Sunday, July 30, 2023

Monthly Photo Challenge - July: Begins with O

The theme for the July Monthly Photo Challenge, hosted by Eileen, was "Begins with O".

These are my Begins with O photos:


Oranges, although they are still unripe and green!

Baby Oranges

Onion Flowers and Onion Plant (they bolted before the bulbs could form!):


Onion Flowers


Onion Plant

Oleander


Oleander


Overgrown:

Overgrown Weeds and Plants


Opening
Opening

Outdoors
Outdoors

Oval


Oval Mirror

Out together walking beak to beak (Mourning Doves):

Out Together Walking Beak to Beak (Mourning Doves)


Organic:
Organic

I had three possible captions for this picture - Out for the Count, Out like a Light, and the one I chose: One Cool Cat!

One Cool Cat!

Thank you, Eileen, for hosting the monthly photo challenges.  

31 comments:

  1. I love these pictures. Dancer was, of course, the star, but you must have been skilled to get the mirror pic and that teapot looks so lovely!

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  2. I like your selection of photos and you found ones I hadn't thought of.
    Yes, Dancer is One Cool Cat for sure :)
    Have you heard if Eileen is OK?

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. :)
      I emailed Eileen, but, haven't received a reply from her, yet. I hope she's OK and just having computer problems.

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  3. That's a very original shaped teapot (is it a teapot?) - where is it from? Love FD

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    1. Thank you, FD. Yes, it is a teapot, but, a decorative one, I think. Part of my collection of blue and white china. It is made in China, but, I bought it here, in the US.

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  4. Dancer is definitely One cool cat! I like your teapot for Opening. Ah, your Morning Doves or as we called "ladies in sweaters" are so sweet.

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    1. Yes, he is, isn't he? :D
      Thank you, Mary-Lou. I've never hear of mourning doves referred to as ladies in sweaters!

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    2. Oops! That should be "heard" not "hear"!

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  5. Fun pictures. I have not seen a pot like in your "Opening" picture. How does it work?

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    1. Thank you, June. I use the teapot as a decorative item, but, one could spoon in the tea leaves from the top (or push in a teabag, I suppose), fill it up with hot water, let it steep, and pour out the tea. The spout is fully functional.

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  6. Great selection of photos! It took me a while to figure out that the onion flower was one head, and not a group of loys of flowers ( tho I guess each little floret is a flower!) From the start I wondered how you'd work Dancer in! Well done! I've also been wondering about Eileen and I hope she is ok.

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    1. Thank you, Celie. Yes, it's one onion flower head or cluster. Yes, Dancer has to be in the monthly photo challenges!
      I've emailed Eileen, but, so far, she has not replied. If she doesn't reply in a couple of days, I'll check with another blogger who also knows Eileen.

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  7. I love your interpretations of the challenge.

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  8. Absolutely love that you have posted oranges that aren't! :o) Organic was a good idea - didn't think of that, or overgrown, although I did think of "overflow" but abandoned both attempts. And the "O" shaped teapot is ideal! (I think I have complimented that piece before - is it purely decorative, or does it have a specific use?) As for oleander ... NO COMMENT! ;o)

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    1. Thank you, Lady Ella. Yes, the oranges won't turn orange until later this year! The oranges in Sri Lanka used to remain green with just a little bit of yellow appearing on the skins when ripe. The Sinhala word for the color orange is based on the Sinhala name for a type of coconut called the king coconut, which has an orange colored outer covering.
      The teapot is decorative, but, one can pour water from the spout, so, I suppose, one could put in tea leaves (or push in a tea bag) and make tea. I've used it as a flower vase, once or twice.
      Ha, ha, I thought I was forgiven for the oleander! :D

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    2. Oh yes, of course. I guess it was just the pain of being confronted with another picture! ;o)
      I have had green oranges in India. They were peeled and added to a fruit custard - delicious! When my uncle came here we gave him navel oranges and he was very confused by them, saying they didn't look like oranges and asking if they "had the orange taste". When he tried one he was still confused, shrugged and said they were called "sweet limes" in India. The whole thing seemed bonkers to me - limes that were orange and oranges that were green!!

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    3. Glad to know that I am forgiven for the oleander, after all! :D I picked some, today, to offer at the altar because they are about the only flowers blooming in the garden, right now!
      That is funny about the orange limes and green oranges. :D The Sinhala word for the color orange is the same as the word for king coconuts, which are a variety of coconut with an orange colored outer husk. The word for the fruit orange has no color association with it. :)

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    4. Yes, I looked up king coconuts after reading your original comment. Sorry for not acknowledging. They are indeed very orange! Are they good for eating? Drinking? Cooking? Making horseshoe noises?!
      You may already know that the English word "orange" came after the fruit, too. Before we saw oranges and recognised the concept, the colour, apparently, was referred to as red, or yellow-red (hence robin redbreast, even though it is not really red.) To be really boring on the subject, the word "orange" came from the Spanish word for the fruit, "naranja", and originally the fruits were called "noranges". Over time, the "n" moved over to the article, so "a norange" became "an orange". It is interesting (well, that might be a matter of opinion!) that most southern European languages use variations of the word "orange" for both the fruit and the colour, but northern European languages tend to refer to the fruit as a "Chinese apple": Dutch - sinaasappel, Danish - appelsin, German either Apfelsine OR Orange. But as far as I know, these languages use a version of "orange" for the colour/adjective.
      Sorry if you already knew all that, and sorry again if you didn't, but also didn't care!

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    5. My turn to apologize because I repeated myself about the king coconuts! The water from young king coconuts is considered the best coconut water for dinking and the tender coconut meat is considered the best for eating. It is scooped out of the shell and eaten as is, most of the time, but, I've had it served with palm treacle as a treat. They are usually consumed while still young and rarely allowed to mature to become the coconuts used for cooking.
      I enjoyed reading the origins of the names for the orange and what it is called in different languages. I'm fascinated by languages. Most varieties of tangerines are called "naran" in Sinhala, perhaps a corruption of the Spanish "naranja" or the Portuguese "laranja". Pineapple is "annasi" from the Portuguese "ananas". These days, we consider them as Sinhala words, but, their roots are in the languages of the former colonizers. :)

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  9. Nice photos. Dancer, of course, is always my favourite. He's so photogenic!

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  10. Some great photographs, Bless. I agree, definitely One Cool Cat! X

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  11. Those are great interpretations again, and of course Dancer is One Cool Cat! 😻

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. Dancer agrees with you! :D

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  12. hahaha the Dancer captions really made me chuckle. I especially liked Out for the Count.
    The green oranges are so pretty as are the onion flowers.
    I don't recall seeing that tea pot before.

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    1. I would have used "Out for the Count" if I hadn't already used "Out" for the mourning doves caption.
      The teapot has made a couple of prior appearances when I've shown pictures of the shelves in the dining area, etc. I've a trio of blue and white teapots on display.

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