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Category: miscellaneous

“Gum Trees” & Fire (#37 in “a shining moment” series)

 

Ever wondered why “gum trees” were so named?

The answer will face your stare, if you examine this post’s image!

It shows a Eucalypt, in the aftermath of the most recent of probably many fires which this tree had survived, very near to the Australian continent’s southernmost point.

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Thar Desert (#36 in “a shining moment” series)

 

No other large desert is so densely populated by humans.

Its remarkably abundant and diverse wildlife also defies preconceived notions of deserts as “empty” or “barren” places.

Most of the Thar Desert is in northwest India; the other 15% is in Pakistan.

The greater portion is in Rajasthan.

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Wild Yak Valley (#35 in “a shining moment” series)

 

It was – in the exact words uttered earlier tonight on Australian television – “an analog, off-line experience”.

On the morning of 19 October 2019, the valley floor on which we stood was almost twice as high as Australia-proper’s highest peak.

The peaks above us were a deal higher, again.

…and yes – rather more than a thousand, mostly-vertical metres away from us – wild yaks were making their way across a snow-blanketed alpine meadow.

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African Flower (#34 in “a shining moment” series)

This one is probably the most popular African flower among Australia’s gardeners.

This post’s example was photographed on Anzac Day afternoon, in a petite, surprisingly lush parkland, on the “doorstep” of Perth’s CBD.

Today’s musical selection was inspired by an African flower…or, perhaps, by an imaginary one, blooming in a jungle, somewhere…

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A lovesome thing (#31 in “a shining moment” series)

 

A Flower is a Lovesome Thing  (occasionally, wrongly, it appears online as …a Lonesome…) is one of many exquisite compositions which Billy Strayhorn composed for Duke Ellington.

This post’s flower is one of many orchids that exist only in certain locations in southwestern Western Australia.

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