![\"Crocus](\"http:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_4711.jpg\")
<\/a>Crocus will bloom before too much longer. I hope.<\/p><\/div>\n
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But at this time of year, when flowers are only a future prospect, I am searching for\u00a0beauty in other places. (Yes, there is beauty in the winter landscape, but I’ve had enough of it.)<\/p>\n
So instead of looking out my window, I’m looking to memory. And I’m finding some unusual attractions, in some unusual locales.<\/p>\n
The incredible ‘flowers’ below were ‘blooming’ underwater off the northwest coast of Australia. When the tides recede, a section of the seabed that normally is deep underwater suddenly becomes shallow, and things hidden are briefly visible.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Was coral like this\u00a0the inspiration for millefleur paperweights?<\/p><\/div>\n
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The colours of these underwater creatures are subtle,<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Tiny granules\u00a0dust this coral like a sugar-coated homemade doughnut.<\/p><\/div>\n
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the patterns intricate.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>These green blobs seem like snowflakes, each following the same basic pattern but showing it in a unique way.<\/p><\/div>\n
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the shapes intriguing.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>This brainy\u00a0creature\u00a0makes me think of mazes where paths lead nowhere in particular.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Rocks in the same part of the world offer colours and textures that make a barren landscape almost as interesting as a garden. (Perhaps more so to a geologist.) An overview of one piece of twisted landscape gives a tiny sense of what there is to see.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Imagine the heaving of the earth that caused this twisted shape.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Close up, colours are almost unbelievably vivid.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Blue rocks? Whoever heard of such a thing!<\/p><\/div>\n
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The rocks in the Kimberley are among the oldest in the world, and their striations hint at the turmoil that once occurred here.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Rose, purple, gold orange: I’d like a scarf that combined these colours.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Not all\u00a0beauty has\u00a0intense colour, though. \u00a0Desert scenes are more subtle.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Sand dunes have a stark beauty all their own.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Shadows define the shape of\u00a0sand.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A composition in sand and shadow.<\/p><\/div>\n
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At a different hour, under a brilliant sky, the sand seems to change colour.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Different light conditions modify the\u00a0colour of the sand, moving it from a pale beige to a rich orange.<\/p><\/div>\n
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This part of the Egyptian desert was once underwater. Petrified clam shells that emerge from shifting sands prove the claim.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A sand bank in the desert holds thousands of clam shells, now turned to stone.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Nearby, petrified logs are scattered on the sand. Once a forest grew\u00a0here, on the shores of a lake or river.<\/p>\n
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