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Friday 17 June 2016

Wonderful Australian trees...the Melaleucas;






Melaleuca  is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, they are known by many common names, paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees. 






I have 4 large Paperbark/Melaleuca trees growing around my house. Some more are located in my bush garden. The trees are in full flower again and the Lorikeets come in swarms to feed on the nectar of the flowers.
At night, the bats gorge themselves on the flowers. The noise, the screeching  of the lorikeets and at night the squabbling of the bats, each one wants the best place. WONDERFUL NATURE.














©Photos my garden/Text Ts 

Sunday 12 June 2016

Sepia Saturday 11/June/2016 Ancient pools.


Plenty of healthy exercise and such...today's Sepia Saturday theme.





The “Great Bath” at  Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan might have been the first built swimming pool in the world and is one of the best-known structures among the ruins of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. It was dug during the 3rd millennium BC. The  pool is 12 metres x 7 meters, it is lined with bricks and was covered with a tar-based sealant. A hole  at one end of the Bath may have been used to drain the water into it.




Bath of  Caracalla; Caracalla was built between 212 and 216 AD under the reign of Emperor Caracalla. 

Pools  for bathing and relaxing were common in Roman cities and throughout the empire. The bath complexes  were not just a place for bathing  and relaxing but also for socializing. Rooms were provided  for reading and to relax. 


Typical features  in  a roman bath were;
apodyterium - changing rooms.
palaestrae - exercise rooms.
notatio - open-air swimming pool.
Laconica and sudatorium - superheated dry and wet sweating-rooms.
caldarium - hot room, heated and with a hot-water pool and a separate basin on a stand (labrum)
tepidarium - warm room, indirectly heated and with a tepid pool.
frigidarium - cool room, unheated and with a cold-water basin, often monumental in size and domed, it was the heart of the baths complex.
rooms for massage and other health treatments.
Additional facilities could include cold-water plunge baths, private baths, toilets, libraries, lecture halls, fountains, and outdoor gardens.




My granddaughter Fabrizia enjoys her swimming pool heated by sun power. (Photo Ts/ 2011)




Lake Constance/ Bodensee/ Uttwil on the Swiss side of the lake, where we used to swim in summer. This picture is from the early 1970s, It might look differently now, probably modernised.
Photo/sText Ts