Thistles

Awhile back the thistles were in full bloom. I decided to photograph them before they entirely disappeared and whilst most by now are more thistledown than flower, a few blooms remain. 

And a poem from a Ted Hughes book of poems I have been reading.

Thistles

Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men

Thistles spike the summer air

And crackle open under a blue-black pressure

Every one a revengeful burst

of resurrection, a grasped fistful

of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up

From the underground stain of a decayed Viking

They are like pale hair and the gutturals of dialects

Every one manages a plume of blood

Then they grow grey like men

Mown down, it is a feud. Their sons appear

Stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground.

A visual interpretation of the poem on youtube.

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And so the year is dispersed and it ends to be replaced by a new one.

Jacaranda Season

Blooms

I had an internet less weekend which was so blissful that I fell to thinking about pre-Internet days and reconsidering my online obsessions.  Nevertheless a post for the first day of spring.  The weather has been mild and we have had one of those sudden seasonal transitions resulting in a riot of blooms on the roads.  The light here, always so distinct, also changes with the seasons which must account for the colours in some of the pictures that I took on a walk.

A few artificial blooms (brooches) too arranged on an old magazine that I dug up (it saddened me a bit that I have almost abandoned the leisurely flip through a magazine for internet time...).

Let's see how long the Internet in Moderation lasts!

Pink Whirls

Another flower post.

This one is an osteospermum more commonly called "Pink Whirls". Those petals make it seem like a spoon flower though.

Also taken at Mt. Coot-Tha.

Hibiscus

I love the combination of red and green, even through a festive season where they are overused dominant colours.

And I love hibiscus.

Oddly the flower to the left is a hibiscus though nowhere near as showy as its common cousin. And its petals feel a lot sturdier. The leaves look different too. Apparently it is a Hawaiian Hibiscus, though I can't find a link to the exact species.

Picture to the left taken by my brother at Mt. Coot-Tha Botanical Gardens, Brisbane

Spring!

Flowering Bauhinia Tree @ The Railway Station.

Autumn!

Pictures from let to right (I think) are maple, aspen (the catkins can be seen) and a decorative grape vine.

A trip to the Hunter Valley last weekend yielded these photographs. The day was perfect with a cool breeze and a mild honeyed light, in autumn the Valley was a bit like John Donne's lines:

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
as I have seen in one autumnal face

More famous autumn poems: Keats' ode to autumn, Jackson C. Frank's Milk and Honey (memorably covered by Nick Drake), Emily Dickinson's take and Du Fu's very many meditations on the season.

And Guardian link to many more as well as readers poems here.

Aquatic Fern

The Nardoo, a water fern that grows in Australia. Taken by Shiv at Mt. Coot-Tha Gardens, Brisbane. Click for larger view.

Indian Blanket Flower

We used to have masses of these in our Delhi and Kanpur gardens. They look a bit like weeds but were the basis of my first flower composition of flowers and canna leaves at age 12.

This picture from Helen Klebesadel.

Bromeliad

A close look at a bromeliad (taken at Mt. Coot-tha by SKM)