More photos of the famous Ruston Roses courtesy of DavidinOz. The pink roses at the end look so fresh and fragrant that I wish there was “smell-o-vision.”
Some photos showing the scale of the garden at Ruston’s Roses. You can also see the potential if the new owners succeed.
©David Brindley, all rights reserved
Yes, I know. Sorry for being late, but it was a busy Friday and Saturday.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Jack won’t be allowed to take walks for the next 2 weeks so I thought this was a good chance to post some of the photos I took over the summer. Today I’m sharing the place we overnighted on the way to Perce. It’s a little place called Saint Luce, Quebec and we arrived just in time to watch the sunset over the St. Lawrence River. There are a few more photos under the fold and you can click for full size.
Sunset on the St. Lawrence River, ©voyager, all rights reserved
From Lofty, the story of the man behind Australia’s famous Ruston’s Roses.
This is a statue of David Ruston in a park in Renmark, a tribute to the man and his contribution.
… Ruston’s Roses in Renmark, once Australia’s biggest rose garden. David Ruston began working here at 18, and developed a life long passion for roses. He became world renowned, and was for a time President of the World Federation of Rose Societies. He built his father’s original collection of 500 rose bushes in to over 50,000 bushes. But he didn’t just grow roses, he was also an expert floral arranger.
Sadly, his health declined, as did the gardens, although they are still open to the public and with new ownership I hope the garden will return to its previous splendor and supply roses to the world once again. The garden currently has a contract to supply rose petals to the Nineteenth Street Distillery in Renmark for use in their Gin.
David had a fall a year ago, and although he was present for the opening of the Renmark Rose Festival he was unable to participate.
I like the use of hard steel to display a man of flowers.
©David Brindley, all rights reserved
Jack is doing fairly well after the removal of his lump yesterday. The wound has 18 stitches and it’s on the back of his front leg running up to the top of his shoulder which turns out to be a difficult place to keep covered. Every time he stands up the dressing slides down to his toes and the area starts to ooze a bit of serous fluid tinged with blood. We see the vet later today and I’m hoping she has a solution for this. I tried using a child’s sock with the toe cut off to keep things in place. That didn’t work. Then I tried a long swath of veterinary wrap wound tightly and that didn’t work either. Ditto for Kling wrap and a tensor bandage. He’s pretty sleepy today so it’s not too much of a problem, but it will be in a day or two when he’s brighter. The stitches stay in for 2 weeks and no walks until they’re removed. I’ve added a surgical photo under the fold in case anyone is interested. It’s a bit gory, but we nurses like that sort of thing. If you don’t or are squeamish please don’t click-through.
Not quite HappyJack today, ©voyager, all rights reserved
It seems like a good day to spit in the eye of approaching winter with some bright and colourful spring flowers from the Renmark Rose Festival courtesy of DavidinOz.
©David Brindley, all rights reserved
Jack and I took our walk at 6:30 this morning when it was still dark because Jack is having Larry™ the fatty lump removed from his shoulder girdle this morning. Larry™ has been quietly growing in Jack’s armpit for the past 5 years, but this summer he reached baseball size and started to track down the arm (leg?) so it’s time to go. Jack is very healthy going into this. His bloodwork is all normal, he’s lost weight and he’s ready for to say goodbye to Larry™ himself. Imagine a baseball in your armpit! Anyway, our photo for the day is Jack, with Larry™ front and center. I’ll let everyone know in TNET later today how he makes out.
Jack and Lumpy Larry, ©voyager, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size
In German, a wren or kinglet is known as a “Zaunkönig”, the king of the hedges, and this is how he got his name.
