Silk Floss Tree

Firstly, many thanks for your kind response to yesterday’s fish market set - rather different from my usual blips, but actually a return to the type of travel photography that is in many ways my first love. 

Today’s a ‘rest day’.  G has headed out on a small group highland walk - so good that he can actually explore on foot without being held back by my limitations. This leaves me in the hotel to rest, read and try to catch up with journals (nearly there, but still not quite up to date…..) 

I have a mid-afternoon wander up to a green valley close to our hotel. I’m hoping to see butterflies, but they are sadly absent. Still, there is a magnificent Silk Floss Tree - Ceiba speciosa - heavy with large pink flowers, bright against the bluest sky. As well as flowers, there are strange, almost grotesque paw-like forms hanging from the branches. 

These are the fibrous seed pods, containing the silky cotton-like substance which gives the tree its name.  Belonging to the kapok family, its pods can be used as a stuffing. I remember buying bags of kapok as a child, using it in various craft projects with my mother, but it’s something I haven’t come across for years. Apparently, it’s coming back into fashion as a sustainable alternative - https://henrie.com/blogs/pillow-talk/what-is-kapok

Oh, and apologies for any confusion about my name. I had no intention to make any changes, but did so in error when updating my profile - then discovered I have to wait 30 days before changing it back!