Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439656 times)

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1320 on:** October 24, 2010, 12:11:26 PM »

TO NONFICTION BOOK TALK

What are you reading? Autobiographies, biographies, history, politics?

Tell us about the book; the good and the bad of it.

Let's talk books!

Discussion Leader: HaroldArnold

Rosemary - when my kids have a tough decision to make, I tell them to make four lists: pluses and minuses of each side of the decision, then take a look at what minuses they might be able to change to a neutral or a plus, now which list is longer?......I think it makes you feel like you have more control over the decision. ..........good luck...

Sheila, sounds like you found a good therapist, that's not always easy to do......Jean

ANNIE · « **Reply #1321 on:** October 30, 2010, 11:25:51 AM »

I am reading a most interesting non-fiction book about the Redwoods in CA. plus other places in the world. Did you know that there are canopies so large that one can walk around in them?? That there are many different species of plants and animals living in them??
I have found this book to be exciting with the true stories of the tree climbers who are not only climbing these trees but also writing books about them.
The title is: "The Wild Trees, A Story of Passion and Daring" by Robert Preston.

JoanK · « **Reply #1322 on:** October 30, 2010, 04:14:59 PM »

That sounds like a great book. I love trees.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1323 on:** October 30, 2010, 08:00:17 PM »

Sounds like a good book, ANN! Isn't it great to run across a book that arouses our interest and our passion. Nature, trees, springtime, fall. How great it is!

That name - the author - Robert Preston - an actor?

Babi · « **Reply #1324 on:** October 31, 2010, 08:37:53 AM »

I love trees, too. I would never have thought a book could be written about them,
other than a textbook, that is, for the forester/farmer/ranger. A quick check of my library
catalog revealed that they had an audio of it, which they no longer have. Apparently someone
failed to return it or something happened to it. I have no idea why it's still listed.

marjifay · « **Reply #1325 on:** October 31, 2010, 11:07:19 AM »

I was listening the other day on the radio to a man talking about a famous huge tree in Scotland, so low and spread out that large groups used to secretly gather under its branches and plot against someone, don't remember who..the British? Will have to look that up.

When I was young, I used to memorize poems just for fun. One was Trees by Joyce Kilmer. I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree...

Marj

ANNIE · « **Reply #1326 on:** October 31, 2010, 02:06:05 PM »

I am having a ball reading this book and am reading it slow so that I don't get to the end too quickly. Its a spiritual thing to love a tree, isn't it?

I have recommended it to my brother who is a redwood tree lover. I know he will enjoy it. We went to the rain forest in Olympic National Park but they were having a serious drought that year and we all were so disappointed. (1988)

Jonathan · « **Reply #1327 on:** October 31, 2010, 02:48:51 PM »

Even more than spiritual. Trees have always provided us with food and shelter. Some would have us believe that trees were our first home. So the spiritual may be a secret longing. One hears of people talking to trees.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1328 on:** October 31, 2010, 03:01:49 PM »

At their simplest, trees have such magnificence and splendor, especially at this time of year. As I sit here looking out my window, I can see dozens of trees that are 10 to 30 ft tall, with leaves the colors of greens, golds, yellows, reds, burgundy and purple, and of multiple shapes, and bark textures. That scene of the trees is on my "things to be happy for today" list! ......Jean

Gumtree · « **Reply #1329 on:** October 31, 2010, 09:54:50 PM »

Quote

One hears of people talking to trees.

I love trees and talk to them all the time. Twice each year - in spring and in autumn - we go south into our forests. It's simply magical to see, touch and hear the majestic eucalypts and to experience the silence of the old growth forests. The trees take on a new persona with each season as their colours change - not in the leaves as deciduous trees do - but in the bark and the understories of smaller plants and wildflowers and yes even the debris on the forest floor ( which I sometimes use as subject matter for painting). I've been in the forest in burning heat and in the cold and pouring rain and always it is a delight. The weather conditions just add another different dimension.

