Tuesday 26 April 2011

DIRECTION IN LIFE....



"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" was his response. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter!" " (Lewis Carroll, Alice...).

Wednesday 13 April 2011

MY PALM TREE IS FLOWERING AGAIN!

Big fat buds about to open! Unbelievable that it should flower two years running.

I"ve been doing a lot of gardening, digging up more of my lawn, moving plants from the bottom of the garden to the top, I even mowed the little bit of lawn that is left yesterday evening (wonders never cease, it's been two years since it saw a mower!). I've planted my potatoes, garlic, sown more radishes, salad, calendula. I've cut down a few dead bamboo poles and have made teepees around which to plant runner beans. My broad beans have come up, but thanks to all the cats that frequent my garden, that dig and roll in freshly dug soil, there are holes in the line, and some seeds which have been pushed out of alignment. Never mind. I'm so pleased to see it all growing.

Crab apple in flower on the terrace

Rhododendron "Jack"

New trough for my pine tree on my front terrace

Apple tree in flower in the garden below the terrace

Progress in the veg garden
 
 
Grama, 94th birthday

 

I went to England for a long weekend at the beginning of April for my Mum's 94th birthday. Nicholas came down from London, which was lovely, we managed to have a couple of pub lunches and a good chat. He's in Thailand on holiday now. The weather wasn't very good, but Mum's garden looked lovely. We had a celebration seafood lunch for her birthday on Sunday.

Grama's 94th birthday
I've finished another couple of pieces of pottery, a little serving dish for hors d'oeuvres, or amuse-gueule, in the shape of a Breton triskell, and a lopsided (on purpose!) jug with a snake handle and glaze that I wanted to look like the waves of a certain famous Japanese artist. Not bad, I'm quite pleased with it.


Waves on the Wave jug

Snake handle of Wave jug

I organized a "sortie" for my Quimper ovs (on va sortir) group. Four people came to lunch last Sunday to learn to make Chinese chicken noodle soup. It was lovely weather, we ate on the terrace and they went away with the recipe. I've just organized for next Saturday an exchange of plants: each person brings from 1 to 5 plants, and can take away the same number of someone else's. I may have cut the timing a bit fine, I'm wondering whether people will have time to prepare plants in three days... we'll see. And I'm going to a wine tasting on Thursday. Very busy, you can see!


Triskell bowl



Triskell bowl (close up)




Seafood lunch for Grama's birthday
Can't get the photos in the right order. Never mind, you get the gist?