Inflorescence: obesa nursery

Images from the Obesa nursery located in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Despite the dizzying 36+ degree heat I had a very happy day wandering about this amazing cacti garden. Founded by C.J. Bouwer the collection is over 35 years old and houses some 7000 species of plants. Particularly captivating was this Encaphalartos altensteinii apparently, a young female plant about 13 or-so years old grown from seeds, with its enormous bright orange cone or 'inflorescence':

Fata Morgana (mirage)

A Fata Morgana can be seen on land or at sea, in polar regions or in deserts. These specific kinds of mirages involve any distant object, such as islands, boats, and coastline / cliffs. A Fata Morgana is not only complex, but also rapidly changing; the complex mirage comprises several inverted (upside down) and erect (right side up) images that are stacked on top of one another. Fata Morgana mirages also show alternating compressed and stretched zones. (1)

  
click images for source


I enjoyed this use of the phrase cited in the OED: ' Cloud mountains, and fatamorgana cities' (2) from 1829 by a  T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev.


Interesting to note during the filming of the Herzog's Fata Morgana (1971) Herzog and the crew encountered many problems, most notably being imprisoned because cameraman Schmidt-Reitwein's name was similar to the name of a German mercenary who was hiding from the authorities and had recently been sentenced to death in absentia. Also; Herzog contracted bilharzia, a blood parasite sometimes refered to as 'snail fever' (3).


(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)
(2) "fata Morgana, n.". OED Online. September 2011. Oxford University Press. 5 December 2011 .
(3) Fata Morgana (1971) Trivia: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067085/trivia

'Avventura Nel Deserto' Velvet Italia June 2011

Avventura Nel Deserto | Jules Mordovets by Marcus Ohlsson for Velvet June 2011










Magazine: Velvet Italy
Issue: June 2011
Editorial: Avventura Nel Deserto
Model: Jules Mordovets
Photographer: Marcus Ohlsson / WM Artist Management
Styling: Laura Bianchi

NASA Expedition landings

Aerial photographs by NASA of various expedition capsule landings in Kazakhstan. Expedition 21 (March 2010), Expedition 24 (September 2010), Expedition 20 (October 2009) and Expedition 18 (April 2009).

For high-resolution versions see the original set by NASA HQ on flickr

Joe Fletcher

SOURCE