Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
16 October 2022 was – even by Perth standards – a particularly benign Spring day.
All photos in this post involved a long lens peeking over North Fremantle residents’ front fences, into gardens of highly diverse persuasions; the “unkempt” and the “manicured” proved equally alluring.
The two first images were taken from Stirling Highway’s western footpath; I suggest you zoom in/enlarge – the Hibiscus’s stamen is especially worth a closer view.
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As Pelican Yoga regulars already know, I generally prefer wild places, wild animals and plants, untamed, “in the wild”/ au naturel.
That said, I would never wish to forgo the pleasures afforded by exotic plants, as cultivated in both “Botanic” and domestic gardens.
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Lion’s teeth, wind-riders, and a bad reputation….
I am referring to members of Taraxacum – a large genus of flowering plants. which most Australians regard as weeds and/or as highly invasive pests.
They are generally known as dandelions; Australian has some native species, but the ones so very familiar to most of us are indeed “alien invaders”.
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Nuytsia Floribunda is generally known as the Western Australian Christmas tree.
In southwest WA (its only home range) most people simply call it a “Christmas tree”.
Enormously more colourful and much more bizarre than any “traditional” Christmas tree, it is usually in full bloom at Christmas.
The world’s largest member of the mistletoe family is hemi-parasitic, rather than merely parasitic; Nuytsia (the single member of its own genus) does photosynthesize, and it has prodigiously long roots.
Comments closedAll photos copyright Doug Spencer, taken on recent walks on local streets and footpaths.
The lovely, spacious musical bonus comes from the northern hemisphere…
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Arguably the quintessential nostalgic song, I’ll Be Seeing You was composed in 1938. (music by Sammy Fain, words by Irving Kahal)
That year it was inserted into a Broadway musical…which flopped.
The song, however, became a “standard”, covered by countless singers…and not a few instrumentalists.
It was a #1 hit for Bing Crosby in 1944.
Frank Sinatra recorded it more than once.
Even Eric Clapton did so, in 2016.
The most celebrated recording – Billie Holiday’s 1944 version – is the one which reached Mars in 2018, as the conclusion to NASA’s final transmission to its Explorer rover.
However, the most “out of this world” version to reach this Earthling’s ears is a “live” and exploratory instrumental trio treatment, delivered in “the city of fallen angels”, in June 2016.
Comments closedThis post, the two recent Boab posts, and two future posts are all fruits of the afternoon of the same day – 20.05.21.
Southwestern Australia’s Spring flowering is indeed one of the world’s most astonishing and beautiful natural phenomena, and Kings Park in Spring is guaranteed to leave any Northern Hemisphere resident’s jaws agape.
It is, however, a BIG mistake to pay attention in Spring, only.
In southwest WA generally, and Kings Park specifically, you can easily see some extraordinary endemic species, in full bloom, at any time; Kings Park’s Banksia Garden never disappoints.
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For the benefit of those who have not visited the Stirling Range…
The featured image and the one below – wide-angle and telephoto, respectively – look east from Toolbrunup’s east-facing flank, across to Bluff Knoll.
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At 1,159 square kilometres Stirling Range National Park is “large”, or “small”, depending on one’s perspective.
Four hours drive northwest, Perth – Western Australia’s sprawling metropolis – occupies more than five times as much ground.
The Stirlings’ “footprint” is less than one 209th of the United Kingdom’s 242, 495 square kilometres.
Botanically, however, the Stirling Range is much the “bigger”/“hotter” place!
It has more flowering plant species than does the entire UK; many of them grow only in or near the Stirling Range.
Two recent “catastrophic” fires seemingly “destroyed” much more than half of what had been growing there…
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No “glamorous” or “exotic” destination – photos taken within one 15 minute period, within 15 minutes easy walk of our inner suburban home.
In 2020 West Australians have had it very much easier than have most other humans, even most other Australians.
Still, the kind of beauty pictured here remains easily accessible to just about any able bodied Australian.
Simply take a walk during “golden hour” – when the sun is within an hour or so of sunrise or sunset!
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