A few years ago - maybe ten - Aussie writer, Murray Bail wrote a charming and very witty novel called Eucalyptus in which he features a good number of the 1500 species of eucalypt indigenous to this country. They take on their persona as he describes their form and habits, uses etc. and uses them throughout to tell a tall tale of an unusual courtship. It won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award and others prizes as well. Murray Bail is something of a stylist and his writing has a certain elegance to it. Here's a brief passage taken at random:

The stillness of the trees had a calming effect. Yet she almost let out an animal cry of some kind, in despair. And as the evenly spaced trunks multiplied on both sides and behind, she felt vague pleasure.

Silver light slanted into the motionless trunks, as if coming from narrow windows. The cathedral has taken its cue from the forest. The vaulted roof soaring to the heavens, pillars in smooth imitation of trees, even the obligatory echo, are calculated to make a person feel small, and so trigger feelings of obscure wonder. In cathedral and forest making even a scraping noise would trample soft feelings. For this reason, Ellen unconsciously continued on tiptoe.

I couldn't say how many times I've experienced feelings akin to those expressed in that passage when out among the trees, cut off from all distractions other than those living, breathing. beautiful and sometimes magnificent things we call trees..

Gumtree · « **Reply #1330 on:** October 31, 2010, 11:19:02 PM »

I couldn't resist browsing more of Eucalyptus ... this is just a couple of pages in from the beginning...

"We might as well turn to the rarely sighted Eucalyptus pulverulenta which has an energetic name and curious heart shaped leaves, and is found only on two narrow ledges of the Blue Mountains. What about diversifolia or transcontinentalis? At least they imply breadth and richness of purpose. Same too with E. globulus, normally employed as a windbreak. A solitary specimen could be seen from Holland's front verandah at two o'clock, a filigree pin greyish-green stuck stylishly in a woman's felt hat, giving stability to the bleached and swaying vista.

Each and every eucalypt is interesting for its own reasons. Some eucalypts imply a distinctly feminine world (Yellow Jacket, Rose-of-the-West, Weeping Gum). e. maidenii has given photogenic shade to the Hollywood stars. Jarrah is the timber everyone professes to love. Eucalyptus camaldulensis? We call it River Red Gum. Too masculine, too overbearingly masculine; covered in grandfatherly warts and carbuncles, as well. As for the Ghost Gum ( E. papuana ) there are those who maintain with a lump in their throats it is the most beautiful tree on earth, which would explain why it's been done to death on our nation's calendars, postage stamps and tea towels. Holland had one marking the north-eastern corner, towards town, waving its white arms in the dark, a surveyor's peg gone mad."

I think I'll reread this one. It's a novel - not non-fiction - didn't realise what board I was on. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it here - sorry.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1331 on:** November 01, 2010, 12:09:13 AM »

Trees fascinate me as well. I love the connections of trees with folklore. Did you know that the Druids worshipped Oak trees? Of course you did. But did you also know that word Dru is Ancient Greek for tree. Just love those connections, unfortunately with this one I have never been able to track down why??? This is one explanation I just found. Search for dru greek.

"Many scholars, who have endeavored in the past to solve word derivations, have concluded the meaning of the word Druid comes from a contraction of two Indo-European, i.e. two Sanskrit words. The two Sanskrit words Druid is said to derive from are deru meaning oak, and vid meaning wisdom. The first person to postulate this was the ancient-Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder. He made this assumption while, ostensibly, endeavoring to explain Druidism to his contemporaries. In Pliny's descriptions of the beliefs and actions of Druids, among other things, he noted they had a reverence for oaks and proposed the title of Druid derived from the word oak. Just as Stoicism was a current Greek and Roman Phenomenon in Pliny's time, Druidism was a current Celtic phenomenon.

It should be pointed out, however, that it was the ancient-Greek word for both tree and oak which was dru. This was not the word for oak in the languages of the Gaels, the Gauls, the Galicians, or the Galatians. Considering this, Pliny’s explanation seems convenient, and a little near-sighted. Pliny the Elder, as a learned Roman, would have been very familiar with the Greek language. Dru was the word for tree and oak to the Greeks, but not to the Celts. Perhaps Pliny was misinformed, and guessing to some extent, about Druids."

