Saturday, September 26, 2020

Dubai: memories from the past

_MG_6048 [Dubai: memories from the past]
 
The boat in the picture is a boat-restaurant.
Tourists on board enjoy a night view of Dubai or they take advantage of an opportunity to try a selection of local and international specialties for their evening meals while the boat is on a cruise along Dubai creek.
 
The picture was taken from our boat-restaurant that happened to be moving the opposite direction at that moment.
 
Dubai memories from November 21, 2007
 
Please click on the picture for a better view.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Colchicum bivonae

803_7818 [Colchicum bivonae]
 
This colchicum blooms as soon as we have the first cold in Autumn. So, the fact that the flower above was the only one bivonae I found on my recent visit to Parnitha most probably indicates that cold weather is on the way! [Some sort of primitive Meteorological Service!!!]
 
Beautiful but the whole plant contains colchicine, a poison that Medea used to kill her children in Kolchida! 
 
Photographed on Mt. Parnitha on September 12, 202
 
 

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Patroklos and the Milky Way

803_2235 [Patroklos]
 
I had just taken a series of photos of a lunar eclipse over the Temple of Apollo on Cape Sounio [You can see the eclipse here.] and was about to return home when the boats near the little island of Patroklos and their reflections on the water looked tempting to my sleepy eyes at 1:30 in the morning. I confess, I am not strong enough to resist photographic temptations, so I decided to take 1-2 more photos - the last ones - for the night. The stars above were not visible to the human eye but PhotoPills - my mobile photo-advising App - ensured me that part of the Milky Way was still over the little island of Patroklos at that time.
So, I turned my camera towards a new direction and once again yielded to the temptation.
The outcome on the computer screen on the following day reminded me of David’s Psalm that reads:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
 
Photographed at Sounio on July 27, 2018 
 
Please click on the picture for a better view
 
 

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Pancratium maritimum

801_6220 [Pancratium maritimum]

I consider Pancratium maritimum one of the most attractive plants in the Mediterranean countries.
Its large, pure white, trumpet-shaped flowers are of striking beauty and appear from July onwards.
Its leaves, contrary to most flowers, are green in winter but they get dry when the flowers appear.
 
 
302_9242 [Pancratium matitimum]
 
It grows from a bulb which is buried deep into the sand:
a fact that allows the plant to withstand the heat in the hottest months of the year.
 
 
IMG_8712 [Pancratium maritimun]
 
We rarely see single plants emerging from the sand.
Instead, we see it come out in clusters.
 
 
IMG_8674 [Pancratium maritimum]

 
IMG_8699[Pancratium maritimum]
 
The fruit of the plant.
 
 
All photographs were taken at Legrena on various summer dates over the last 3-4 years.