptive stages, ranging from explosive and effusive andesitic eruptions to effusive and extrusive dacitic and rhyolitic activity. The coasts of Nisyros are generally rocky or pebbled, but there are also a few sandy beaches (mainly in the northeastern part). The volcano is currently active (but not erupting), and fumaroles are found in the craters.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
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SPRING SHOWER

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

INSPIRING INDIA

India, officially the Republic of India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

Economists estimate India to have been the most populous and wealthiest region of the world throughout the first millennium CE. This advantage was lost in the 18th century as other regions edged forward. Currently, the Indian economy is the world's seventh-largest by nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, inadequate public healthcare, and terrorism. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations.

India is a federal republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and a multi-ethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,

and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

NERANG POOL

Spring at Nerang Pool in Commonwealth Park, Canberra, Australia.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
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GREEK SEA

Cape Sounion (Modern Greek: Aκρωτήριο Σούνιο, transliterated Akrotírio Soúnio) is a promontory located 69 kilometres south-southeast of Athens, at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula in Greece. Cape Sounion is noted as the site of ruins of an ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology. The remains are perched on the headland, surrounded on three sides by the sea. The ruins bear the deeply engraved name of English Romantic poet Lord Byron (1788–1823). The site is a popular day-excursion for tourists from Athens, with the sunset over the Aegean Sea, as viewed from the ruins, a sought-after spectacle.

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,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.