Purple Haze

  No doubt about it, April is a magical month in central Italy. The weather starts to warm up a tad, though you may still have nasty days of wind and rain, but  Primavera is defiantly hard at work showing herself off in wonderful ways.

  I look forward to seeing all the wisteria vines come into full glory. What a show! 

  And that perfume...my-oh-my. On a warm day, it's almost overwhelming. But just almost. I find it intoxicating in the best way. Just walk up and into one of these beauties, and you are surrounded by color, fragrance, the soft touch of purple petals on your skin...yummy.

A very sensual experience.

  Do take car to watch out for the hundreds of buzzing bees. Yes, there is always sound as well.

  

  Let's dive on in, shall we?

  

Near Lago Balsena.

Down a dirt road on our morning walk.

Outside the walls of a nearby hill town...

...zoom in on the waterfall from the shot before.

Morning walk magic.

In a garden of some friends.

A hidden gem waiting to be enjoyed.
Morning walk.

In Cortona.

We stopped in our tracks as we drove by....

It's time for Wisteria!
Note the huge bees.

On a random drive in the countryside...

...I do love this combination.

Closer to home.

A yearly favorite.

A close up shot.

Another beautiful combination.

In Arezzo. Nice parking lot, man.

A random pass by. Had to stop.

On a morning walk.

A surprise in a nearby town.

I love this color combination.

Random drive by.
Again.

At a favorite restaurant nearby.

Just couldn't resist the various shapes and colors.
On an afternoon walk.

Perfection.

Wish I could have gotten closer.
In Pittigliano.

Softest yellow and lavender make this a stunner.
In Deruta.

Why not?
Walking under.

Another local favorite.

Busting out of an old ruin...

A closer look.

I can't remember where I took this one.
Hmmmm...a palm tree? Hmmmmm....

In Orvieto.
I like this shot.

Another one in Orvieto.

Florence in bloom.

Walking through the haze.

  But... it's not only wisteria blooming. This year the 'Banksia' roses were wild! I may have to concentrate on these beauties next April. They are all over the area, as well, and they get huge!

  Yep...a preview for next spring:

In The Garden: July 25

  Though it's been off and on foggy days, the garden is hanging in there and looking quite fine for July.

  Over the years, I've gotten rid of most of the roses I had planted when we first bought our home. Back then it rained more, and the use of water wasn't as much of an issue as it has become now. I tried to keep those roses going, but it was a losing battle against bugs and disease. Roses are either really hardy, or not. At least in my garden.

 At one point I was proud to say I'd planted 70 roses in my garden. Wow. Most were antique or English, many thrived for years, then went into slow decline. I hated taking them out, but it was a must.

  I have a handful now, and they seem to be the hardiest of hardy...

'Sombreuil' never fails to knock me out...
She's fragrant, too!

David Austin's 'Tamora' is a beauty...

'Cornelia' never stops blooming, as long as I am good about feeding her.

 Now I have loads of succulents. They give me so much pleasure, and fulfill my need for texture and color, without a ton of water...LOVE!

In the morning light. Magic!

Getting ready to explode into orange blooms...

 A few garden moments from this morning. I make sure that I have enough time to walk around the garden every morning before heading out to work.

  What a wonderful way to start the day.

One of my many Japanese Maples. This one has a
friend taking over...geranium 'Maderense'.
The massive leaves are so similar!

The bees are loving the blooms of the
Drumstick Alliums.

The seedpods of 'Dianella' are always fun to see.
A very tough plant, too.

One of several St. Francis statues we have collected.

An 'oldie' but a goody! The hummingbirds love it.

  

  We have many admirers of our garden, but I think our friend and garden assistant, Pedro, is the one who loves our garden as we do. Last week he left us this little scene, in honor of our new paint job on the house...

Thanks, Pedro. You are the best!

Frog Pond Walk

  Back in the day, when I was but a wee thing...there was nothing I loved more than riding my bike down the way to visit the pond. In the summer, it would be filled with pollywogs and frogs and surrounded by cat tails.

  It was heaven on earth.

  It was a small bit of nature tucked in behind a few houses a block or three from where we grew up. I would feel as though I were a world away.

  I was.

  I could be my total tomboy self, getting all muddy and wet, catching whatever I could get my grimy hands on...the frogs were my pals, the pollywogs were, too. I loved finding orange-bellied salamanders, and...on a really good day...a snake. I'd bring them home where my folks had set up an old bathtub filled with water in the patio area. It was my pond. 

  Life. Was. Good.

  Now, at the ripe old age of sixty-one, I still can't resist the opportunity to catch a frog. Or a pollywog. Hey, a snake would totally make my day! I have goldfish in a big ceramic pot in my garden. We've tried to get frogs to hang around in the garden, but they seem not to like it...sigh.

  Well, this week, on our day off, we decided to take a little sweet stroll around our local wetland area, which includes a nice big frog pond.

  We hadn't been here in quite some time, and it was just so beautiful! A nice touch of nature just down the road, a block or three away....tucked behind a few houses....

Mother Nature is wonderful, indeed.

  We so enjoyed our little hike around the pond.

  There were plenty of horsetail plants, stunning oak trees and mind blowing redwoods...

It was a perfect day for a walk in the woods.

Yeah, I snagged some to munch on.

  So happy to see these old oak trees....They just danced along.

Nice native ferns, too.

Lovely shadows.

  I didn't expect the redwoods...

Take me on up, Dear Ones!

A beautiful old oak tree, much loved.

  It was a nice reminder of where we live and what we are so fortunate to enjoy...

  Life. Is. Good.