One day, the birds decided to crown a king. They wanted the strongest bird to be their king so he could protect them, and they decided to hold a competition. They would all fly towards the sun, and the bird who could fly the highest would be their king. They all flew as high as they could. First, the small birds needed to return to earth. Then the geese and swans. the falcon flew very high, but finally he had to give up. The eagle flew higher and higher until the sun burned his light plumage to a dark brown. Finally, he was at the end of his tether and turned around. But the small king of hedges, who was still called by a different name back then, had hidden himself between the feathers of the mighty eagle. He had waited for just that moment, and when the eagle turned around, he came out, flew a bit higher and sang his triumphant song, declaring himself king.
The eagle was very angry at the cheating little bird and swore to kill him. The little king of hedges flew into the thick hedges to hide from the eagle, who was named king by the other birds. He keeps hiding there to this very day, but he still sings his song about beating the eagle in a flying competition.
I was cleaning out some files recently when I came across an email I’d saved from 2015. It isn’t hard to see why I saved it. The photos are gorgeous and it’s hard to believe these are ordinary, transient soap bubbles. Since we have so many talented photographers on this site I thought I’d see if anyone else is interested in this art medium. Story via Backyard Neighbour,
Soap bubbles blown in freezing temperatures turn into stunning ice crystals
- Hope Thurston Carter captured the images after blowing bubbles on several freezing days in Michigan
- Temperatures between -9 and -12C are ideal for creating the ice bubbles
In the midst of one of the most severe winters in modern American history, the 52-year-old, of Martin, Michigan, got the idea after seeing similar pictures on the Internet.
‘I was instantly curious and ran out and bought some bubble solution so I could try this myself,’ she told HotSpot Media. ‘I found out very quickly that blowing bubbles in the winter and trying to photograph them is not as simple and easy as it looks!’
Still weather with temperatures between -9 and -12 degrees Celsius is ideal for creating the ice bubbles. On such a day, Hope ventures into her back garden with a bottle of bubble mixture, blows a flurry and, when one lands intact, runs to her camera to photograph it as crystals spread.
Everything is perfect, ©voyager, all rights reserved
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect.
– Alice Walker
Rq just posted some wonderful shots of the moon and the skies, and coincidentally, I’ve got some waiting as well.
©Giliell, all rights reserved, click for full size
©Giliell, all rights reserved, click for full size
Of course I could either get the trees in focus, or the moon…
©Giliell, all rights reserved, click for full size
The last two are a bit older
©Giliell, all rights reserved, click for full size
As for the musical interlude:
Hijo de la Luna
What a very 90s video. For those who don’t speak Spanish: A woman prays to the Moon for help, who wants her firstborn child in return. The child is born pale as the Moon, as the swarthy father kills the woman for feeling betrayed. The Moon now has the child and she makes a cradle when it cries.
DavidinOz has sent us photos from the Renmark Rose Festival and Oh My but they’re gorgeous. Filled with light and colour they’re a real burst of happy on these cold and dim November days. We’ll be featuring David’s photos over the next couple of weeks as a tonic to help fight winter gloom. Spring roses from Down Under, what luxury!
There are roses in this set, but the main feature is the Harry Clark fountain commemorating the 1956 floods. The main fountain structures represent wine glasses as this is a major wine growing region.
It was quite breezy that morning, so the water plays well. You can see the Murray River in the background.
©David Brindley, all rights reserved
This week we have a story tree from Nightjar and it’s a wonderful story of hope.
I was driving through an area that was badly affected by wildfires last year and stopped the car to quickly take this shot, because it shows the concept of “fire-adapted species” so well. Everything still looks horribly devastated. In the foreground there is a completely destroyed orchard, in the background a completely destroyed pine plantation. Trees are still standing, but they are dead. Except… there is a survivor! The cork oak tree is resprouting all over and will regenerate soon! That’s what cork is for, to insulate the trunk from high temperatures protecting its core during a fire. It’s one thing to know this in theory, but to see the advantage of this strategy so clearly was quite enlightening.
Cork tree, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Thanks so much for sharing, Nightjar. I think it’s amazing that any living thing can survive a forest fire. Nature is so endlessly fascinating.
