My Little Garden

Working outside today under the overcast weather. The Buddha is still purple as now I don't know what color to paint it... Maybe a nickel color. I have a hydrangea( to the right of Buddha). It was on sale for a dollar 2 years ago ( one euro) ..almost dead...but it's looking strong this year. I love to buy last gasp plants and bring them back. I have a crazy tomato situation going. I had an envelope with seeds from some crazy type tomato in it. They were all stuck to the paper. I didn't know if they would grown. I planted the paper. Up sprouted about 30 seedlings. They are still small but I separated them out somewhat into 3 different pots. We shall see.

I also have left a wild flower that has a white foamy kind of flower. I left it around the edges. Still waiting on oriental poppies. I thought I had dug them up and put it into a pot...but they came up in the ground too, in the middle of the dirt. It's a bit catch where catch can garden. Roses doing well. Everything has to stay in pots ready to move. I will allow myself 4 tomatoes total. I will get 2 in Italy. I need more stones from the beach. It's all a work in progress.

poppies and to the right, my one store bought black tomato.

I added this little dirt patch today as I want to try "grounding"...bare feet on the ground . I made a little path. I have to find a soft grass that will come back after walking on it. It is supposed to help you sleep.

 

Hornbeam

Mesmerized by the color.

“Horn” → very hard wood

“Beam” → old word for tree or timber

AI tells me....What you’re noticing—the aqua tone on a cloudy day—is also telling. Hornbeam has relatively thin leaves with a slightly matte surface, so in diffuse light:

• chlorophyll reads cooler (less yellow bias)
• the ribbing creates micro-shadows → subtle cyan shifts
• you get that almost mineral, luminous green rather than a warm spring green

That “energy” you’re feeling is real in visual terms—it’s a combination of:

• high-frequency texture (the veins)
• cool color temperature
• and even light

 

5 days in Bologna? Way too much.

Today I had a bit of a reckoning with myself. I have a friend that I know from NYC …we have kept in touch all this time. She has travelled to europe a bit. She is coming to Bologna for 5 days and then to a villa with a group of people in Umbria. I feel this terrible need to share my knowledge of Bologna and area….thoughts on Umbria. I wasn’t asked so , these days, I am pulling myself back and not offering. I so want to be of help…I so want to blaze the trail, but, if someone had wanted my opinion, they would have asked for it…

so, I give up.

Effort better spent on me and my life.

It’s difficult.

I want to be of use in this life, but my knowledge is not needed or appreciated.

I get used to writing responses like …”sounds like you have a great trip planned…have a wonderful time”…

and then I must let it go. 

LET IT GO.

Stipe

 Beautiful song but it feels so odd to see Michael Stipe with the big beard and looking so old. The musicians seems over the top happy to be there.

Vetch...horrible name.

Rhis is basically a wild shrub but I love it as it has lovely lines and amazing color in new growth. I know it had tendrils that surl and flowers like a pea plant. The best part of shooting this was "The visitor."  This plant was way up on an embankment. There are often blue flowers up there so I climb up to see. I was sitting down immersed in the crazy young color of the vetch plant when suddenly, a small bullet of a dog that was similar to a small potato flew up and jumped into my lap and started kissing me and Rune and me and Rune again..I could do nothing but laugh and hug him. He was jogging with his father. I got the feeling that his father had run into all kinds of things jogging with this boy. He didn't want to leave us! He is just like the photo below. I loved the visit...Rune was not amused. 

look closely, there is a grasshopper.

 

Just so beautiful...

They are like a beautiful girl...just so lovely, but often ignored and passed over, misunderstood, how could something be so beautiful? Here, it is considered a roadside landscaping flower and is very hard to find to buy.. More to come as there are so many colors still to pop and I bought 2 big plants. Interesting how the centers look so similar, the rose, the poppies and the peonies.

My first rose this spring.

 I've had this bush for awhile, it's in a pot...perhaps I got it in Italy. I like to buy a plant on the way home.  Rhapsody In Blue, the color is outstanding. Sadly, it has black spot. I will treat it when it finished blooming. I have 5 other rose bushes, all different..stay tuned.

Bowling and an Irish goodbye.

So I forced myself to go to the bowling event.  ( it was held by an Ex Pat group/organization that has all kinds of events...just geared toward Expats) I went casual. I had no idea where to go but eventually I found the 2 lanes by asking. There were maybe 10 people, mixed nationalities. My name appeared up on the screen as "Caroy" and I waited my turn. The people were oldish. I felt uncomfortable. I sat next to man a man who was from Estonia but spent most of his life in the UK or Paris. He was very nice. You could see he had terrible back pain and probably should not have been bowling. The woman next to him was Karin....not like Karen , I was corrected. She lives in Vence too. I had a few misunderstood mixed up conversations with her. I was not expressing myself well and she was not understanding. It was very loud there ( music, creaming kids, the place was packed)  and she was German and soft spoken...It was frustrating.

As is my usual bowling form, I was very good and very bad. The man spoke to me quite a bit...He asked me if I was from the 51st State as he thought I was Canadian. I stayed for about an hour and when the sames were finished and everyone was getting ready to leave, I slipped out. What must they have thought of me. Karin already thought I was a snob as I had said that I'm not crazy about Vence and that I would like to live somewhere nicer. She took this all wrong and I couldn't explain..

The group was not my speed at all. Nice enough people but, not for me. I am not anywhere near retirement mode.

It appears that 3 men from the event visited my profile today...

Karin is the 3rd one in.

 

Col De Vence this morning

It rained yesterday so I ran up to Col de Vence this morning...no flowers at all. I think there wasn't enough sun yet.I did capture some beautiful new leaves...seafoam green....I will edit that soon.It was mostly cloudy. All feel like early spring, still. The trees are coming alive though. It looked like there had been a deer convention up there. Tons of skat.

Looking North

looking south, down to the sea.

 

Grasses on our Corsegoules walk.

 

Nova Garden Center

Close to the vet, close to Bois D'Opio...Rune came in with me...OH it was jammed packed full of roses...just beautiful. So many plants but I cannot have a garden till I move. That is, I have a small garden with plants I already own but can't buy more.

You can see the village of Opio photo right...above the arch of the greenhouse.

I went looking for Icelandic Poppies and I found them. I have not been able to find them anywhere else.
I need to find a home up in this area. I buy these poppies every year to photograph. They're annuals. 

 

Today Bois D'Opio

mixed light.

We began the day at the vet. Rooney is over weight. ..about 4 kilos or 8 pounds. I have to cut back on cheese and lentils. Who knew. My vet tells me lentils are a carb and fattening. He's happy being chubby.

 

Coursegoules

Hepatica