Pictures of Miscellaneous Stuff & Things

[Quick Steel]

Fascinating.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Wow, very cool. In their native environment, is there some special bug that is drawn to their scent and pollinates them? Seems like a fairly dicey reproductive strategy to just hope there's a bug around on the ONE night you decide to get frisky...

[TPK]

Moon rise a couple of nights ago.

Nice picture Buddy!

[TPK]

Cozy Turtles .........

Always tried to avoid those. But that's a nice picture of them.

[TPK]

Last evening we experienced a special event, the blooming of of the Night Blooming Cereus. They open only for one night, then they turn down and eventually drop from the plant. The Night Blooming Cereus has a wonderful scent and last evening was very pleasant except for the mosquitoes. We had three blooms last evening but I only focused on the one that was easy to photograph. Miss Joy told me in the afternoon, "We'll have some blooms tonight". So I went out to check around 8 pm and the 3 blooms were not open then around 9 they were open.
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Treefarmer

Facinating & Beautiful! Great picture Philip!

[jmh58]

Cool Philip.

John

[QTCut5]

Wow, very cool. In their native environment, is there some special bug that is drawn to their scent and pollinates them? Seems like a fairly dicey reproductive strategy to just hope there's a bug around on the ONE night you decide to get frisky...

Night Blooming Cereus if quite common here in Hawaii. The "leaves" are actually more like a cactus-vine lined with nasty little spines. It grows like a parasitic weed climbing up trees and eventually choking them to death. But the flowers are beautiful and very fragrant. Bees love them, and when a bunch of flowers bloom, the next morning there are so many bees at work gathering the pollen that it sounds like a buzz saw in the bushes.

One other interesting fact...when two flowers are cross-pollinated just right, a fruit is produced called "Dragonfruit" and it's delicious.

[Eustace]

Some pictures from vacation

[Eustace]

and...

[Paladin]

Wow! Great stuff, Eustace.

Ray

[Quick Steel]

Where did you take your vacation Eustace?

[Eustace]

Where did you take your vacation Eustace?

A small tour of Bulgaria.

Wow! Great stuff, Eustace.

Ray

Thank you, Ray!

[doglegg]

Thanks for including us on your tour. Lovely and interesting pics.

[Eustace]

One more

[Quick Steel]

Does the Bulgarian Orthodox Church have its own Patriarch?

[Eustace]

Does the Bulgarian Orthodox Church have its own Patriarch?

Yes, it has been the Bulgarian Patriarchate since the 10th century.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Awesome Eustace! The Bronze Age fascinates me - us Westerners often don't appreciate how much was accomplished during that time in human history. The Bronze Age lasted for well over 2000 years and included the rise & fall of some of the most influential civilizations in history.

[mrwatch]

A West Michigan septarian nodule aka lightning stone. I dug this out of a farm pond dig pile. 4 1/4 inch. I wet ground the angled section as my focal point and sanded and wheel polished. This type is limited to a narrow stretch of Lake Michigan shore line. Clay that harden into siderite and the cracks filled in with calcite.

[Steve Warden]

Cool

[samb1955]

Way cool.

[doglegg]

Always enjoy your finds and improvements.

[Quick Steel]

Very interesting.

[Eustace]

Awesome Eustace! The Bronze Age fascinates me - us Westerners often don't appreciate how much was accomplished during that time in human history. The Bronze Age lasted for well over 2000 years and included the rise & fall of some of the most influential civilizations in history.

The picture of the step of the mother goddess is from the Thracian megalithic sanctuary Beglik Tash. The sanctuary dates from the end of the Bronze Age - the beginning of the Iron Age. Magnetic anomalies have been measured in the area and until recently it was used as a gathering place for the ancient Bulgarian custom of Anastenaria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beglik_Tash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastenaria

Seuthes III was one of the last great rulers of the Odrysian kingdom. He fought successful wars against Alexander and after his death against Lysimachus. He ruled between 330 and 300 BC. In the photos is his tomb. Unfortunately, its capital Seuthopolis is currently at the bottom of one of the largest Bulgarian dams.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Awesome Eustace! The Bronze Age fascinates me - us Westerners often don't appreciate how much was accomplished during that time in human history. The Bronze Age lasted for well over 2000 years and included the rise & fall of some of the most influential civilizations in history.

The picture of the step of the mother goddess is from the Thracian megalithic sanctuary Beglik Tash. The sanctuary dates from the end of the Bronze Age - the beginning of the Iron Age. Magnetic anomalies have been measured in the area and until recently it was used as a gathering place for the ancient Bulgarian custom of Anastenaria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beglik_Tash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastenaria

Seuthes III was one of the last great rulers of the Odrysian kingdom. He fought successful wars against Alexander and after his death against Lysimachus. He ruled between 330 and 300 BC. In the photos is his tomb. Unfortunately, its capital Seuthopolis is currently at the bottom of one of the largest Bulgarian dams.

Until recently, I never knew that "Thrace" was not really the name of an ancient country or land - it was simply what the Greeks called all the different tribes of that area. Maybe in Ancient Greece, "Thrace" just meant "people from way over yonder"...

[TPK]

A West Michigan septarian nodule aka lightning stone. I dug this out of a farm pond dig pile. 4 1/4 inch. I wet ground the angled section as my focal point and sanded and wheel polished. This type is limited to a narrow stretch of Lake Michigan shore line. Clay that harden into siderite and the cracks filled in with calcite.

Very cool mrwatch!