BLACK CAT

The neighbour's cat having a bit of a rest in the garden... Taking care of the manicure, and then more rest!

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

SEAFARERS BRIDGE, MELBOURNE

The Seafarers Bridge is a footbridge over the Yarra River between Docklands and South Wharf in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The bridge connects the north and south banks of the river while providing a formal entrance to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The bridge main span is supported by steel ties connected to elliptical arches, with three arches on the north side and four arches on the south side. The bridge was named in homage to the ‘Mission to Seafarers’ centre located nearby on the northern bank of the Yarra River and to represent Melbourne’s rich maritime history.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

PIGFACE

Carpobrotus glaucescens, commonly known as angular sea-fig or pigface, is a species of flowering plant in the Aizoaceae (ice plant) family. It is a succulent coastal ground-cover native to temperate eastern Australia. The succulent leaves are 3.5–10 cm long and 9–15 mm wide, straight or slightly curved. The flowers are 3.2–6 cm wide, and light purple. The red to purple fruit is 2–3 cm long and 1.6–2.4 cm wide.

The fruit pulp is edible, with a flavour like salty strawberry or kiwifruit. The skin is discarded. The leaves are also edible cooked, and can be used as a preserved pickles. Fruit of the plant can also be made into a toffee or jam. The roasted leaves have been used as a salt substitute. Early European explorers used the plant as an anti-scurvy treatment. The juice of the leaves can also be used to relieve pain from insect bites. Carpobrotus comes from the Greek ‘karpos' (fruit) and ‘brota' (edible things) and refers to the edible fruits.

As would be expected C. glaucescens is very salt tolerant and is able to withstand salt spray, strong winds and sand blast. If covered with sand the plant can survive, grow upwards and produce a new plant mat over the old one. Pigface is generally a summer-spring growing plant. It can be grown either from seed or cuttings. Propagation is easiest by layering (rooting horizontal stem cuttings), as this is how the plant grows naturally. These layers should be around 30 cm in length and planted leaving at least 5 cm of the plant above the sand or soil. The plant can also be grown from cut pieces or division of large plants.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

RAINBOW

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." - Gilbert K. Chesterton

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

HARBOUR CENTRE, VANCOUVER

Harbour Centre is a notable skyscraper in the central business district of Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The "Lookout" tower atop the office building makes it one of the tallest structures in Vancouver and a prominent landmark on the city's skyline. With its 360-degree viewing deck, it also serves as a tourist attraction with the Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant, offering a physically unobstructed view of the city. During the dot-com boom of the 1990s, it served as the headquarters for several up and coming tech firms, including Stormix Technologies, NetNation and others. Harbour Centre opened in 1977.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SPRING SHOWERS

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #91 - CAIRO, EGYPT

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:

1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;

2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;

3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;

4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity! Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services.

This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة‎‎, al-Qāhirah) is the capital and largest city of Egypt. The city's metropolitan area is the largest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and 15th-largest in the world, and is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area. Located near the Nile Delta, modern Cairo was founded in 969 CE by Jawhar al-Siqilli ("the Sicilian") of the Fatimid dynasty, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of ancient national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo.

Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city; the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence. With a population of 6.76 million spread over 453 square kilometers, Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 10 million inhabitants live just outside the city. Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. 

This post is part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

GRASS PARROTS

The red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus), also known as the red-backed parrot or grass parrot, is a common bird of south-eastern Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Red-rumped parrots are slim, elegant, moderate-sized parrots approximately 28 cm in length. The male's plumage is a bright emerald-green with yellow underparts, a brick-red rump and blue highlights on the wings and upper back. The female's plumage is less vibrant, with pale olive underparts, dull green wings and back and blue-black wingtips. The characteristic red rump is only found in the male.

They are well-camouflaged on the grass where they spend most of their time foraging for food, as you can see in the photos. These are taken in the Darebin Parklands in suburban Fairfield.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

SPRING MORNING

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

ROSA 'ALNWICK'

The Alnwick® Rose is an English Shrub rose bred by David Austin in 2001. It is an exceptionally reliable rose with richly fragrant blooms. It produces pretty, many petalled, cupped blooms of soft pink. There is a rich old rose fragrance with raspberry notes. It flowers in flushes from early summer until the first frosts. It forms a nicely rounded, slightly upright, bushy shrub with plentiful, glossy green foliage.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.