Metal art in Anza Borrego (SE California)... I thought I would share these twilight photos of a serpent sculpture, of whom the basic unit is this:



Quite lovely texture



The head of the serpent is some sort of dragon monster







Viewing the serpent from the rear, in its entirety



This detail caught my eye



This is located in what would be an ocotillo forest, if it were not for some mining many decades ago. The land where these sculptures are located is privately owned but publicly accessible.

I love that! Awesome creature!
I am reminded of Arrakis/Dune.

I love it too! So long as it remains an art not a reality!

I am so glad I was able to revive these from the clearance racks. They looked really dead but I was very interested with the pots for my adeniums. Then when I researched this, because seems pricey to me, I realized it has tiny blooms and supposedly mature bonsai would have swollen trunks. So I soaked overnight with Agrothrive general purpose mixed water and viola. Yesterday it had more blooms. Last night I gave it Agrothrive blooming.

Ok, so the next trip involved going to the second largest island of Malta, Gozo, and its capital Victoria, and the smaller town of Xaghra. For this one, luckily I was near the port with the hourly ferry from Cirkewwa to Mgarr.









So, third largest island, and very sparsely inhabited, Comino, is home to several abandoned structures(naval bateries, forts and army barracks later used as a quarantine hospital). Might visit next time but nothing noteworthy there.
















Pretty much the most noteworthy structures on the route from Mgarr to Victoria.



















Streets of Victoria around the Citadel, a large fortress and the main reason for my visit.















































The church was sort of a separte museum so I didn't go in there, The others, had the usual stuff











































Pretty standard stuff. I enjoyed more the views from the battlements and the natural hystory museum.























They also had some craftsman/artist fair...I bought a small gift for my cousin.













































































So, a bit of history -the large flat topped hills are where stoneage settlements used to be...











So, natural history museum. Liked the rocks, fossils. The taxidermy needed work though...



















































































I am going to leave it at that today, might be Xadgra and Ggantija next time.

Xaghra and Gganitja(one of the most important megalithic sites)
Musem































Ruins/outdoor garden?





















































































































Roughly summed up, a less protected and more worn similar to the one in hagar qim and mnjandra, and probably hal tarxien and this other place(both of which I intend to visit in 2025 should fortune be favorable). Otherwise the bus ride back was kinda sketchy since only one bus could take me to victoria, but all of them went here in the same direction. Either way, bus went all over Xaghra before returning there. Way back roughly the same-wanted to go to Mgarr but at that point only had energy to go to one place: the red fortress.























Either way, it was a short hike from the bus stop, on the northernmost hill of the island.



















































Im not going to sugar coat, it was not exceptional, but interesting to see up close.













So a bit of cuisine- a purple carrot(which didn't taste all that different except for the weakest of beetroot tinges), a rhubarb cider(which is probably apple cider with vanilla). Homemade rhubarb pie. We used puff pastry in lieu for the dough. Chop it up, add flour and sugar and stach, and let it rest, then bake. It was interesting- it tastes like a bit like apple. Though...starfruit apple in celery package if I am being accurate. Qaghaq tal-Ghasel, or honey rings. Use some sort molasses based filling. We found it weird though, a bit too much sweet spices used...
Anyway, this was the penultimate trip. Only one left is when I went to the cave and the 2 fishing villages on the SE of the island. Toodles.

The bugs 🐞 and birds 🦅 that were on display caught my eyes 😱! Travel while young and thanks for sharing the photos.

Speaking of baking, I hardly bake because when I do hubby and daughter will eat them in a day. Anyway a sweet lady neighbor gave us a lot of bananas so I baked banana cakes (no sugar just raisins and banana being sweet) but we had too many I froze some and made chocolate covered bananas. So yummy!

A little weird for me to see the Danish flag remixed with the two-headed eagle (which I associate with Russia, not sure of the origins there), and that other one I do not recognize. These European symbols are so mix and match sometimes.

New Operculicarya decaryi looks good to me (3.25" pot). I think it is a seedling. I passed on the pachypus, I think @Kaktus has that area covered. This was already over my budget. Looking forward to watching this plant grow. I chose the leafiest of the plants on offer, seemed like the best omen overall.

Oooh, that is the sweetest little micro tree! Do you plan to keep it small in a pot or let it run loose in your garden?

I imagine something like this one day (probably after I am long gone)



and not something like this



Not sure the second two plants are seedlings, but they have obviously grown huge for the size of the pot.

Good night!

My operculicarya are from root cuttings. Interesting plants, somehow it can go dormant, don't know when and why, sometimes they grow new branches and leaves, and all of a sudden completely stop and sleep.
I'll repot this into a larger pot next week to promote new growth, still can not find the right angle/position for the plant, either to tilt it further left for a cascade shape, or tilt it to the right to make it straight, but position of the roots will look weird. Also can not decide whether to prune it now or later. 7 cm pot.


