Sunday, March 25, 2007
Macedon opens up
Haven't posted any pictures of my own in a while. Here's one, taken just this morning. It's a pinecone I picked up in Gisborne, near Mount Macedon, on Friday. I'd not seen one like this before, and two things struck me about it. First, parts of it are blue, not bluish-green but truly blue! And second, it is like a ball of paper-thin sheaves, folded inside each other. As it dries out it opens up, and seeds float out on almost transparent wing. On the tree (a kind of fir or spruce, I think), cones unfurl themselves from the tip. As the wind takes the seeds and the sheaves holding them, each pinecone is pared down to a narrow conical core. This pinecone, which someone had prised from the tree (not me), was still a tight little ball with deep blue streaks when I brought it home Friday. It's opening from the other end in the warmth of my room - as it would, also, in the cosy house in Macedon my sister and her family are inclining towards making their new home!