Some colors in these white-gray-days.


I really love the above photo. The atmosphere in it is like which in paintings of an old master and it seems as if the narcissus want to tell us a story. Well, at least to me - probably because I saw too much old master styled paintings and photography lately ;)


Never managed to nurse my orchids to bloom longer than two or three weeks :( Yet I find the fragility of the parched petals somehow beautiful.


Not sure, what kind of berries they used to be. The firey-orange-red color on the tree on the foreground of a white winter scenery on the last week Sunday walk has caught my attention. I've been wondering: have the flesh of the berries been eaten by birds or what happened to them? A friend and I had to choose another walking route because of the icy path in the forest (and everywhere else).

Here are two photos of our walk.



Two variants of the last photo - experiments using the Flickr app's filter on the iPod. I have wanted to post them last week via the iPod, but the format was horrible, so I had to wait till I got on my PC again today.



***

BTW.. sometimes, having really hard time is part of your life and it'd be great, if you got people to support you. No, I'm not talking about me in particular. But some old friends are doing a raffle to support her.

I thought, I'd better saved all the last opened peonies from
the rain, when I was removing the withered petals in the
garden. Perhaps a silly action, but I need a reason for cutting
so many flowers at once :-P

Two things I made lately.


a lavender wand and a collage

I had to crop (part of) the lavender very early this year. The
weather (and the fact that I didn't trim them this spring) made
them grow enormously and blocked half of the pavement.
But then, the buds are not yet well developed. Normally people
would cover the buds. But I thought, I'd rather cover the leaves,
which also have great scent. Also, normally people would use
ribbon. I didn't have any suitable ribbon, but stitch yarn in
lovely colors. It took a lot longer to make, but weaving is like
meditating.

It feels like I'm having my first holiday in years. When I was
self (and at the same time part time) employed, I couldn't
really switch my head off of business even in my free time.
How liberating it is to work in a 9-to-5 for a change (though
guess what I dreamed about at night of my first holiday lol)!



On my last day before the holiday, I could finally enjoy
walking home again without my head spinning around what
to do next, but simply observing the wild plants growing
along the way and took a few home for an arrangement
(first I wanted to put them together with the peony from
the garden, but they are so lovely on their own).

Yesterday I finally work in my poor, neglected garden
and also the plants on the windowsill got some attentions.
How bourgeois I became to take a holiday only to spend
time in the garden? A side-effect of the 9-to-5 job? :-P
No, normally when I got home from work I'd cook and
dine with my son. But this week he was on camp with his
class, so that I could work in the garden until it got dark.



Remember the violas I planted back in 2009? I collected
the seeds, but they keep sowing themselves and even took
over the flower box, where the strawberry used to grow
(there is still one strawberry plant left, tiny and almost non-
existent among the violas). It's interesting to see, that I got
new hybrids (the one above reminds me of a dalmatian ;-)).



Also, some flowers changed their colors. When they were
just blooming, they're partially white or yellow. Within the
next days, the white parts would turn into light purple like
in the picture above. Again the next days they'd turn darker
as you can see on that tiny bit on bottom left. Since I never
change the soil in the box, I wonder, either it's because the
soil has become so acidic now..?



I'm looking forward to see my Japanese hydrangea blooming.

t.t.t.

This must be the most crazy diptych I've ever made.
How could I combine my foot with the lovely roses
(maybe with the reason that both smell - one good
and one not so good? *lol*). No, this photo only reflects
two things I (finally) remembered to do today - to cut
the roses and to take a photo of the imprint of the shoe
on my foot (the roses don't smell at all and my foot..
uhm, maybe a little bit.. hahahaa...).



No normal choir session today. The choir director cannot
come today, so my 2nd alto friends and I are going to
have our own session privately. I think, I'll bring my friend,
who provides her apartment for our meeting, a rose.

t.t.t.

A sweet choir friend is celebrating her birthday today.
Each of us will bring a flower for her. So, today I cut
my first flowers from my own garden. A peony and a
rose (there were two roses on the branch that I've cut,
as the plant got it's care cut at the same time ;)). I've
read, that peonies are best cut as a bud, when they are
still close, but the color is already to be seen. They then
will stay longer fresh in the vase. Well, I hope it's true.
Btw she was the first one, who has 'inspected' my new
home right after I've signed the contract and encouraged
me, that it's good to have a garden (I was a bit in doubt)
and she's right! :)



Yesterday we made some fresh lemon curd again. My
son and his friend have prepared the ingredients and
I was the one, who stirred it ;) The jar - covered with a
piece of fabric (a piece from the time, when I've learned
patchworking 8 or 7 years ago) and decorated with an
illustrated tag and a glass bead - is perfect as a gift.

So these are the two things which I'll give my friend as
her birthday present today :)

happy weekend!

No lovely, sunny weather today. But maybe it's better
for the journey to the choir weekend, as we have to
drive for 1,5 hours by car (although I don't like to drive
if the street is wet). It's good for the plants for sure, as
I can first water them again on Sunday evening.


I've planted two strawberry plants in a container on the windowsill -
just in case ;)

While the strawberries are growing, some 'enemies' are
coming (oh, garden crime time ^_^). My neighbor told
me, that they couldn't enjoy strawberries, as they were
always gone before they could pick them. Hmm... these
kind of 'enemies' or human kind? ;)


A blackbird crow far, far away and lice on my pansy (and rose too)

I'm wishing you all a great weekend! I'm sure, we'll
have ours :)

P.S. I just look out the window again: the sun's shinning :)

flowers

Today I felt like bringing flowers into the house again
after taking a few days break and enjoying the flowers
outside instead. So I bought some flowers and while
riding along the bikeway I saw so many beautiful wild
flowers (no, they are not weeds, as long as they are not
growing in my own garden ^_^), that I stopped a few
times and collected them.

At home I immediately put them on the vases. I wanted
to use my other lovely vases than my beloved turquoise
vase. But somehow I always end up using it, as I rarely
have enough flowers to use other vases with bigger mouth.
I love it's narrow mouth, as I can arrange the flowers
(almost) the ikebana way. And the green vase is great
for small flowers (it's only 10 cm high), even if I don't
really like it. Now I hope they will turn my mood a bit
better than the weather did the last 2 days.


Which arrangement do you like better? :)

I'm going to the choir session now. I miss singing a lot
after the Easter break (last week we didn't sing, but
took some new group photos, as we have new members).
I'm going to enjoy it tonight :)
Have a wonderful week!

i can't see

Withering flowers make me sad. It's one of the reason,
why I refused to have flowers in house for a long time.
I always try either to preserve or to extend the joy on
them in any way. I guess, I still need to learn about
letting loose...

buttercups

I just can't get enough of buttercups. In any
colors, anytime. Simply my fave flowers at the
moment (well, it's been for years now ;)).


More on my Flickr gallery and on my photoblog.