Footnote: You may have heard the word "torc" used by Celts to describe a bracelet or neckpiece with animal finials such as horses, rams, lions etc. The Greek were wearing these long before the Celts. I actually have one - it is my favourite piece and I plan to be buried with it - it is a 18kt gold hand-made twisted bracelet torc with ram's heads. I bought it in Olympia.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1332 on:** November 01, 2010, 09:28:27 AM »

HOW INTERESTING A HISTORY OF A WORD, ROSE!

THANK YOU!

HAS ANYONE READ A GOOD NONFICTION BOOK LATELY THAT WOULD MAKE A GOOD DISCUSSION?

I SEE JONATHAN POSTING - ANY IDEAS COME TO MIND?

I AM READING A BOOK - A HUGE BOOK, TOO LARGE TO RECOMMEND - BUT IF READ A CHAPTER AT A TIME, IT'S FASCINATING.

AMERICAN CAESARS by igel Hamilton, a British historian.

He asserts that America became a world leader after WWII and has modeled this book after the LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN by Suetonius in which he recounted the lives of the first twelve Caesars of Rome.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1333 on:** November 01, 2010, 08:52:43 PM »

Ella - The romance of words is the only real romance I have these days, but it sustains me and stays with me like no other romance could.

Interesting your comments about Suetonius' Caesars, one of my favourite books. I have a friend who some years ago was joining the Federal Government Senate. He was the Democrats representative for Queensland, Rev John Woodley. I gave him a copy of Suetonius' "Twelve Caesars" to prepare him for the cut and thrust of Australian Politics.

Jonathan · « **Reply #1334 on:** November 02, 2010, 09:52:10 PM »

HAS ANYONE READ A GOOD NONFICTION BOOK LATELY THAT WOULD MAKE A GOOD DISCUSSION?

Sure Ella. But I must tell you that much of my reading starts with the books I read about here. American Caesars is one I'm going to look for. But today I caught the spirit and went looking for The Wild Trees and Eucalyptus. I found neither and setled for Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Great stuff. I always have wanted to walk that Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. How interesting to read that

Once , aeons ago, the Appalachians were of a scale and majesty to rival the Himalayas - piercing, snow-peaked, pushing breathtakingly through the clouds to heights of four miles or more.

Gumtree,I shouldn't be surprised to hear that you commune with your beloved trees. You have talked about them in the past. Please send me a calendar featuring The Ghost Gum. And I wouldn't mind seeing a picture a River Red Gum, warts and all. LOL.

I did consider reading Dante's Comedy, which, after all, does start off with:

Midway on our life's journey, I found myself in dark woods, the right road lost. To tell about those woods is hard - so tangled and rough and savage that thinking of it now, I feel the old fear stirring...

Alone in the dark woods can be scary. On the other hand Brother Lawrence, the 17c mystic found his way to God, after.

...seeing, in the winter, a tree stripped of its leaves and considering that within a little time the leaves would be renewed, after that the flowers and fruit appear, he recieved a high view of the Providence and Power of God, which has never since been effaced from his soul.

How's that for finding the spiritual in trees?

Two other books I'm reading with interest:

Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud that defined a Decade, by Jeff Shesol. And,

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, by Debby Applegate.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1335 on:** November 03, 2010, 01:40:31 PM »

How lovely to read about nature here. After the politiking is over and the quiet descends again over the land we need a break and a walk is just the thing.

The woods always reminds me of Robert Frost's poetry which we all know:

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;"

and

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

But isn't it nice to read his poems again and isn't it strange that one author can talk about the woods being lovely, dark and deep and another author feeling lost and fear rising.

Both moods understandable.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1336 on:** November 03, 2010, 02:07:00 PM »

JONATHAN, you will like the American Caesars book, in which your British historian (who published a 2-volume book on Bill Clinton and a bestselling book on JFK -made into a miniseries) decides that some of our presidents are to be deified, some respected, some ignored and some reviled. Guess which is which?

I skimmed the LBJ chapter and there is little reference to Bobby Kennedy in it other than they hated each other, saying very nasty things. Kennedy described LBJ as "mean, bitter, viscious-an animal in many ways, a carnivore able to eat people up and even people who are considered rather strong figures, etc."

"Johnson may have been an animal, but whatever ws said of him, he was the leader who had brought the country together after his predecessor's shocking assassination and who had used the tragedy to push a liberal agenda through Congress in posthumous homage to JFK."

