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…]
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.
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…]
It’s time for the next chapter in Ice Swimmer’s series.
View Southeast from the Top and a Ship. ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
It’s time to go for a walk with Ice Swimmer in the latest chapter of his series.
The Path on the Rocks in the South. ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
On Harakka, humans are supposed to be restricted to the roads, paths and other designated areas. On the rocks, stones or painted triangles mark the paths. [Read more…]
We’re starting a new series today from Ice Swimmer. It’s a follow-up to his series last fall Harakka an Island and it’s full of colour which has been missing from my part of the world for months. I invite you all to sit back and enjoy as Ice Swimmer takes us on a tour.
This series is about the island Harakka in Helsinki. I revisited Harakka in October 2018, about three months after the first visits in July 2018. As in July. I actually went there twice. The first visit in October was on Saturday afternoon and the second was the next day, Sunday, also in the afternoon.
1. Harakka in Autumn. ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
Old Tjikko Karl Brodowsky, Atlas Obscura
This lonely Norway Spruce lives on top of Falufajallet Mountain in Sweden and is estimated to be about 9, 550 years old making it the worlds oldest tree. According to Atlas Obscura,
Old Tjikko is part of a clonal organism and its age was determined by carbon dating of its roots. There’s a small path that leads to the tree and park rangers give free guided tours. It’s preferred that visitors not go unaccompanied. I’d say that people shouldn’t be allowed to visit at all except I’d like to go myself.
I may need to start a new bucket list just for the trees that I’d like to visit.
It’s the last chapter of Nightjar’s series and it’s beautiful.
Little things. Moss, rocks, wood, water. All so tiny and pretty.
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Fiona is a baby hippo who was born 6 weeks prematurely at the Cincinnati Zoo. Keeping her alive was a massive undertaking, but she’s thriving now and has just celebrated her second birthday. Here’s a quick look back at some of the highlights of the past 2 years.
Nightjar has more rocks for us in the next chapter of her series.
There are quartzites and quartz veins on this hill, but this path isn’t the best to see quartz veins. Still it is easy to find bits of quartz here and there. Quartz hunting is always fun (although if you are like me it tends to mysteriously fill pockets).
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Calling all rockhounds…Here’s Nightjar with the exciting next chapter in her series.
It’s not only the vegetation that is different here, the rocks are very different too. We left sedimentary rocks behind and we are now in the domain of metamorphic rocks. Mostly phyllites. Phyllite is a metamorphic rock originating from shale sediments, it’s soft and highly foliated, easy to split into sheets, and it smells of clay. The most wonderful characteristics? The colours and the sheen! You can’t mistake that sheen for anything else. Phyllites here are really pretty.
©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Trees in the News: According to Vox, the trees at Joshua Tree National Park in California are now one step closer to extinction thanks to the current US government shutdown.
According to National Parks Traveler, visitors are creating illegal roads and driving into some of the park’s most fragile areas. They are also chopping down trees, setting illegal fires, and graffitiing rocks. With Joshua Tree being roughly the size of Delaware, the eight on-duty law enforcement rangers had no way to stop all the prohibited activity.
Joshua trees are already facing possible extinction, with scientists claiming that the Joshua Tree habitat will be lost to climate change by 2100. Smith told National Geographic in October, “We’re just in crisis mode right now.” Twenty days into the government shutdown, vandals are accelerating the trees’ demise.
Why? Why must people be so short-sighted and destructive? The article at National Parks Traveler notes that Joshua trees were cut down so that 4 wheelers could go around entrance gates. Once inside the trespassers continued their destruction, tearing up virgin desert, running over plants, camping in off-limits areas, leaving behind heaps of trash and generally behaving like 3 year olds high on sugar and let loose in a toy store with no supervision. It’s one more thing we can add to the list of things that Trump is destroying.
Some beautiful night shots from Lofty,
Well it was too hot to sleep well this morning, so I got up at 4:30am and rode my bicycle across the top of our little mountain, Mt Lofty. The city lights sparkled below while the Flinders Column kept watch with the planet Venus looking over its shoulder. The restaurant lights allowed the local magpies to forage for moths and stuff. After a quiet moment I swoosh back home at 60km/h for a cup of tea and breakfast. The forecast top for the city today is for 41°C. Some places in the deserts north of us reached 47-48°C yesterday.
©Lofty, all rights reserved
©Lofty, all rights reserved
©Lofty, all rights reserved
I hope you’re finding ways to stay cool, Lofty. Thanks for sharing.
