Some cool beauty tips images:
Mountain Devils
Image by Pandora’s Perspective
For January Scavenge Challenge #11 Search out one or more seed pods and explore their beauty.
I have just discovered that Lambertia Formosa is one of 11 species of the genus Lambertia within the family Proteaceae.
It is a small shrub to 1 metre or so with stiff, spiky pointy tipped thin long leaves which provide good protection for small native birds.( and makes life for photographers more hazardous than it needs to be) It relies on these birds for pollination.
The red flowers occuring at the ends of the branches usually in winter and spring contain nectar and attract honey eating birds. After flowering, small, beaked and two-horned, woody fruit horned capsules develop that give rise to the common name "Mountain Devil".
When I was a child they were combined with pipe cleaners and made into dolls for the tourist trade, and I remembering my mum purchasing a bride and a devil for me ( an interesting mix). I’ve not seen them in the shops for many years.
The Mountain Devil occurs naturally in coastal and mountain areas of NSW.I used to think they only grew in the Blue Mountains but have since seen them both locally and at my cousin’s property down the South Coast.
It has been popular in cultivation, naturally regenerating after fires and was first introduced into England in 1788.
Labelled illustrations for the plant can be found at www.anbg.gov.au/proteaceae/600/Lambertia_formosa.jpg
North American SNJ AT-6 Advanced Trainer
Image by Konabish ~ Greg Bishop
The 550 HP radial engine dominates the airframe of this taxiing beauty, its paint scheme mirroring an aircraft from (former) El Toro Marine base in Orange County (southern) California (about 20 miles southeast of my home). This photo was taken during the annual "Wings, Wheels & Rotors expo". at nearby Los Alamitos Army Airfield, aka AFRC.
Generations of airmen were trained on the AT-6 advanced trainer during WWII, and beyond. North American built over 15,000 of them under the various designations of the AT-6: SNJ: Harvard and Texan. Forty-two feet from wingtip to wingtip and almost twenty-nine feet from the silver dome of its constant-speed propeller to the tip of its tail. This big trainer, powered by a 550HP Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN1 radial, is painted in 1950s – vintage Marine markings, as aircraft 90917, tail code WD. This aircraft had belonged to the training squadron VMT-2 based at El Toro. Since its restoration t has been a frequent visitor at airshows on the California circuit.
Aircraft 90917 was copleted at Dallas, first flying on 16 November 1944. It initially served with HQ Squadron 46 at El Toro, later moving to Fleet Air Wing 14 at MCAS Miramar, San Diego in 1946. After overhaul at the end of 1946, 90917 spent the next eight years with various training squadrons in Florida before being retired to storage in Arizona. From there it was shipped to Japan, serving from 1957 to the mid 1970’s when it was stripped of its useful parts and auctioned off for 6.91 – for scrap.
An aircraft restorer from California shipped the remains of 917 back to California, where the aircraft was completely restored.
Slug Bug Yellow
Image by WhaleCancer
Saw this beauty and snapped the picture on Hillsborough St in Raleigh, NC in 2006. My sister gave me the tip to crop the picture where I did to cut out excess sky. I like how the color and the lines turned out.
