Mini-Sculpture

Here is more of my art from Malta. I collected, from the ground, leaves from a Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua) and used them to make mini-sculptures.



Here's a closer look at one of the series.



And here is one more with one of the hands that made it.



This last photo is a of a quick watercolour & ink sketch of some more mature pods tht sprang from a cut limb of the tree. Apparently the pods used to be used as feed for animals.

Cape Sorrel

The Latin name for Cape Sorrel is Oxalis pes-caprae. The Maltese name is Haxixa Ingliza.



I just discovered, this morning when I looked it up in my new Maltese wild flower book, that it is not native to Malta in spite of being one of the most prolific flowers in Malta.



It was actually introduced into a Botanical garden in 1811 and escaped and spread not only all through Malta but also all through the Mediterranean.



It looks very similar to Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta) that grows in the U.S. and Canada.

Ontario Spring Signs

I will return to Malta photos, but meanwhile back in Ontario...


Églantine captured this Willow photo.


I found this Choke Cherry.


I found this Tamarack bud but could not photograph it as I wanted. Églantine managed this super photo!

Ggantija - Gozo - Malta

Ggantija [juh GAN tee ah is how I heard it pronounced most of the time] is the temple Églantine and I went to visit on the island of Gozo. Gozo, you will remember, is the second island of the Malta group and just a 20 minute ferry ride from the main island. Ggantija is thought to be the oldest free standing structure in the world. Construction started about 6000 years ago. As we walked from the nearby road down a path, this was the first sight we had of the temple. The largest rocks used for construction were about the height of a normal one story house. (I don't know how thick they were.)



From the hill site of the temple, this is the view across the valley.



In the next photo, one can see Églantine near the back of the temple structure. Yes the roof caved in long ago but then it is over 5600 years old. How will your roof be in 5600 years?



This last photo shows the interior of one of the sections of the temple.



If you are interested in more details or more photos, do a Google search for "Ggantija" and you will get about 76,500 hits. On the other hand you can go to the Ggantija site for more information or to MaltaVista - Pictures - Ggantija for more photos including some neat air photos that were unavailable to those of us who visited on the ground.

Gozo

There are three islands in the Malta group that have people. Gozo is the second smallest and only a short distance from Malta. We took a ferry there to visit an ancient temple but also visited other parts of the island. Photos today are from some of the other parts.



A place, called Calypso's cave, had this view of a beach. It's my kind of beach; beautiful and empty. It was also too far away to walk to on this trip.



From the top of the wall of the Citadel in Victoria, Gozo, we saw this distant city across the green fields. I do not know what the city is called.



These sea cliffs are next to the city of Xlendi (pronounced SHLEN dee).