LAPIS TURTLE

Turtles are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures. Due to their long lifespan, slow movement, sturdiness, and wrinkled appearance, they are an emblem of longevity and stability in many cultures around the world. Turtles are regularly incorporated into human culture, with painters, photographers, poets, songwriters, and sculptors using them as subjects. They have an important role in mythologies around the world, and are often implicated in creation myths regarding the origin of the Earth. Sea turtles are a charismatic megafauna and are used as symbols of the marine environment and environmentalism.

One of my collections is little carved stone turtles, one of which made of lapis lazuli is seen here in the foreground. Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep blue semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense colour. Lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines and in other mines in the Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan as early as the 7th millennium BC. Lapis beads have been found at neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania.

At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments. It was used by some of the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque, including Masaccio, Perugino, Titian and Vermeer, and was often reserved for the clothing of the central figures of their paintings, especially the Virgin Mary.

Today mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in the Andes mountains in Chile. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States and Canada.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

COMFORT

"Love is cheering and sharing and compassion and giving and receiving. Love is an action thing more than a word thing, that brings comfort or joy or relief to anyone or anything." - Ziggy Marley 

This post is part of the Our Beautiful World meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme,
and also part of the Spiritual Sundays meme.

AT THE PORT

Gantry cranes for shipping container loading and unloading at the Port of Melbourne. I was rather pleased this photo came out as I was stretching the zoom capability of my camera, these structures being about 3.5 km away.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme.

FRIDAY GREENS #94 - DUCK FAMILY

Welcome to this meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

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

If you take part in this meme:
Please link back to this page from your blog, with the Friday Greens logo or link text;
In the spirit of community, please visit other participants to see their photos and leave a comment;
Say hello here in the comments box, which is always appreciated!

RED VALERIAN

Centranthus ruber, in the Caprifoliaceae family, also called red valerian, spur valerian, kiss-me-quick, fox's brush, and Jupiter's beard, is a popular garden plant grown for its ornamental flowers. A native of the Mediterranean region, Centranthus ruber has been introduced into many other parts of the world as a garden escape. It is naturalised in France, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland and the United States. In the US it can be found growing wild in such western states as Arizona, Utah, California, Hawaii, and Oregon, usually in disturbed, rocky places at elevations below 200 m. It is often seen by roadsides or in urban wasteland. It can tolerate very alkaline soil conditions.

It grows as a perennial plant, usually as a subshrub though it can take any form from a herb to a shrub depending on conditions; the plants are usually woody at the base. The leaves are generally 5–8 cm in length. Their form changes from the bottom to the top of the plant, the lower leaves being petioled while the upper leaves are sessile. The leaves grow in opposite pairs and are oval or lanceolate in shape.The plant flowers profusely, and though the individual flowers are small (no more than 4 mm), the inflorescences are large and showy. The flowers are small in rounded clusters each with 5 fused petals and a spur. The most typical colour is a brick red or purplish red, but colours include deep crimson, pale pink, and lavender. Centranthus ruber 'Albus' (about 10% of individuals) has white blooms.

Flowering takes place in early Summer and, in cool Summer areas, continues sporadically throughout the summer and into Autumn. The cultivar 'coccineus' is especially long-blooming. The blooms have a strong and somewhat rank scent. They are pollinated by both bees and butterflies and the plant is noted for attracting insects. Seeds have tufts similar to dandelions that allow wind dispersal, and as such can become self-seed and become invasive if not properly controlled.Both leaves and roots can be eaten, the leaves either fresh in salads or lightly boiled, the roots boiled in soups. Opinions differ as to whether either make very good eating, however. Although it is sometimes reported to have medicinal properties, there is no basis for this view, which is almost certainly due to confusion with true valerian, (Valeriana officinalis).

The butterfly feeding on the nectar is the Australian painted lady (Vanessa kershawi) butterfly, mostly confined to Australia, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

BELVEDERE, VIENNA

The Belvedere is a historic building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the third district of the city, on the south-eastern edge of its centre. It houses the Belvedere museum.

The grounds are set on a gentle gradient and include decorative tiered fountains and cascades, Baroque sculptures, and majestic wrought iron gates. The Baroque palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Belvedere was built during a period of extensive construction in Vienna, which at the time was both the imperial capital and home to the ruling Habsburg dynasty. This period of prosperity followed on from the commander-in-chief Prince Eugene of Savoy's successful conclusion of a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire.

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.

FLORAL VARIATIONS

This is an image that I have edited in Photoshop and also in Pixelmator. The floral transmogrification is completed in both form and colour.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

SPRING SUNSHINE & SHADE

In the Parklands, a wonderful sunny Spring day! Unused to the sudden heat and sunshine, we had to seek some shade...

This post is part of the Friday Greens meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme,
and also part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.

FRIDAY GREENS #93 - HORSES

Welcome to this meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

Spring green in the Southern Hemisphere. In Melbourne's Dandenongs.

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

If you take part in this meme:

Please link back to this page from your blog, with the Friday Greens logo or link text;
In the spirit of community, please visit other participants to see their photos and leave a comment;
Say hello here in the comments box, which is always appreciated!

WARATAHS & CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Waratah (Telopea) is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania). The most well-known species in this genus is Telopea speciosissima, which has bright red flowers and is the NSW state emblem.

The waratah is a member of the plant family Proteaceae, a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The key diagnostic feature of Proteaceae is the inflorescence, which is often very large, brightly coloured and showy, consisting of many small flowers densely packed into a compact head or spike. Species of waratah boast such inflorescences ranging from 6–15 cm in diameter with a basal ring of coloured bracts. The leaves are spirally arranged, 10–20 cm long and 2–3 cm broad with entire or serrated margins. The name waratah comes from the Eora Aboriginal people, the original inhabitants of the Sydney area.

Chrysanthemums, sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus Chrysanthemum in the family Asteraceae. They are native to Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the centre of diversity is in China. There are countless horticultural varieties and cultivars. Shown here is a green spider chrysanthemum hybrid.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.