all ablaze

Fire trees are in full bloom in the blazing summer heat of the tropics. wonder | wander | women are nostalgic for this brilliant blooms, our scorching blue skies, violent thunderstorms, and warm curtains of rain. 

Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia)

Also known as flame or flamboyant tree, Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) is a semi-evergreen or deciduous member of the bean family characterized by fernlike, lacy green leaves, scores of spoon-shaped, brilliant red flowers and brown pods that make a rattling sound when wind goes through the tree.

Ponciana flowers, leaves, pods

The ancient souls of modern art: Musée du Quai Branly

The Paris museum of indigenous culture, Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, was created to showcase the art and artefacts of non-Western civilisations. In the classical art paradise of Paris, visitors tend to focus on European painters and cultural history, and less on the cultures that heavily influenced modern movements like Cubism and Impressionism.

Barbican Conservatory: concrete jungle

Every summer, once a week, the Barbican opens a very special section to the garden-loving public. The Barbican Conservatory is London's second-largest greenhouse, next to Kew Gardens. Unlike the greenhouses in Kew Gardens, it's relatively small, split into several levels, and is in the heart of the city.

paradise lost

Riding on last week's post. . . .they paved paradise. . . .

Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Island

wonder | wander | women are back in Southeast Asia.