woensdag 30 mei 2018

garden

After the late start of the growing season
things are back on track now.
Plants and flowers take their turn.
One day you see the young start of something
and two weeks later you take the leftovers
so the next group can start flowering,
that's the way it always is.


The trees (we have four,
three in the backyard garden and one in front)
have leaves and no flowers anymore.
No more forget-me-not's, the blue bells, most of the irises,
the allium roseum and the early persicaria ...
all of it in the "green bin"

(I really don't have room for a compost heap !)

The lovely flowering polygonatum
is now under attack of the same caterpillars
that attack every year ... hmmm clever guys
(I made a quilt about that years ago !)

But
the foxgloves are beautiful

(this is a stray one ...)

and these buttery yellow digitalis grandiflora
(who starts with it's head down   ;-) ...)

And of course
the roses are starting to flower :
"New Dawn" and a darker pink bush.



Let me introduce : Mrs. BIG Allium christophii,

she will be a BIG delight for a loooong time !

Then there is that lovely

 Ornithogalum magnum

After yesterday's thunderstorm
there were dozens of these little visitors

tiny toads !

Early in the evening another thunderstorm building
gave these beautiful sun rays

The garden loved the rain that came later ...


With all the work in the garden
there was no time (read : energy) left for painting, felting or stitching.
But, now that most of the redundant "greens" are gone
there will be time for that again soon !

vrijdag 18 mei 2018

18 - 5 - 18


It is soooo hard to remember
how small he was :
our birthday boy of today !

Six years ago to the day :
only a few hours he had to stay in the incubator,
just to keep warm.

He's such a big boy now compared to this !!!


Though his legs are almost getting in the way,
he still loves to play with the wooden cart
(that his big sister and brother used before him)

Tomorrow we will throw a BBQ party for him !

*

The garden is still flowering like mad





Drawing each and everyone takes time ...


(much easier to take pictures !)

:-)

zondag 6 mei 2018

green !

Spring is really here now
and the garden is an explosion of
green 

So I completed the drawing / painting
of a few days ago
with a lot of green too ! 

Camassia leichtlinii

 Now it looks more like standing in its
natural surroundings of green and tiny bits of colour.




This is the Camassia's neighbour :
Polygonatum multiflorum,
only a few stems of a big wild bush !

Thanks Vicky !!!
(the sister of my dear garden-friend Rhonda
went to Australia and couldn't take her garden with her ...)


Many years ago from "wild" France
we brought this beauty home :
Asphodelus albus


This is the white Wisteria against the house.
though I've got it heavily pruned last year !
Such a lovely fragrance !
*

And now for something completely different :

the eldest grandson is the proud owner of some new "wheels" !
He started speed skating last autumn
and in summer they train on skeelers,
on 10 cm high wheels !!!
(almost as big as us now  ;-) ...)

This Saturday, while daughter and me
were at the "Alpaca-knitting club",
Man went to see the training !

(training with the grown-ups !)


maandag 30 april 2018

last day of April

(Ohhhh where did this month go ?)

Some years ago we had our
"Queen's day"
on the last day of the month,
but now that we have a king
"King's day"
is already on the 27th of April ...

(that was a sunny day...
but today was WET and COLD !)

The garden is greeeeeen !
With blues of the forget-me-not, muscari,
bluebells and the wonderful
camassia leichtlinii 

I couldn't help it : HAD to draw one ...

(first pencil, then pen, and gouache,
though I loved the paper  that I used before better)
Will do some more around it ...
but I'm not sure what yet



(the trees almost stopped flowering after the rains
of the last two days)

I hope for a bit warmer May !

zaterdag 14 april 2018

a very quiet ...



birthday

(that's what I had today,
but next week some more people will 
catch up !)


So Man and I had a flowery, quiet, but sunny day
after daughter and her dearest friend came by, 
before leaving on the Fast Ferry to Rotterdam,
bringing some very nice presents !!!


What a little treasure daughter found for me !


*

Another tiny painting was completed yesterday


Daisy
Madelief
Gänseblümchen

(only 7 x 7 cm
2.75 x 2.75")

zondag 8 april 2018

painting ...

Still painting

(never had something going thát long, I think)

Because I found some good frames
I made somewhat bigger paintings this time
(16 x 24 cm in a 30 x 40 cm frame)

Here are two details







(still more to come)


zondag 1 april 2018

fooling Easter ?

Easter on the first of April,
funny  ...
though we're a LOT happier than a year ago
(when we spent the day in hospital !
happy to have left thát behind us ...)


A gray day today
and not very warm too !
Not at all what you expect on Easter.

So why not make our own nice day :


Spring flowers from daughter
a bunch of (good old) Easter bunnies
and one of my gouache paintings that I've been making
the last three months.


A happy weekend to you all out there !