Freitag, 31. Oktober 2014

Our forests: Places where souls can sing their free songs

Woods at the Walgau-Valley
Vorarlberg, Austria

picture with mirror effect:


“This life is yours. 
Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. 
Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. 
Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. 
Take the power to control your own life. 
No one else can do it for you. 
Take the power to make your life happy.” 
by Susan Polis Schutz





  


“Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to break into light and shadow, the density blinds one. Within there is no form, only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere: exotic sounds, spills of sunlight, foliage, fallen trees, small beasts that flee at the sound of a twig-snap, insects, silence, flowers.
And all of this, dependent, closely woven, all of it is deceiving. There are really two kinds of life. There is, as Viri says, the one people believe you are living, and there is the other. It is this other which causes the trouble, this other we long to see.”  
byJames Salter - Light Years

One of my trees- and woods Nature Videos with music:









  


All Photographies copyright ©by Gina Matt / Naturpunkt.at






Hermann Hesse about trees:

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.

A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.


Sonntag, 26. Oktober 2014

Mallorca: Interesting places -Monument of "Crist Rei" at the Monastery of Sant Salvador






 



Ones first View when approaching Sant Salvador is the 7m high statue of the Crist Rei statue, which was erected in 1934. The statue was donated to his home village by a Felanitx-born canon of Palma Cathedral. Near by is the cross at the summit of "El Picot" (1957)

The small chapel half way up the road to the sanctuary was constructed in 1910 to remember the legend of the shepherd who found the statue of Our Lady.
Sant Salvador with the hermitage of the same name, Santuari de Sant Salvador, is to be found southeast of Felanitx and is easy to reach via a comfortable winding road the former Pilgrims' Way, passing by an impressive stone cross situated atop El Picot and the stations of the Cross. The foundation stone of the monastery was laid in 1348. When the primitive church dedicated to the "Passió de la Imatge" was built. The present building was constructed at the beginning of the 18th century and a statue, venerated in the 15th century, of the Lady of Sant Salvador was placed above the altar, also a magnificent carved stone altarpiece of "La passió de la Imartge", also from the 15th century, was moved to a side chapel.

View from Sant Salvador



Although the exterior looks like a fortress, partly due to the stormy history of the monastery, in the Middle Ages, the monks had to defend themselves against numerous attacks by Arab pirates. 

The interior of the monastery is the opposite being richly decorated. Notably the altarpiece of alabaster (16th century), which depicts the Last Supper and parts of the Passion and was created by Guillem Sagrera
At a height of 510m. and with fantastic views this monastery is a popular place to visit although it is still used regularly for worship, weddings or communions.
Mass is usually celebrated on Sundays and holidays days at 17.00hrs, also on the Sunday closest to September 8, to commemorate the coronation of the Image of Our Lady in 1934, and also the first Sunday after Easter.


Photography ©by Gina Matt / Naturpunkt

Links:



Donnerstag, 23. Oktober 2014

Nasturtium editible Plant with๑•.°°Innocent droplets of rain °° -Kapuzinerkresse mit spielerischen Regentropfen

 

“Innocent droplets of rain
make almost all events
quite natural.
― Visar Zhiti, The Condemned Apple: Selected Poetry


Botany of Nasturtium / Kapuzinerkresse

Indian cress, Capuchina, Grande Capucine, Tropaeolum, Chin-lien-hua
Tropaeolum majus

Family: TROPAEOLACEAE


Its known as a potent broad-spectrum antibiotic and healer which far surpasses any medical antibiotic in speed and effectiveness.

Nasturtium (English: nasturtium) the buds and flowers have slight "peppery" taste. The plant belongs to the Brassicaceae but botanically, but to a very different family (Tropaeolaceae). It has been brought in the 16th century from South America to Europe, grows in relatively harsh climate and delighted us in many gardens due to their intense colors. The nasturtium contains a lot of vitamin C; all parts of the plant are edible - an attractive variation in a summer salad.

https://middlepath.com.au/plant/Nasturtium_Tropaeolum-majus_medicinal-antibiotic-herb.php


Raindrops in photographically playful manner, I hope that you enjoy my Video:




This cute climbing plant comes originally from the Andean region, but it seem to do pretty well in most climates. It is praised as much for its ornamental aspect as it is for its culinary and medicinal uses.
Its hot-pungent taste, a little stronger than watercress at times,  makes it a delicious - and cute! - salad ingredient. Leaves, flowers and seeds are all edible, very rich in vitamin C. I like using the larger leaves (when they grow in shadowy places the leaves can get as large as 15cm of diameter!) in my green smoothies, leaving the sweet flowers to salads. The young seeds are even hotter than the flowers and leaves and they can be ground, added as spice to salad dressings or stews, or they can be prepared as capers. The mature seeds contain more than 25% of protein and they can be dried and ground to be used as a healthier pepper substitute.

In medicinal herbalism is nasturtium mostly known as an expectorant and disinfectant. Its antibacterial, anti-fungicide and antibiotic properties make it an amazing plant to help relieve infections, both internally as externally, as in disinfecting wounds and cuts. Its high content of vitamin C together with other phytonutrients make it a good herb to treat scurvy.



Tropfen in photografisch spielerischer Form






Nature Photography ©copyright by Gina Matt

Music: Tristan O'Meara 
"Walking with no destination" 
with personal permission


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