Monday, 18 April 2016

Amazing tree

I came across a photo of a Rainbow Eucalyptus tree and was fascinated by the colours! I had never seen anything like it before. Google is my friend, and I found some further information about this amazing tree on Wikipedia, plus a load of beautiful photos. Some of the pictures look like abstract paintings!

Eucalyptus deglupta is a tall tree, commonly known as the rainbow eucalyptus, Mindanao gum or rainbow gum. It is found in an area that spans New Britain , New Guinea, Seram, Sulawese and Mindanao, and is the only eucalyptus species with a natural range that extends into the northern hemisphere. It thrives in tropical forests that get a lot of rain.
It is cultivated as an ornamental tree, for planting in tropical and subtropical gardens and parks. It is not resistant to frosts. The showy multi-coloured streaks that cover the trunk are a distinctive landscape design element.
The unique multi-hued bark is the most distinctive feature of the tree. Patches of outer bark are shed annually at different times, showing a bright green inner bark. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tones. The previous season’s bark peels off in strips to reveal a brightly colored new bark below. The peeling process results in vertical streaks of red, orange, green, blue and gray. The colors of the bark are not as intense outside the tree's native range. E. deglupta grows up to 2 m (6 ft) wide and over 60 m (200 ft) tall.
In the US, rainbow eucalyptus grows in the frost-free climates found in Hawaii and the southern portions of California, Texas and Florida. In the continental US, the tree only grows to heights of 100 to 125 feet. Although this is only about half the height it can reach in its native range, it is still a massive tree.














Sunday, 17 April 2016

Seeing music

View sent us this beautiful video. Thanks, View.

Saturday, 16 April 2016

Everything in its place

Emily Blincoe, an artist and photographer from Austin, Texas, creates some very visually pleasing pieces using everyday things. I like them.
















Friday, 15 April 2016

They didn't get their own bedrooms..

When the Smith family moved into their new bigger house, a visiting grandparent asked four-year-old Tommy how he liked the new place.

“It’s great,” he said. “Now I have my own room, Alex has his own room, and Jamie has her own room. But poor mom is still stuck with dad.”



Thursday, 14 April 2016

The language tree and the Nordic cats

I have always been fascinated by language. I came across this tree and an illustration of how one language in the same geographic area as a few others that have much in common turned out to have emerged from a completely separate branch. What this and the other languages in the area have in common amounts to nothing, zilch, nada, rien, niente and so on...



Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Happy birthday, Spike!

I hope Spike makes it to her birthday party...

There's a lot of icing on this cake!


Spike is known for having many, many cats:


And for growing yummy stuff:


Remember Spike's book of farts? The drum rolls? The Chinese fireworks?



We can have the usual array of pretty cupcakes:





Let's all help ourselves to a variety of drinks!



Cheers, Spike! Have a great day!

Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Super cute story


A dad from County Durham, in the north of England, helped his five year-old daughter write a letter to the police chief after a conversation about police dogs.


Eliza must have been really happy when she received this:



Chief Constable Michael Barton is a nice guy, don't you think?