HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

At our local shopping street, a greengrocer's shop selling pumpkins imported from the USA. Hence the steep price!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

A RED ROSE

A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns My love is like a red, red rose    That’s newly sprung in June : My love is like the melody    That’s sweetly played in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,    So deep in love am I : And I will love thee still, my dear,    Till a’ the seas gang dry. Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,    And the rocks melt wi’ the sun : And I will love thee still, my dear,    While the sands o’ life shall run. And fare thee weel, my only love,    And fare thee weel a while ! And I will come again, my love,    Thou’ it were ten thousand mile.

This post is part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

MELBOURNE EXHIBITION BUILDING

Originally designed for the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, the Exhibition buildings and the surrounding Carlton Gardens are now World Heritage listed. The Royal Exhibition Building is Australia's only World Heritage listed building. Completed in 1880 for Melbourne's first International Exhibition, it was the site of Australia's first Federal Parliament in 1901. With its meticulously restored interior, expansive galleries and soaring dome, it continues to offer a magnificent setting for trade shows, fairs and cultural events.

This post is part of the Mellow Yellow Monday meme.

FULL-BLOWN ROSE

The roses are looking glorious at this time of the year. It's really Spring when you see roses opening fully to reveal their curly-headed hearts.

This post is part of the Weekly TopShots meme.

ST ANDREW OF PATRAS

Saint Andrew (Agios Andreas, Άγιος Ανδρέας in Greek) is a Greek Orthodox basilica in the east side of the city of Patras in Greece. Construction of the church, of Greek Byzantine style, began in 1908 under the supervision of the architect Anastasios Metaxas, followed by Georgios Nomikos.

It was inaugurated in 1974. It is the largest church in Greece and the third largest Byzantine-style church in the Balkans, after the Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. It holds relics of the apostle Saint Andrew, which were sent there from St. Peter's Basilica, Rome in September, 1964, on the orders of Pope Paul VI.

This post is part of the Sunday Psalms meme,
and also part of the Spiritual Sunday meme.

"I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me."

"In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted."

"I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah."

And here is a Greek Orthodox chant, the Allelouarion in the A' mode:

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN WILDFLOWERS

Western Australian wildflowers are renowned as being one of the most spectacular wildflower displays in the world. The rugged landscape comes alive with a blaze of brilliant colours and lush scents from June to November. For six picturesque months, an amazing 12,000 plant species carpet the state with their vivid beauty - and endless varieties are still being discovered! Over 60% of these species are found nowhere else in the world.

In Western Australia, Australia's most familiar wildflowers take a dazzling twist from the norm. Pink boronias, Geraldton waxflowers, Swan river daisies, coral vines, red and green kangaroo paw, magenta paperbark blossom and orange-flowering banksias are top of the list for wildflower spotters.

This post is part of the Pink Saturday meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

LEAVING SALT LAKE CITY

An evening flight out of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. A rather sombre, yet beautiful sunset...

This post is part of the Friday Skywatch meme.

EVERLASTING DAISIES

The strawflower, Bracteantha bracteata is a most variable and widespread plant, found from the margins of dry rainforest in north Queensland, through to coastal areas of Western Australia, and seemingly every imaginable habitat in between except wet or heavily shaded areas. They generally flower from spring to autumn, although those varieties which occur in arid inland areas flower in the cooler months.

Plants may be either annual, or woody perennials. The specific name "bracteata" refers to the prominent and numerous, dry, papery bracts, which are often incorrectly referred to as petals.  In the early 19th century, noted East German horticulturist Herren Ebritsch, at Arnstadt, developed many unusual colour forms by intensive breeding of the annual varieties, and these were widely distributed in European gardens in the 1850s. Variability of wild populations of Bracteantha bracteata is seen in vigour, foliage and flower.

Fresh flowers last a long time in water. If one wishes to dry the flowers, it is important to pick them when the first bracts have commenced to open, remove any foliage, and hang the flowers upside down in a dry, airy situation. Treated thus, the bracts will continue to open till all are arranged in perfect symmetry, displaying their true beauty for years.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

TASMANIAN TIGER SCULPTURE

This sculpture group in Launceston features a group of extinct Australian animals known as the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). This animal was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is known as a “tiger” because of its striped back. Native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, it is thought to have become extinct in the first half of the 20th century. It was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae, although several related species have been found in the fossil record dating back to the early Miocene.

The Tasmanian Tiger had become extremely rare or extinct on the Australian mainland before European settlement of the continent, but it survived on the island of Tasmania along with several other endemic species, including the Tasmanian devil (still common). Intensive hunting of the Tasmanian Tiger encouraged by bounties is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors may have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat.

Despite its official classification as extinct, sightings are still reported, though none are proven. Like the tigers and wolves of the Northern Hemisphere, the thylacine was an apex predator. Its closest living relative is thought to be either the Tasmanian devil or the numbat. The thylacine was one of only two marsupials to have a pouch in both sexes (the other being the water opossum). The male thylacine had a pouch that acted as a protective sheath, covering the male’s external reproductive organs while he ran through thick brush. It has been described as a formidable predator because of its ability to survive and hunt prey in extremely sparsely populated areas.

This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme.

WATER BIRDS

Water birds one the Swan River in Perth.

This post is part of the Water World Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Footsteps Waters meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.