It was the stripes on the petals that drew me to this flower. I was surprised to see it was a osteospermum as I had never seen them with this design before.
Daily Archives: 11/04/2017
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Harvest – Earth
After the harvest there are only the bare stalks left and then the crows arrive to see what is left for them to have a nibble.
Some has already been harvested, but the maize is still waiting.
Most of the sugar in Switzerland is from sugar beets. The harvest takes place in Autumn and the farmers leave them in piles on the edge of the fields. They are then picked up by the trucks belonging to the processing plants where the sugar is produced.
Colour Your World: Carnation Pink
Everything seems to be coming up pink at the moment, not only the carnations.
Daily Prompt: Unravel the ivy
Once upon a time I have a lovely patch of two coloured ivy in my garden. The gardeners found it so good that that built my new garden around it so that it could stay. It even survived the Swiss cold and snowy winters, with their ice and every spring it was a little more, it spread. It must now be at least 8 years.
However, last year I noticed it was no longer as much as it was. There were still some leaves appearing, but not so many.
This is the photo from this year: no leaves and just a tangle to unravel. I always thought that ivy was indestructable, but I suppose the time comes for everyone and everything to retire to the happy hunting grounds. I have decided to unravel this ravelled work of nature and remove it from the garden. It will be replaced with something that no longer twists and twines. There is still an ivy beneath, but not my two coloured ivy, a normal green ivy which grow wild everywhere in my garden.
This prompt reminded me of my mother-in-law. She was the expert at unravelling. She would never throw a knitted pullover away that had served its purpose, but would spend time unravelling it into tidy neat balls of wool. The next step was to take two different colours together and crochet a throw, bed cover, or whatever, with it. She even made patchwork squares and would sew them together.
She showed me how to do it and I let my imagination run wild. I was soon the proud possessor of at least three crochered bed covers from old pullovers and jackets which had been unravelled. I decided to take it a step further and designed a quilt to cover our beds with patchwork squares. Sometimes I might knit them, otherwise crochered covers were easier. Two rows of the same colour mixture and then change for another colour mixture. I soon realised this was nothing new. It seemed to be a Swiss thing amongst grannies and mother-in-laws and nearly everyone I knew had such a crochered quilt.
I suppose it was one of the origines of recycling. As you kept yourself warm with the crochered quilt, you remember the days when you possessed a pullover with the same wool.
Good Morning
The builders have been busy digging and removing and were creeping nearer to the corner where one of my patches of hostas were. I had a feeling they mght be doomed and yesterday Mr. Swiss called me, there was a problem. This corner had to be removed, excavated, destroyed, but they left me a choice. Remove them and they would replace them one day, or transport them to another part of the garden. I decided that 10 years of hostas was not to be disposed of in five minutes, so together with the gardener we found a new place for them, an ideal place. I must say the workers can be very helpful. Together with the gardener in the first year of apprenticeship we found a good place on the edge of one of my other hosta beds and he moved them with care to their new place. I can always buy new ones to fill the gap when the building episode is finished. This is their new place.
They have already fitted into the scenery and seem to be quite content amongst the other growing hostas.
Otherwise the work continues and today they are beginning on the other side of our appartment building. I must say it makes a change for things to be happening and not the usual boring daily trot. They are now working in front of my kitchen window and removing stones.
This is now the new view from my kitchen window, but they said they do not have to dig deeper, so we will not have an extension of the moat effect. I am still thinking about climbing plants on the scaffolding and the gardener found it would be something completely different. I now have to organise something safe for me to walk on when I go outside. The gardener just told me he will place two planks over the gap for us to walk over when going into the garden. He also assured me yesterday that he will not be touching my garden and my plants will be safe during the work. Now I am reassured, so what could possibly happen.
And now to the normal daily dredge, there are things to do and I am spending far too much time talking to frendly gardeners and taking photos of the actual events still dressed in my kaftan/dressing gown.
Enjoy the day, have fun, like I am having.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 