In reading this chapter I am reminded of our present conflict in the Middle East, such phrases as America having a fantasy of pushing democracy on a nation by force- an unjust war - we seem to be caught in a sinkhole - the leaders of the tragedy unable to confess to failure - the great lesson of war is that it is far easier to get into hostilities than out of them. The whole chapter about Vietnam is very sad.

South Vietnam did not want the war to end - they were being protected by 500,000 soldiers and the money flowing in like gold? I think of the millions, billions (?) we are spending in Iraq and Afghanistan and of what history will reveal about this war.

ANNIE · « **Reply #1337 on:** November 03, 2010, 10:45:52 PM »

Jonathon,

You haven't been able to find "The Wild Trees" by Robert Preston?? My copy came from my library. Let's see, you are in Canada?? Is that right? Seems like it would have been published there.

I am now going to look for "Eucalyptus", Gum. I hope it has been published here!

Rose,

I love your burial accoutrement'. How very regal!

I did know about the Druid connections and also their connections to another tree, the Rowan or Rowen tree( also called "Mountain Ash" as is the Eucalyptus), which was used for keeping evil spirits away from homes plus it is supposed to strengthen your spirit and make you more positive. Read a very interesting description of that here on the net last week.

Gumtree · « **Reply #1338 on:** November 04, 2010, 01:19:12 AM »

Adoannie: Just for the record Mountain Ash is only one species of Eucalypt. In Aust. we have around 1500 species - some are no more than straggly groundcovering plants whilst others are majestic towering giants - and we have all sizes and shapes in between of course.

Good luck in finding Murray Bail's Eucalyptus - it's quirky, funny and has a distinctly Aussie flavour - you'll learn more about gumtrees than you ever wanted to know and all painlessly.

ANNIE · « **Reply #1339 on:** November 04, 2010, 03:44:18 PM »

Hi Gum,
I just finished another book last week entitled "In A Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson and was just delightful. I believe Jonathan is reading another of Bryson's books, "A Walk in the Woods" which we read online early in the beginning of B&L on SN.

In "The Wild Trees", the author is one of the four man group who go to look at the tallest Eucalyptus tree up north of Sydney?? or is it Melbourne? Well, wherever.

Have you ever seen our tree sitters over here??? They are so in love with our wild trees that some of them have done 2 yr sit-ins to save one tree. Julia Butterfly Hill wrote a book about her tree sit-in and I read that about 2 yrs ago. Very intriguing. She had much support from friends who kept her spirits up. They brought food to her often also. She has become quite popular and gives seminars about her tree awareness.

PatH · « **Reply #1340 on:** November 04, 2010, 06:39:42 PM »

I have two charming books about trees: "Meetings With Remarkable Trees" and "Remarkable Trees of the World" by Thomas Pakenham (AKA 8th Earl of Longford). They consist of Pakenham's photographs of these magnificent beings, with a page or so of comment on each. He goes for magnificent, ancient trees with huge blasted trunks and massive limbs. The cover of trees of the world gives a notion of what he likes:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Hit-WXLW_WEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=thomas+pakenham&source=bl&ots=0XAmdq7B2_&sig=HvzRAAzC5GUJxEnioYTFsS2PNRM&hl=en&ei=pyzTTISNDMGblgf905GMDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13&ved=0CEAQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Marjifay, "Meetings" has what I suspect is your tree. It's the Whittinghame Yew, whose "...branches form a vast drooping dome 60 feet high and 400 feet in circumference." Supposedly Lord Morton (owner of the estate) plotted the murder of Mary Queen of Scots' second husband, the Earl of Darnley, in this cavern. The picture makes it look big enough to hold a banquet in, much less plot a murder.

PatH · « **Reply #1341 on:** November 04, 2010, 06:46:43 PM »

I see that if you scroll down in that link you get a number of his pictures.

PatH · « **Reply #1342 on:** November 04, 2010, 06:55:59 PM »

Jonathan, no matter how many times I read it, I still get goosebumps at the opening to "Inferno". What translation is that?

JoanK · « **Reply #1343 on:** November 04, 2010, 07:19:57 PM »

I love not only to look at trees, but to listen to them. Someone said that there are three great sounds in nature: the ocean, the sound of rain, and the sound of a breeze in the woods. I'm with the person quoted above who walked on tiptoes.

