Sunday, July 27, 2014

Visitors

blue love bird
Some fly by, some stay for a few minutes and some don't want to leave. This beautiful creature stayed long enough for me to get my camera and take a photo, before flying back next door.

baby swallows in nest

These babies were born here. Some years ago their nest was built over the door to the first floor flat and I thought it was cute. Since then it has been used each spring but this year swallows came back in July and are in no hurry to leave - not so cute because I have to clean the mess daily. You see, I also have human visitors who use the door below the nest all the time...



Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2014


Hello there and welcome! Mid-July feels even hotter than mid-June and blooms don't last very long in my Algarve garden, but here are some of my best.
red hibiscus
The red hibiscus has suddenly burst into colour. The blooms are a darker red than they appear in the photos and they are larger than last year. The yellow shrub is only starting to bloom now but should go on well into autumn.
yellow hibiscus bloom


My favourite lavender is enormous! A friend fell in love with it during a recent visit and will be getting one of its babies soon.
my favourite lavender

Below is the view from the other side. On the right you can see a little bit of that lavender, The two rose bushes that I had to move because they were getting overcrowded by the lavenders seem to have tolerated the move very well. There is still a bit of soil that I am watching closely. Will the gardener be right? Will the grass grow back? Did my smothering method of killing grass turn out to be successful? Time will tell...
where there was grass...

As you open the gate, it brushes against the overgrown lavender and you are greeted with its scent - lovely! If you look right, this is the view you get: lavenders, rosemary, the oleander, and against the wall the hibiscus, mock orange foliage, some white roses and the neighbour's creeper.
garden long view

I didn't think my lilies would open in time for this post, but they did.

Some of my roses are blooming again, others will be some time soon and this one is the best-looking one right now.
In this heat, my hardest job is giving the plants the amount of water they need to stay happy. 

Now I'm off to link to May Dreams Gardens, where Bloom Day began. How is your garden doing?

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Not the Tour de France

Police sirens wailing, making our cars pull over, is a VIP going to the beach on a cloudy day?
No, it's a local cycling event! Our very own "tour".
Just time to pull out the camera and take a hurried photo of some of the cyclists.




Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Not quite in holiday mode

School has finally broken up for the summer holidays and I'm not working on a tight schedule any more - just writing reports, helping students who have exams and invigilating exams when necessary. Some days I can stay home all day but I'm finding it hard to catch up on the many tasks on my to-do list. Inertia has set in and I can lie on the sofa for hours napping. Whenever I feel guilty about not being productive, I remind myself that I need time to recover from the end of school year stress...

I welcome just about any excuse to put off the jobs that don't appeal to me. On Friday a friend who I hadn't seen in almost a year turned up at my gate, so we had a long chat, a few laughs and went for some retail therapy. Nothing got done, but I had a fun afternoon!

Border collie cross?
"Take Pandora to obedience classes" is one of the more pleasant tasks on my to-do list.



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