Flora picture of the Year 2010- Nalini Bhat (Na Bha)

[Na Bha]

Hallo,

here come my  Flora pictures of the Year 2010,

Floralis Gene'rica-100_5904  two fotos.

 

taken on 28. March 2010 at about 11:00 Hrs.  in a park near Buenos Aires.  The argentine architect Eduardo Catalano presented it to the City Buenos Aires in 2002.  According to Catalano this flower "is a synthesis of all the flowers and is both a hope that is reborn every day to open." It is a metal flower, called Floralis Gene'rica.

It opens in the morning and closes at sunset, there is an electrical system that automatically opens and closes the petals depending on the time of the day. At night the flower closes emanating from inside a red glow and rebirth open in the morning the next day. This mechanism also closes the flower if strong winds blow. (Wiki)

I would have liked to stay there the whole day and in the nightto watch the flower closing and the red glow.

 

For more information visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floralis_Generica

 

 

The next two Fotos are Cap Horn Albatross. They were taken on 22. March 2010, 8:33 hrs. We visited Chile, started our cruis in Val Paraiso, all the way southwards upto cap horn, thru Beagle Channel, Magellan Channel and then northwards to Buenos Aires. Cape Horn is the southmost point of south america. Before Panama Channal was opened in 1914 ships carrying trade around the world had to sail around the Cape Horn and the passage was and  is dangarous. Strong winds, strong currents and icebergs, coming from Antarktis. 

At 8:30 on 22. March 2010 it was extremely cold, extremely windy and the sea was very rough. Very few people were on the deck, most people preffered to watch the "Cap Horn Albatross Monument" from the warm and cosy panorama deck. As you see in the foto, there was not much to see because of the fog.
I was thinking of Ernest Shackleton all the time. I had read about his endurance-expedition, his foot-march crossing the South Georgia Island, without sleep, without food, without a map, climbilg over 900 meters and sliding down to the otherside to a whaling station to get help for his people strandes on the elefant island. I had read about his expedition sitting near a fireplace and I was shivering. The cold on the deck was nothing as compared to what Shackleton and his crew had experienced.

The captain read the beautiful verse by Sara Vial,

I, the albatross that awaits for you at the end of the world...
I, the forgotten soul of the sailors lost that crossed Cape Horn from all the seas of the world.
But die they did not in the fierce waves,
for today towards eternity in my wings they soar
in the last crevice of the Antarctic winds

Sara Vial
Dec - 1992

People standing on the deck were silent, noone spoke a word or even clicked a foto. There was holy atmosphere, no wonder.

The "Cap Horn Albatross Monument" stands on the southern point of the Hermite Islands in the Archipelago Terra del Fuego (Land of Fire), 1400 feet above the sea. It consists of two triangular bronze halves and from a certain point on the northside, the sculpture looks like a flying Albatross.  The sculpture, the work of the Chilean sculptor Jose Balcells, was dedicated on December 5, 1992 and stands in the memory of all those who lost their lives at the Horn. The Vers of Sara Vial is carved on a nearby granite marker.  On the island there is a navy station of Chile.

I am shivering while writing these lines, but I am very happy to have visited one of the "ends of the world". What else can be my Foto of the year 2010.
Regards

Nalini

 

 

[Madhuri Pejaver]

Nabhaji YOU ARE A GREAT STORY TELLER YOU MADE E SHIVER TOO. NICE CAPTURES AND MEMORIES MADHURI --- On Sun, 23/1/11, Na Bha <nabha-...@gmx.de> wrote:

[Gurcharan Singh]

Long live "the story tellers group"

Very useful photographs and a great story.

Thanks Nabha ji

-- 
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ 

[Anand Kumar Bhatt]

I envy you!

ak

--
Anand Kumar Bhatt
A-59, B.S.F.Colony, Airport Road
Gwalior. 474 005.
Tele: 0751-247 2233. Mobile 0 94253 09780.
My blogsite is at:
http://anandkbhatt.blogspot.com
(A NEW BLOG HAS BEEN ADDED ON 3 SEPT 2010.)
And the photo site:
www.flickr.com/photos/akbhatt/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ten most  common surnames of Indians: Singh, Kumar, Sharma, Patel, Shah, Lal, Gupta, Bhat, Rao, Reddy. Cheers!

[Gurcharan Singh]

Anand ji

No need to envy, you can join the group. Just tell one or two nice plant related stories.

-- 
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ 

[Anand Kumar Bhatt]

a very old and rather coloured joke. Once a sage gave a boon to Bhim (of Mahabharat fame) that he will eat whatever and Shakuni will shit. Now once Bhim ate away an entire tree. Imagine the morning for Shakuni!