FOUR O'CLOCKS

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SCARY...

Asbestos was banned in Australia two decades ago, but there remains more than six million tonnes of the dangerous material in buildings across the country. Experts say the asbestos is deteriorating, increasing the chance of exposure and putting lives at risk. The cost of removal remains a barrier to the disposal of asbestos, and advocates are pushing for a streamlined approach to making it easy, safe and affordable to remove.

Although the numbers had been expected to drop, about 4000 people still die each year in Australia from asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer. That's about three times the national road toll.

Asbestos-related diseases account for the highest number of work-related deaths, but exposure outside of the workplace is also a concern. There has also been an increase of cases among people who've been renovating old homes, without bringing in licensed asbestos removalists.

Scary...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

COUNTRYSIDE IDYLL

A bucolic landscape in Central Gippsland, with a view towards the south. The Strzelecki Ranges are seen and are a set of low mountain ridges located in the West Gippsland and South Gippsland regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The Ranges are named after Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, a Polish explorer, who with the assistance of Charley Tarra the small party's Aboriginal guide, led an expedition through this region in 1840.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

COASTERS

An amazing variety of coasters for sale at the South Melbourne Market.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

RICHMOND TRAIN STATION

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

PIGEONS

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

SUNSET SILHOUETTES

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

ALSTROEMERIA

Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Alstroemeriaceae. They are all native to South America although some have become naturalised in the United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Madeira and the Canary Islands. Almost all of the species are restricted to one of two distinct centres of diversity, one in central Chile, the other in eastern Brazil. Species of Alstroemeria from Chile are winter-growing plants while those of Brazil are summer-growing. All are long-lived perennials except A. graminea, a diminutive annual from the Atacama Desert of Chile.

The genus was named after the Swedish baron Clas Alströmer (1736 – 1794) by his close friend Carolus Linnaeus. Many hybrids and at least 190 cultivars have been developed, featuring many different markings and colours, including white, yellow, orange, apricot, pink, red, purple, and lavender. The most popular and showy hybrids commonly grown today result from crosses between species from Chile (winter-growing) with species from Brazil (summer-growing). This strategy has overcome the florists' problem of seasonal dormancy and resulted in plants that are evergreen, or nearly so, and flower for most of the year. This breeding work derives mainly from trials that began in the United States in the 1980s.

The flower, which resembles a miniature lily, is very popular for bouquets and flower arrangements in the commercial cut flower trade. Most cultivars available for the home garden will bloom in the late spring and early summer. The roots are hardy to a temperature of −5 °C. The plant requires at least six hours of morning sunlight, regular watering, and well-drained soil.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

FISH LADDER

Fish ladder in the Darebin Creek, at Darebin Parklands, Alphington.

A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon, is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movements of potamodromous species. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps (hence the term ladder) into the waters on the other side. The velocity of water falling over the steps has to be great enough to attract the fish to the ladder, but it cannot be so great that it washes fish back downstream or exhausts them to the point of inability to continue their journey upriver.

This post is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme

TWILIGHT

The City viewed across the Yarra, at twilight.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme