August 2023 Favourite Uploads

[Steve Hyde]

Here are a few recent uploads from me. It’s a mix of food, dogs and orchids. I made the the Biscoff Rocky Road below (Tiffin in USA and Australia I think) with my Grandson this week. It very moorish and I can’t stop eating it. Fortunately I’m walking (slowly) outdoors again now and able to work some of it off.
 

Any advice on orchid tag words would be appreciated. I know these are Phalaenopsis hybrids but I haven’t been able to work out if they have a more specific scientific name than that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jacek]

[NYCat]

1 hour ago, Steve Hyde said:

Here are a few recent uploads from me. It’s a mix of food, dogs and orchids. I made the the Biscoff Rocky Road below (Tiffin in USA and Australia I think) with my Grandson this week. It very moorish and I can’t stop eating it. Fortunately I’m walking (slowly) outdoors again now and able to work some of it off.
 

Any advice on orchid tag words would be appreciated. I know these are Phalaenopsis hybrids but I haven’t been able to work out if they have a more specific scientific name than that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ears on the dogs are what I noticed. One dog clipped and the other not? Maybe put something about that in keywords and caption. Food looks way too yummy. I would be fat if you were my friend.

 

Paulette

[NYCat]

57 minutes ago, Jacek said:

 

I love your birds. The little one levitating is a character.

 

Paulette

[Steve Hyde]

16 minutes ago, NYCat said:

 

The ears on the dogs are what I noticed. One dog clipped and the other not? Maybe put something about that in keywords and caption. Food looks way too yummy. I would be fat if you were my friend.

 

Paulette

Hi Paulette,

 

the dogs ears aren’t clipped. They should be button ears, like her brothers, but they never folded over properly. One stands up and the other goes sideways 😀. The breeder suggested sellotaping a coin to her ears, when she was younger, to force them to fold properly. We never bothered as we’re quite happy with the way they are. Clipping is illegal over here.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Steve Hyde

[PatsyCollins]

Nice pictures.

There are a lot of named Phalaenopsis hybrids, many with only very subtle differences. There are also a lot sold simply as 'hybrid' with no variety name, so getting an ID just from photos of the flowers is almost impossible.

[NYCat]

1 hour ago, Steve Hyde said:

Hi Paulette,

 

the dogs ears aren’t clipped. They should be button ears, like her brothers, but they never folded over properly. One stands up and the other goes sideways 😀. The breeder suggested sellotaping a coin to her ears, when she was younger, to force them to fold properly. We never bothered as we’re quite happy with the way they are. Clipping is illegal over here.

 

Oh good. Seems a shame to chop off bits of dogs.

 

Paulette

[Steve Hyde]

1 hour ago, PatsyCollins said:

Nice pictures.

There are a lot of named Phalaenopsis hybrids, many with only very subtle differences. There are also a lot sold simply as 'hybrid' with no variety name, so getting an ID just from photos of the flowers is almost impossible.

Thank you Patsy 🙂

[Rebecca Ore]

1 hour ago, Steve Hyde said:

Thank you Patsy 🙂

 

Phalaenopsis are also mass produced in SE Asia and those may be mericlones (not from seed) from known good parents.  They come in by the hundreds even to Managua, and are often bought for table decorations and dumped after the flowers begin falling from the spike.  If the growers are mericloning (using treated plant tissue to start new identical plants) patented hybrids, they could be "losing" the identification tags rather than paying the licensing fees.

 

Phalaenopsis can go from seeds to blooming size in 3 years (most orchids take twice that), so this makes them a very desirable plant for growers, even at mass production prices.   Cheap, absolutely gorgeous, long lasting multi flower spikes, and show up in all sorts of home decorating photos and movies.

 

 

[Steve Hyde]

28 minutes ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Phalaenopsis are also mass produced in SE Asia and those may be mericlones (not from seed) from known good parents.  They come in by the hundreds even to Managua, and are often bought for table decorations and dumped after the flowers begin falling from the spike.  If the growers are mericloning (using treated plant tissue to start new identical plants) patented hybrids, they could be "losing" the identification tags rather than paying the licensing fees.

