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Well done Ann, Larry and Laine [who'd have thought that the gum and eucalyptus tree was one and the same? Certainly not this northern European laddie!]: yesterday's image was of three of the eucalyptus seeds that I picked up whilst walking in the park at Caldas da Rainha with Pedro and Lucas Libório at the beginning of June. I love the smell of eucalyptus, which always reminds me of Portugal, so I thought that I would bring some of the seeds back to Scotland with me. Even now, almost two months after I picked them up off the ground, they are still giving off a beautiful scent. So, anyway, there you have it. Eucalyptus. Unpopular with farmers because they are quick growing and very thirsty, but popular with the paper industry, koala bear keepers and the manufacturers of beauty, sanitary and air freshening products the world over. As for today; firstly, can you see the face of an inscrutably wise oriental chap? If so, what is this that he is appearing in? If not, then what the heck do you think that this might be?

I went hunting for castles on this day last year

Image converted to sepia in Nikon Capture 4.2.
Levels, curves and contrast tweaked, image sharpened and diffuse glow,
signature, border and captions added in Photoshop CS.