Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Zucchini flower

The zucchini can be yellow, green or light green, and generally has a similar shape to a ridged cucumber, though a few cultivars are available that produce round or bottle-shaped fruit. But the flower does not become from it less beautiful)

Tinga Tinga

Tinga Tinga is African primitive flat work. These days there are various Tinga Tinga schools of painting - from intricate and detailed animals intertwined with the feathers of peacocks, to tourist-oriented work with simple stylized characters at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Both are nice and have their unique appeals.




These fantastic works from a site http://www.tingatinga.org/  Look there more!

Birds of paradise dance

Superb!

Australian Aboriginal Digeridoo

Though it was particular to the clans in northern Australia originally, the didgeridoo (or yidaki) is now the most recognizable instrument in Aboriginal music. The classic didgeridoo is made from a termite-hollowed bamboo or eucalyptus limb, though today it's common to find didgeridoos made of PVC. The didgeridoo is played as a kind of woodwind aerophone, producing a low frequency sound that can be sustained and heard over long distances.

Praise to rain

Beloved, Let Us Once More Praise The Rain by Conrad Aiken

Beloved, let us once more praise the rain.
Let us discover some new alphabet,
For this, the often praised; and be ourselves,
The rain, the chickweed, and the burdock leaf,
The green-white privet flower, the spotted stone,
And all that welcomes the rain; the sparrow too,—
Who watches with a hard eye from seclusion,
Beneath the elm-tree bough, till rain is done.
There is an oriole who, upside down,
Hangs at his nest, and flicks an orange wing,—
Under a tree as dead and still as lead;
There is a single leaf, in all this heaven
Of leaves, which rain has loosened from its twig:
The stem breaks, and it falls, but it is caught
Upon a sister leaf, and thus she hangs;
There is an acorn cup, beside a mushroom
Which catches three drops from the stooping cloud.
The timid bee goes back to the hive; the fly
Under the broad leaf of the hollyhock
Perpends stupid with cold; the raindark snail
Surveys the wet world from a watery stone...
And still the syllables of water whisper:
The wheel of cloud whirs slowly: while we wait
In the dark room; and in your heart I find
One silver raindrop,—on a hawthorn leaf,—
Orion in a cobweb, and the World.

Milkweed flowers for Shiva

“The gods would not refuse even the trivial erukku for worship,” declared the Purananuru 2000 years ago.Erukku is the Tamil name for Calotropis gigantea, growing now as it must have back then— as “a common wasteland weed” across South Asia. Also known as swallowwort, giant milkweed and (by its flatterers) crown flower, this poisonous plant is sacred to Lord Shiva.


Wherever there are Shiva’s pictures, symbols (the Lingam) or statues, we will see a garland of Calotropis around them. Threaded into strands, the calotropis flowers look like lavender pearls.



OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

Nagalinga

Common name: Cannon Ball Tree • Hindi: Nagalinga नागलिंग, Tope gola तोप गोला • Kannada: Lingada mara, Nagalingam • Marathi: Shivalingam • Bengali: Kaman gola • Tamil: நாகலிங்கம் Naagalingam
This large deciduous tropical tree, 75' tall and indigenous to the Amazon rainforest, is listed as a rare tree and flower in India. The leaves, up to 6" long, are simple with serrate margin; it flowers in racemes which is cauliflorus; the yellow, reddish and pink flowers are stunning fragrant. These are 3" to 5" waxy aromatic smelling, pink and dark-red flowers growing directly on the bark of the trunk. The tree bears, directly on the trunk and main branches, large globose woody fruits; they look like big rusty cannonballs hanging in clusters, like balls on a string. Cannon ball trees usually carry 'CAUTION' signs posted on the trunks to advise people not to stand close to and directly under the fruits as one can get hurt as they drop off by themselves. The fruit contains small seeds in a white, unpleasant smelling white jelly, which are exposed when the upper half of the fruit goes off like a cover. The long dangling fruity branches give the tree an unkempt appearance. The hard shells are used to make containers and utensils. Cannon ball flowers are considered of special significance in Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka. In Tamil Nadu, it is called Nagalingam flower. The sivalingam shape is visible at the center of the flower and snake shaped pollen is the specialty of this flower and it has very good fragrance. This rare flower can be used for Shiva Pooja.

Colour of Sun

Yellow is the colour of the sun, of gold, and of fields of grain in the autumn just prior to harvest. Hence it is associated with richness, abundance, and fecundity. The sun is probably the most important thing in India and features in the mythologies of all the various sub-cultures. It is also a potent symbol.
The sun is the key to everything. Just enough and the plants grow and ripen, but too much and plants, animals and people start to die. The sun has many names in India - Surya, Vairocana, Prabhakara, Aditya, Mitra, Savitri, etc. Gold is a precious substance where ever it is found. Gold does not tarnish. It is both ductile and malleable and can be made into any shape, or beaten so thin that light passes through it, picking up a greenish tinge on the way.