JoanK · « **Reply #1344 on:** November 04, 2010, 07:29:49 PM »

I was able to order Eucalyptus by clicking on the Amazon button above. I went for "like new", and paid $4 + shipping, but they have it for 90 cents.

PatH · « **Reply #1345 on:** November 04, 2010, 07:49:33 PM »

Oh, good, Joan, I'll borrow it when you're done.

Gumtree · « **Reply #1346 on:** November 04, 2010, 08:25:28 PM »

I'll be interested to know just how Eucalyptus 'translates' for an American reader. The prose is rather spare and understated but for an Aussie carries a wealth of meaning. - as does the humour.

Babi · « **Reply #1347 on:** November 05, 2010, 08:43:58 AM »

Wow!, PAT. That photo certainly puts things in perspective, doesn't it. The tree's root is bigger than the man. I've seen apartment
buildings that were smaller. I had no idea yews grew so huge.

ALF43 · « **Reply #1348 on:** November 05, 2010, 08:55:35 AM »

I just purchased the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack, the story of a black woman whose cells were harvested 60 years ago and were vital in the research for polio vaccine and the spear heading of researach in IVF. Has anyone read this yet?

maryz · « **Reply #1349 on:** November 05, 2010, 11:07:34 AM »

Alf, I loved Henrietta Lacks! I read it because we were trying to get the author to speak at our Friends of the Library meeting. That didn't work out, but I'm so glad I read the book. It's a fascinating story and reads quite easily. The writer has been interviewed on BookTV - you might be able to find it on their web site archives.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1350 on:** November 05, 2010, 12:49:11 PM »

HI ALF! Yes, I have read and enjoyed the Henriette Lacks book. In fact, I think I bought it and it is sitting peacefully on my shelves somewhere. We discussed the book here in Nonfiction sometime ago.

I just finished reading THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride, which I believe was discussed on our old SN site? I had missed it - it was wonderful!

Jonathan · « **Reply #1351 on:** November 05, 2010, 09:54:08 PM »

Pat, the Dante quote is from Robert Pinsky's translation of The Inferno. Wasn't that great artistry to begin such a momentous journey in a dark woods?

Thanks for the link to those magnificent trees. Awesome. But beautiful? I want to see the Ghost Gum before I make up my mind.

Joan,you're right about those three great sounds in nature. I've enjoyed them all. Doesn't Henry Beston have a good impression of a great wave heard in his little house behind the dune on Cape Cod? As for the wind in the woods...ah, the moaning and sighing in the treetops over ones head, on the trail, at night, in ones sleeping bag. And the trees become moving shadows. Frightening. And then those first ominous drops of rain on the canvas. We're in for a long night.

Gumtree, with every post Eucalyptus sounds better and better. How does Aussie understatement compare with the English variety? Humour with meaning. I'm hooked. I'll find the book.

Gumtree · « **Reply #1352 on:** November 06, 2010, 01:39:43 AM »

Jonathon: My what a time I've had finding images of ghost gums for you.
Here's a site which has a lot of photos - if the link works...

http://www/redbubble.com/explore/ghost+gum+tree

and likewise one for the River red gum

http://www.bluegumpictures.com.au/collections/australia_victoria_outback_hattahkulkynemurraykulkynenationalparks020.php

The ghost gum takes its popular name from the paleness of the bark which stands out dramatically depending on the light - a night they can be quite awesome.

The River Red Gum often grows along water courses and live to great ages - we have lost many stands of aged trees during the past 10-15 years of drought. Fortunately the drought has been broken and their habitat is well flooded this year - given water they germinate readily so hopefully we will not lose the species this time round.

Australian artists love to paint the gums - they all have a persona so to speak and our great artists have painted them over and over. I like to dabble with oils myself and have painted both these species - the red growing out water and the ghost gum's glowing white trunk growing out of red rock -so striking that one can't resist trying to get it down on canvas.

Babi · « **Reply #1353 on:** November 06, 2010, 09:28:35 AM »

Alas, GUM, my Internet Explorer could not show me the gum trees. I'll have to go looking for
myself. Combine my love of trees with my huge curiosity bump, and, well....

http://www.touringaustralia.de/Trees/GhostGum.php

See if this one works. Beautiful, graceful tree.