 

Phalaenopsis can go from seeds to blooming size in 3 years (most orchids take twice that), so this makes them a very desirable plant for growers, even at mass production prices.   Cheap, absolutely gorgeous, long lasting multi flower spikes, and show up in all sorts of home decorating photos and movies.

 

 

Thank you Rebecca, Phalaenopsis hybrid will have to be good enough 🙂

Edited August 6, 2023 by Steve Hyde

[aphperspective]

Not sure if this shop owner has fully grasped the idea of "bargain" in his sale.

 

[Marianne]

2 hours ago, aphperspective said:

Not sure if this shop owner has fully grasped the idea of "bargain" in his sale.

 

 

Perhaps not, but they have a good sense of humor!

[Allan Bell]

21 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

The ears on the dogs are what I noticed. One dog clipped and the other not? Maybe put something about that in keywords and caption. Food looks way too yummy. I would be fat if you were my friend.

 

Paulette

 

I do not know the make breed of those dogs but have seen a video of them reacting to their master and I find it very funny. Love them.

 

Allan

 

[Rebecca Ore]

6 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I do not know the make breed of those dogs but have seen a video of them reacting to their master and I find it very funny. Love them.

 

Allan

 

 

Caption says Manchester terriers.   Google shows dogs with both the button ears (folded) and prick ears.   Interesting breed history.

[Jacek]

Just wonder do You like this picture

[gvallee]

34 minutes ago, Jacek said:

Just wonder do You like this picture

 

It is an interesting shot with the bird perched on a rock but I think it is a little lost in the frame. Size permitting, I would have cropped it quite a bit and placed the bird on a third on the right. Just my opinion.

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by gvallee

[Jacek]

9 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

 Size permitting, I would have cropped it quite a bit and placed the bird on a third on the right. Just my opinion.

 

 

Thank You  . Your opinion is exactly what I was going to do and usually do . MY intention was to show small , alone but brave  bird in big , dark world. If placed right or left it can be difficult to see him so decided to place in center. Picture is 7285 x 5464 px so can be croped.

 

 

[gvallee]

22 minutes ago, Jacek said:

 

 

You might very well be right. You have plenty of space for text which is something I am not very good at.

 

[Steve F]

1 hour ago, Jacek said:

Just wonder do You like this picture

 

Yes

[NYCat]

Yes, I love it. I thought about the tiny size of the bird immediately.

 

Paulette

[Allan Bell]

Like the picture.

 

Don't like Alamy trying to obliterate the bird.  I have seen similar in other pictures with Alamy stamped across the main small point in the picture. Makes it difficult for customers to see the content.

 

Allan

 

[Rubens Alarcon]

Both taken in the same late afternoon, opposite sides, at Formosa Beach, Madeira Island, Portugal.

 

 

[Allan Bell]

From last upload.

 

Gateway to River Witham from Cheery Fields Cherry Willingham, Lincolnshire,

 

 

Knaresborough bridge on the river Nidd from the East, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England,

 

 

Ladybird on eaten leaf. 

 

 

Knaresborough railway Station tunnel, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England,

 

 

Modern museum flaxengate Lincoln City, Lincolnshire, England,

 

 

Allan

 

[zxzoomy]

Dawn light on the mountains at Cockley Beck, Lake District National Park, Cumbria, UK.

 

[cbimages]

A lot of luck, and a lot of patience + trying not to breathe my tank dry, and I finally, after 43 years of diving, got to get a shot of Valentine's Puffers mating. It takes about one second.......I've tried before and missed it, got lucky this time! It all started with the female cleaning substrate, so I knew what was going to happen, especially when the male  got aggressive towards other males in the area. You can see his belly all creased as he puts out his sperm, then the female lays her eggs. You can see the beautiful bright green lines around the males eye


After

 

 

After mating, the female started laying