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Large Seed Pod

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Wordless Wednesday

Does this look familiar to anyone?

daturaseedpod4

What could this be? A very well disguised grenade? An ancient weapon of torture? Believe me touching one of these is torturous, those thorns are very prickly and sharp.

It’s a seed pod and it’s at least the size of a golf ball or a regular sized plum if not bigger. Actually, looking at the photo I’d say that it was about that size when I took the photo.

This seed pod forms immediately after the short lived flower drops off. It takes a week or more for the seed pod to reach this size. Seed pods form throughout the growing season. I’ve found that if I remove the seed pods – naturally with heavy gloves or by carefully positioning my pruners I get more flowers than I would if I left the pods on.

This flower is not hardy to my Canadian zone 6a, or USD zone 5B garden, but I seem to miss a seed pod or two each year, or so I think, and the plant regrows each summer.

I have two of these plants. One has large white flowers and the other has very pale mauve flowers. The blooms have a heavenly almost jasmine like scent, but it’s leaves smell when crushed between the fingers. I can’t describe the smell well – rank, musky, unpleasant.

Oh yes, this plant is said to have been used by native Indians for it’s hallucinatory properties – even though it is a very poisonous plant.

What type of plant does this seed pod come from?

Update: For those of you who were wondering – it’s a DATURA seed pod.






The Pink Fridge

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Have you heard of The Pink Fridge? It’s an online magazine for UK women. Yes, I know, I’m in Canada – why am I writing about an online magazine in the UK? Well, I know that many of my readers are from the UK and from Countries all over the world. This is most definitely a global site, and I thought my UK readers might be interested in hearing about the Online Magazine.

Just like a print magazine there are a number of sections of interest to browse through.

There is a Love and Life section and it’s filled with articles such as being your own boss and working at home, a supermarket dating guide, an article suggesting that women should pay lower insurance rates because we are better drivers, general advice and many more topics from marriage to personal finance. The Health and Beauty section has quite a number of current articles as well, ranging from an article discussing skin types to a weight loss guide.

The popularity of Manolo Blahniks are discussed in an article in the clothing section, which is a sub-directory of the shopping section. I expected to find listings of online stores or discussions about the UK’s fashionable shops in this section but to my surprise I found articles about fashion trends, clothing, Jewelery, perfume, and a well written article that discussed the history of Champagne and it’s uses today.

I quite enjoyed the Travel section, reading about the city of Prague, golfing in Scotland and beach holidays on the Mediterranean. I was drooling as I read about Cyprus. It sounded so wonderful.

Try as I might I was unable to find any information regarding the name of the online magazine. Perhaps the Pink Fridge refers to something unique to the UK that as a North American I’m ignorant of, but I was curious as to how the name of the magazine came about and wished I could have found some information about the name.

I was quite pleased to find that all of the articles were well written and held my attention. I think this Online Magazine could easily have a broader focus since many of the topics are of interest to women all over the world. The only suggestion that I would make for the site owner would be perhaps to make the font ever so slightly larger in order to make it a little easier to read the articles.

I think my site visitors would find The Pink Fridge to be an interesting site and I do hope that a few of you will visit and decide for yourself if you enjoy the articles or not. I stand by what I’ve written and think that The Pink Fridge could very well develop into a popular online magazine over time.

Gift idea- Telescope for outdoor type people

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I keep coming up with more gift ideas for the gardener or avid outdoors person. Have you thought of giving your loved one or a good friend a telescope for Christmas, their birthday or even just “because”?

Opticsplanet.net has a great selection of telescopes. One brand in particular stands out for it’s quality – Celestron telescopes. Celestron telescopes are known for their high-quality mechanical components, user-friendly ergonomic designs, light weight materials, plus they each undergo rigorous internal testing.

Perhaps your child is a junior astronomer – always gazing at the stars or asking for his or her room to be decorated with moon, sun, and star designs? Have you ever thought of getting your child a telescope? I know I would have enjoyed using one as a child.

Optics Planet carries a wide selection of brand name telescopes made by companies such as Meade, Celestron, Tasco, TeleVue, Vixen, Swarovski, Leica and Bushnell. The company sells everything from cheap toy telescopes to the highest quality brands, plus they offer free UPS shipping which I think is great bonus.

When I was a kid we spent a lot of time up at our cottage. If we’d had a telescope I would have used it to gaze up at the clear skies to spot the planets and stars that I was studying in school or perhaps even to look at a distant animal.

I think a telescope would make a great gift for a nature lover or someone fascinated with the skies above. Think about it.

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