JoanK · « **Reply #1354 on:** November 06, 2010, 02:45:07 PM »

Jonathan: "Doesn't Henry Beston have a good impression of a great wave heard in his little house behind the dune on Cape Cod?"

Ah, yes, in "The Outermost House" one of my favorite books. The one I reread when I'm feeling frazzled. (I think it's time to read it again!) If any of you don't know it, he built a house at the end of Cape Cod, when it was still empty of people, and lived there for a year, describing what he saw. If you love the ocean, you'll love this book.

I couldn't see Gum's trees either, but could see Babi's. How beautiful. The bark reminds me of New England's white birches, but the shape of the tree and leaves are different.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1355 on:** November 06, 2010, 09:56:32 PM »

The "Top End" encompasses North Queensland, up and around Cairns. I had the pleasure of visiting Cairns last year and there is such lushness of vegetation there as well as a lot of crocodiles.

At this time of year the Jacarandas are blooming everywhere. Although not native to Australia they look splendid with the surrounding natives. The poincianas (also not native)will be blooming next in their red splendour, they always remind me of exotic dancers.

This one I took in a nearby suburb.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanataj/2009304406/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanataj/2009304406/

A bit of trivia for you: The Jacaranda is Russell Crowe's favourite tree. I know this because a man who designed and made some mirrors for us, was asked to create a glass door surround incorporating a jacaranda design for Russell's property at Nana Glen. He used to talk to Meg Ryan while he was working on the surrounds, said she was very quiet and sweet. Russell, he told us, is a very down-to-earth bloke and easy to get on with. This was about the same time that Russell got into an argument with some locals in Coff's Harbour, a nearby pub, and made headline news. The glassmaker showed us some pix of the door and it was truly splendid.

Although the jacaranda and poinciana are not native to Australia, I regard them as exotic, beautiful and showy foreigners, and of course magnificent trees.

This is one I took in a park.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanataj/1583222967/

Albert Namatjira, an aboriginal artist, used the ghost gum as a favourite subject.

http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/namatjira.php

Gumtree · « **Reply #1356 on:** November 07, 2010, 02:11:11 AM »

G'rrr so my links don't work - I'm not really surprised as my computer keeps 'freezing' - was a problem all last week and again once or twice today ... sorry

but thanks to Babi - at least there is one pic of a ghost gum for you Jonathan. There are many shapes and sizes with them and also the bark colour ranges from just light tones to a brilliant dazzling white - they stand out in the landscape and are awesome when seen against a purplish blue sky.

And thanks too, Roshanarose for posting that one of Namatjira's watercolour... I'd like to find one of Hans Heysen's ghost gums but I think the copyright police have them in custody...

The jacarandas are just beginning to show their flowers here - a little later than in your neck of the woods... poincianas are not common in Perth but those we have don't show their glory until January into February.

Jonathan · « **Reply #1357 on:** November 07, 2010, 12:15:27 PM »

Wow! Such arboreal splendour. How these lovely trees just lift ones spirits with their aspiring, whirling limbs. And the comments:

the ghost gum...brilliant, dazzling white against a purplish blue sky

the poincianas in their red splendour, they always remind me of exotic dancers

and I can just see the possums taking that scenic route into your kitchen, roshanarose

Ah, to be in Australia in the springtime. What a gorgeous landscape!

FlaJean · « **Reply #1358 on:** November 07, 2010, 02:30:11 PM »

The trees are beautiful. The Jacaranda trees look like some we used to see in Tampa, Florida when our daughter lived there some years ago. Now I will have to do some research to see if those lavender trees were Jacaranda. Thanks for those links.

JoanK · « **Reply #1359 on:** November 07, 2010, 05:40:55 PM »

The trees are beautiful. We have Jacaranda trees here (Southern California) but due to the local custon of pruning the trees back every year so they never get too tall or full (grrrr), they aren't a gorgeous as yours.

I fooled around to get another of the artists paintings of a ghost gum:

http://www.nga.gov.au/namatjira/detail/sapling.htm

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Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439656 times)