All this talk of D-Day has reminded me of the time I unexpectedly came across this fine building in Hammamet, Tunisia.
It was built by a Romanian millionaire called George Sebastian in the 1920s, and played host to a wide array of international glitterati in the 1930s. Rommel made it his Tunisian HQ in 1942, and Churchill visited in 1943, after the defeat of Rommel. He liked it so much he came back to write some of his memoirs here after the war.
I'd be the first to admit that this isn't really a very good photograph, but it does show one of the ways in which people have used trees in the past.
I came across this #ThickTrunkTuesday specimen in Victoria, and it bears a clearly-defined scar from where somebody, once upon a time, used it to make a bark canoe.
Presumably, this tree was already pretty well grown before whitefella arrived on the scene and changed the traditional ways of doing things... forever.
@RickGaehl It is not that complicated. Notice the light. Never photograph against the sun! Than the heaven is not white (overexposed), leaves and branches will not pixelate.
Last autumn, I gathered up a selection of tree seeds and set up a small tree nursery. This is the oak section, which seems to be doing particularly well. I've also got hazels and chestnuts coming along.
In our greenhouse, we've got a small lemon tree in a pot. It's in bloom this week and smells gorgeous. Last year, we even had a couple of lemons from it. I'm hoping for more this year...
About a year and a half ago, I set myself the challenge of trying to post a new photo here every day. I've missed a few days, but not many, and it seems that this is now my 500th posting.
This is from the same batch as yesterday's offering, which means it was taken 50 years ago on a beach in the Aegean. I think it feels kind of timeless though...
Here's one from the archives for #MeerMittwoch. It was taken in lovely, grainy Ektachrome, in Matala, on Crete, in May 1974, which makes it exactly 50 years old.
It was a blowy morning, and the sand was being whipped into a bit of a haze. The fishermen had finished their day's business and hauled their boat up onto the beach. I still wonder what the chap with the walking stick was looking for in his bag though...
This is a picture of Brixham harbour, which is only a few miles from where I live. It made the national news last week as the epicentre of an outbreak of cryptosporidium, but is normally thought of as a picturesque fishing port.
It's a popular tourist destination and, to the left of the shot, you can see its well-known replica of Sir Francis Drake's 'Golden Hind', in which he circumnavigated the globe. It's a disturbingly small vessel.
A spot of desolation from Witley Court, in Worcestershire, for #FensterFreitag.
It was burnt down in 1937, and only made safe for visitors after 1972, when it was taken into the care of English Heritage.
It's main claim to fame is as the location for the video made to accompany Procul Harum's debut single 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'.
I've been going through my old film slides and trying to digitise them.
This dandelion head was last seen, in person, on a sunny Greek hillside nearly 50 years ago, in early summer 1975.
That was the year the first video machines became available, the first, primitive digital camera was produced, the first 'mobile' phone was patented, and the name 'Microsoft' was trademarked.
Fewer than 1% of all the photos in the world had yet been taken...
The biggest tree in our garden is this copper beech, although it isn't really quite as big as it looks in the photo. At this time of the year, its canopy is just coming into leaf, and the young leaves are this wonderful red-green colour. They are an especially impressive sight when the sun is shining through them.