Sunday Stamps X3 - Denmark, Tanzania

A Danish King provides me with an X (and by chance the only King of Iceland too as Kristján X from 1918-1944).

Denmark - 1942

King Christian X of Denmark became the symbol of Danish resistance to German occupation during WWII and helped finance the transportation of Danish Jews to neutral Sweden. He reigned from 1912 to 1947.

A Tanzania butterfly's Latin name provides me with two Xs - 

Tanzania - 10 December 1975

Axiocerses styx 

For other X related stamps cross over to seeitonapostcard.blogspot.com x.

Sunday Stamps - I3 Czechoslovakia, Great Britain

A scarce swallowtail butterfly is my first stamp this week.

Czechoslovakia - 23 May 1966
Iphiclides podalirius

Other names for iphiclides podalirius are sail swallowtail and pear tree swallowtail.

1978 was the year for the 25th Anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth when she was crowned with the - 

Great Britain - 31 May 1978
Imperial State Crown

The Queen also wears this crown at the annual State Opening of Parliament.

In 1841 Sir Richard Owen coined the word dinosaur from two Greek words - deinos (terrible, powerful, wondrous) and sauros (lizard). Owen was also responsible for setting up what we now know as the Natural History Museum.

Great Britain - 20 August 1991
150th Anniversary of Owen's Dinosaurs
Iguanodon

For other 'I' stamps check out the links at Sunday-Stamps-i.

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'C' Chaffinch ...

My A-Z posts this year are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – a sort of wish they were here.

C - Chaffinch, Clematis, Cabbage White, Canterbury Bell 

It’s not just for A-Z that we can say,

Oh to be in England

Now that April’s there.

Chaffinch

 And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning unaware

That the lowest bough and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm tree hole are in tiny leaf

While the chaffinch sings on ordered bough

In England now!

Chaffinch

When it comes to climbing plants not many will say they will wear purple when they grow old . Here’s one that tries every year.

Clematis

  Purple and green the clematis
Leans down my lady's mouth to kiss.

 Meanwhile:

The butterfly, a cabbage-white

(His honesty of flight)

Will never now, it is too late,

Master the art of flying straight,

Cabbage White butterfly

  Is it him I wonder who has changed these flowers from blue to white?

Canterbury Bells

 I think the Canterbury bells are playing little tunes.

Poems:

• Oh to be in England – Robert Browning
• A Song of Clematis – Ethel Clifford
• Flying Crooked – Robert Graves
• Madonna of the Evening Flowers – Amy Lowell

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'A'

My A-Z posts this year will be based on things in my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – wishing  they were here.

A - Anemone, Aquilegia, Azalea, Red Admiral

We have a lot of perennial plants. Among them is the:

Anemone

A perennial may be, but the anemone doesn’t always put in an appearance unlike the:

Aquilegia (& Forget-me-nots)

These seed themselves and appear in all sorts of unexpected places like against the next door fence.

Aquilegia

However if you use garden pots it’s easier to maintain control:

Azaleas

Of course it is wildlife that you wish to see, like this ‘admirable’ sight:

Red Admiral

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,

Self-poised upon that yellow flower;

Wordsworth – To a Butterfly.

Grounded - Thematic Photography

We have had 36 hours of continuous rain and it's still raining; my golf course is waterlogged so I'm grounded today - Sob!

Carmi couldn't have come up with a more appropriate theme in the circumstances. I have a lot of my brother's WWII photographs which show grounded aircraft like this one in the desert (probably Egypt).

Grounded in the desert

I hope it landed intentionally; this one with a military connection certainly did.

Chalk-Fronted Corporal Dragonfly

This is the time of year in the UK for conkers, a lot of which you find on on the ground.

Horse Chestnuts (Conkers)

OK, so I cheated by throwing them on the grass.

Others though like the dragonfly can choose where they land.

Brown Butterfly and a Bee on Greater Knapweed

I'm sure you'll agree that this one has every right to show off.

Peacock Butterfly

Mind you this one from America is a contender in the grounded beauty stakes.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

It seems to have the wrong name as the spots on its wings are orange.

I'm pleased to take part this week and to be able to select subjects that can choose when to be grounded. Not all will have that honour on Carmi's thematic-photographic-214 as you can see.

Tired Out! - Sepia Saturday

I spent so long looking at the Chevrolet searching for inspiration that I tired myself out, but not quite as much as this chap:

Dog tired.

(By withrow - CC BY-NC 2.0 license ex flickr)

I hope that the tyres on the Chevrolet have been recycled and made into something useful and not just dumped in landfill or carelessly discarded. Here's a use that I entirely approve of:

Recycled tyre doormat attracting a butterfly of similar markings.

(By i am brad - CC BY-NC 2.0 license ex flickr)

I did manage to find a photo of my own but this tyre is in use:

Butterfly relaxing in the shade

And here's a way of relaxing if you're tired like me after researching my family tree.

The tyre swing

(By CaptPiper - CC BY-NC 2.0 license es flickr)

If you need a pick-me-up to get you home then you could chose one like this - but don't forget to take the steps from the tree with you or you will have a tiring climb.

Monster tyres

(By readerwalker - CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license ex flickr)

[This truck is owned by Minco Auto & Truck Accessories in Tallahassee, Florida.]

Before you go don't forget to check out Sepia Saturday 101

White - Thematic Photography

My first thought on seeing Carmi's theme of 'white' was to put up  a photo of the White House. However I decided to show some holiday snaps instead.

Mawgan Porth, Cornwall

A white house, white water but what is that beast with its face resting on the cliff?

There's lots of white in the next photo, but some must have been a trick of the light,

Padstow Harbour

Also in Padstow I came across this bird obeying the white line at the harbour side.

Padstow Gull

Staying with wildlife, a butterfly caught my eye.

White Butterfly

The butterfly was photographed in the garden of this half-white house in St Mawgan where we stayed.

Bro Tref, St Mawgan

For my last picture this week I'm moving back the the North East coast of England for one of my favourite dog photos.

Whitby Dog

Hope you liked my white selection, for more white entries follow this link to Thematic Photographic 161

The Floating Comma

The comma is a punctuation mark which indicates the shortest pause. Despite there  being some simple rules for their use many writers tend to write long sentences with many commas in them. It's much better to use fewer commas, and write shorter, more direct sentences.

I won't bore you with all the rules. There are many places where you may find them. Just don't become like one writer whose articles resulted in him being called 'the comma man.'

I'd like to introduce you the 'floating'comma. To give you a clue I'll quote Mohamed Ali, "Float like a butterfly..."

The first comma butterfly I've ever seen in my garden floated from place to place before decided on a place to rest.

Comma butterfly on buddleia flower

It could not decide on where it should position itself and was confused by the number of  flowers to settle on.

Comma in a different place.

Eventually it changed it's mind and abandoned the buddleia altogether.

Comma on forsythia bush

This is one comma that I would be delighted to see at any time. If I had a lot of these I would be quite content to be called 'the comma man.'

Michigan Wildlife

It's only the second day of our visit to my daughter's home in Michigan and already I've had my camera out. However with four boisterous dogs to contend with photographing birds has proved impossible. I did succeed with this butterfly though, if  I only knew what it was.

I had no problem identifying these birds on Oxford Hills golf course today, even if the photo is from last year.

Sand Cranes

My next task is to gets some pictures of the 'hundreds' of dragonflies round the lake in the grounds - watch this space.

Can anyone identify the butterfly? Just leave a comment please.