Nov 29, 2018

Putting Up the Christmas Tree in Thessaloniki

On Friday, 23 November 2018, the city started putting up the Christmas tree in the Aristotelous Square.

What looked initially like a single lop-sided tree (with missing branches on one side) turned out to become a little collation of trees to make it into a 20-meter-high Christmas tree.

We noticed this on Sunday morning, when we took a final stroll through town. Several trees of different sizes were being put up and arranged to form this single giant.

And yes, Thessaloniki occasionally gets snow.

On a different note – orange trees are loaded with fruit right now and add much to a southern flair in 15°C weather in late November.

 

Jan 6, 2013

Christmas Tree Pick-up Oberursel 2013

This coming Saturday, 12 January 2013, Christmas trees will get picked up again.

Either throw it off the balcony (like we do every year) from your apartment building or, if you live in a house, just drag it to the roadside.

Christmas trees in Germany get recycled. Most of the wood is turned into wood chips, so I’ve been told.

Nov 27, 2012

Flora on Mallorca

Walking around Cap Ratjada/Mallorca, I took photos of flora, unknown in our parts of central Europe.

palm tree with seeds

I am not sure whether these are berries or seeds. But they are very pretty, circled around the head of the stem, right under the palm tree leaves.

a kind of pomegranate

These looks like miniature pomegranates, I wonder what they are. Yes, I have tried to find them on the internet.

a cactus and tree in one…

This tree and cactus became entangled early on in life. The tree itself is at least 5 m in height and the cactus has grown with it to about 4 m in height.

tree with yellow bell blossoms

This tree with all these beautiful yellow bells I found located in the front of a hotel where we stopped to pick up more passengers heading for the airport.

I wonder what this one is called.

May 18, 2012

Interwoven Wood – a Japanese Mosaic Design

When I was in Japan this past month, again I was given a lot of cultural gifts, such as kimono, kasuri fabric, hankies with sakura blossoms, etc.

As much as I appreciate these presents, it became time for me to start rearranging a few things around our home. While reorganizing my collectibles, I found this Yosegi-zaiku parquetry box. I would have just moved it aside, if I had not read an article about this special skill just a few days before.

Parquetry box from Japan

Yosegi-zaiku parquetry is a craft combining colors and grains of wood to create mosaics.

The different types of wood used are macropoda holly, zelkova, lacquer tree, or camphor tree.

The very first yosegi-zaiku is said to have been made by the artist Ishikawa Nihei of the Hakone region in Kanagawa Prefecture in the later part of the Edo period.

This traditional craft is done by Japanese with a deep understanding of the nature of wood.

Dec 8, 2011

Europe’s Most Expensive Christmas Tree

Europe’s most expensive Christmas tree, sparkling with thousands of lights, represents a powerful contrast to the gloomy euro crisis.

The tree is located at the Frankfurt airport. The Squaire’s atrium makes a fine host for the tree, which is equipped with 8.000 LED lights and 40.000 Swarovski crystals.

The 20-meter (60-foot) tree weighs 6.000 tons and took three weeks to decorate. This Christmas tree jewel cost euro 2.5 million.

In comparison, the Frankfurt Christmas market has the tallest tree. Its height of 28 meters almost matches the Römer, Frankfurt’s Rathaus (city hall)

To view a photo of Europe’s most expensive Christmas tree, visit Frankfurter-Stadtevents.de

 

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