We are appreciating the tumor like thing to grow near the base of the branches, really make the plant looks great.



Another smaller plant, but this plant had an interesting caudex underneath, saw it during last repotting, hope it didn't get rotten inside. I still have a small one that is not growing at all.

By accident, I wanted the pots that had dead plants in it. And like a plant person that I am, I didn't have the heart to toss the dead plants. I soaked them overnight with agro thrive and they bounced back. Even the bald now has leaves. Further research shows they are "Fukien Tea" and they sell for $30.99/ pot


I went back to Lowe's and they didn't have any in the clearance racks anymore. And they are now blooming. Only downside is they like water.

Chain coral fossil arrived. Last of the old batch. Got some new ones to pick up on monday(well, at least one, maybe more). Otherwise, nothing remarkable done gardening wise or in terms of other hobies. Mainly reconstruction work for the 2 rooms on the main floor. One had pipes re-done(thusthe walls were done Swiss cheese), the other had some water damage on two walls and had to be scraped. Also the frames were wrecked when the new doors and windows were installed. Need work done on the walls(in progress), flooring and ceiling, as well as electrics. Still no proper furniture(couch, bed) or a fridge.

Malta's final trip- was to the far end(south-east) of the island, to Bizerbugga and Marsaxlokk. The transit was long- recontrustion was ongoing at Mosta, which is a key route from the north to Valetta where the bus central station is.












It is a coastal town/village with a huge dock.


























Always found the churches interesting. Otherwise, didn't feel like I should stay there for too long as I had a busy schedule and had to go to Ghar Dalam cave, and that other town, and the busses were not cooperating.

























































So Ghar Dalam, is this important archeological locality, where they found the earliest traces of human settlement in malta, as well as a myriad of bones as far 10 000 years old. They also had a garden of native and non native species,





























As a matter of fact I have not been in a proper cave before(tunnels, sure, but those are man made, and often times lit. Caves are a different story. I understand why cavemen took refuge, but also understand why they left them for huts and such.


































And back to the real word, fortunately no spelunking for me thank you very much.



























Bus hijinks ensued, since I cannot be bothered to wait a lot of time for a bus to take me to Marsaxlokk from wherever the return buses' line from Bizerbugga intersected. And I waited a lot for that one too, since I couldn't simply walk from Bizerbugga to Ghar Dalam(because Id just loose a lot of time). Luckily the route was much simpler at this roundabout, and I got there in an hour.

























I am confidently saying that the SE is generally greener than the north and center. Seems to be a lot more agriculture going on. Road otherwise unremarkable save for abandoned manor....





































Enjoyed looking at the cacti and succulents I stumbled across. So Marsaxloxx has Maltas Gas power plant, where they haul it in this massive tanker.



























































The last photos are from Hal Tarxien, where the world famous hypogaeum is. I left that town for next time, also got temples like the megalithic ruins(though these I belive are among the last made).
Next weekend I will start with the Istanbul tour.

@GigiAdeniumPlumeria , those Fukaintea, or we call them Hokianti here are easy to grow, usually they use them as entry level bonsai. They need almost daily watering, and if I am not mistaken, they will also produce some red color fruits. I think I have them somewhere hidden in my front yard.

@Baja_Costero , I just repotted my operculicarya, interesting to see the roots. Just aware that the roots of all three plants were somehow limited by the pots.
The largest plant, now I found the right angle for it. Hope the roots at far right will grow downward.


Second plant, the roots have grown more than double since the last repotting.


The last smallest one, I thought it went dormant, nothing is growing on top, actually the root is growing like a chayote.


All 3 in 5, 4 and 3 inch oversize pots, we may call them operculicarya underground.

@ketsui73 for the tip.

@kaktus you might want to take cuttings and propagate I am not familiar with this but supposedly hard to train but can develop thick roots. I plan to pot these in big self watering pots to let it grow bigger but maintaining there shape.

I posted these in the Adenium forum! Having fun with the Fukien Tea. I don't do well with any plants that need constant watering or pruning just having fun:

GigiAdeniumPlumeria said: Looks like a real artsy bonsai Fukien Tea:

• Fukien Tea (Ehretia monopyrena)
• Uploaded by GigiAdeniumPlumeria

• Fukien Tea (Ehretia monopyrena)
• Uploaded by GigiAdeniumPlumeria

• Fukien Tea (Ehretia monopyrena)
• Uploaded by GigiAdeniumPlumeria

And fun they are!

I found this fella this morning at Lowes. It was on clearance for $4. The air plant inside was long dead. I'm not sure what I'm going to put in it yet, but it will likely be fake.

Oh that is a cute one! A little jade plant would probably do great!

Aww man, I would have liked a purple one.