The Month of Roses

Down by the lake in Ouchy, there's a really lovely rose garden

with mostly climbing roses.

I really liked these single blooms.

Lovely layers of petals in this one.

Such a beautiful rich orange colour and petals full of curves

Another rose from the same plant but with a touch more pink in the petals.

The colour changes as the flowers mature.

Pretty in yellow and perfumed too.

Cascading pink roses with a little visitor in the central flower.

A touch of apricot against the blue sky.

Very bright pink in a shady spot with filtered sunlight.

I do love this colour in a rose which is a lovely soft orange.

Yellow tinged with pink taken in my neighbourhood

The single roses have their charm like this delicate yellow one

and another in pink with a visiting insect.

One of my favourites so far because of all those marvellous petals.

One day, we took a short train trip to the lakeside town of Montreux

There were still some rhododendrons blooming.

One of the steamboats was passing and I know that I'll soon be tempted to take a little cruise.

I've put up a photo of this modern hanging art before, but I love framing part of the

landscape in the circle!

A swan couple were obviously intent on becoming a couple.

as they swam back and forth and around in circles in an aquatic dance.

A sailing boat with the well-known Dents-du-Midi mountain chain in the distance.

The steamboat and the mountains on the French side of the lake.

We had a delicious lunch on an outside terrace overlooking the lake.

The yellow parasols were most welcome on a hot day.

I've been adding rows to the Birthday Rainbow Blanket.

Last time I showed the nine central squares, 

this photo shows the second row and the start of the third row of smaller granny squares.

Now a few rounds of border in something called a 'block stitch'

Here it is almost finished with just a couple of rounds more to go.

I hope that you like roses as much as I do!

I've shown so many here as this blog is also for me to look back on

and remember all the wonderful things I see each month of the year.

Bee Happy!

With a joyful music clip to listen to.

Just click on the words below:

"Don't worry, be happy."

"Here's a little song I wrote

You might want to sing it note for note

Don't worry, be happy

In every life we have some trouble

But when you worry, you make it double

Don't worry, be happy

Don't worry, be happy now!"

written by Bobby McFerrin, American folk and jazz artist.

On this joyful note, I wish you a beautiful month of June.

It's getting pretty hot here - around 30C at the hottest time of the day.

The best time for walks is in the early mornings and after supper when the day has cooled off.

March Winds and Sunshine

The first pink blossom of the year!

I can never resist it.

The sunshine in this month of March has been incredibly generous so far,

but the winds have sometimes been quite cold.

There are always lovely walks somewhere along the lake.

This time it was in Montreux which is well-know for its microclimate of warmer weather.

It was quite misty over the water and mountains on this particular day.

There are various artwork pieces along the water's edge.

This one has a great deal of presence.

This one is fascinating and the given title is 'Above Sea Level'

I've moved in closer here, so that you can see the details better.

If you look carefully, especially at the very top of the sculture,

you can see that it's made up of hundreds of tiny, stainless steel fish!

Click on the photo to see it even larger.

My favourite art work, is this poetic one of a little boy high up on a very tall ladder.

He is holding a marble up towards the sky.

There is an accompanying poem in French below.

The first line reads: "Et si ma bille était la lune?"

which means: "And what if my marble were the moon?"

I can zoom in closer with my camera, but to see his face from the front,

 I might have to go into the lake.

The mist on the other side of the lake didn't really disappear through my walk

but I like the dreamy look that it gave.

Apple Blossom!

I know it's far too soon, but I saw this beautiful blossom in front of a florist's shop

which sold flowering Bonzai.

I think that Apple Blossom is my favourite of all!

When we see daffodils in the gardens, we know that spring is well and truly here.

Yesterday was the first day of spring and the daffodils are everywhere.

I saw these in the park yesterday.

Another walk along the lake in the very small town, almost just a village,

called Cully.

The day was mostly dull, but I liked this scene of a couple sitting on a bench

framed by the tree boughs on either side.

On a clearer day, the view here is glorious!

I made a collage of all the flowers I saw between the train station and the lakeside.

The pink blossom is called Deutzia scabra, then comes the yellow Forsythia,

A beautiful daffodil and some purple-pink Aubretia.

I wanted to include some yellow and blue to honour the Ukrainian people.

These hearts and yellow pansies and tulips are for them.

The garland in the middle is the one hanging over the couch in my living-room.

The crochet collage is a small couch throw that I've been making for an old friend.

The colours were chosen to go with a creamy coloured couch.

Apparently, it's very snug!

I've been making a larger couch throw/small blanket for my son and his wife,

but I was waiting for a delivery of extra yarn to arrive

and was able to finish the above project.

On Saturday, I did a lot of gardening on my balcony, cutting back plants,

scraping the surface of the earth and lots of watering.

I thought that it would be really lovely to make a collage of everything in flower right now.

I took these photos yesterday, on the first day of spring!

On the upper left, my tiny Campanula have been giving flowers all through the winter.

The Camellia plant has just given me two beautiful blooms.

The pansies speak for themselves - always so cheerful.

The tiny green leaf is new growth on my geranium plants.

The pink Cyclamen has survived the winter, all three plants.

The tiny viola on the lower right is new this year!

I hope that wherever you are, you are also enjoying the joys of spring

and some of you may be experiencing a beautiful autumn!

Until next time with more flowers and lake shots and some crochet too.

May you enjoy this month of March.

Lakeside Art

Several outings to the lakeside town of Montreux have amazed me

with their sculptures and other original art forms.

I particularly liked these huge red sculpted metal wings.

This very tall metal bird is full of character.

Even the little sparrows used him as a useful perch.

I can count seven of them!

Window frames have been used in beautifully decorative ways.

Climbing plants have been incorporated to make them part of the scenery

and this one has a statue nearby.

Colourful shutters hang from a tree

I really like this statue of a man reclining on long poles

against a background of mountains

called Les Dents du Midi.

A crystal ball reflecting an upside down image of the surroundings.

A yellow metal sculpture which seems to be blowing in the wind.

A bench to sit and admire the view and more hanging window frames.

An open door and frame and a view on the lake and mountains.

Modern art framing a steam boat in the distance.

Colourful Begonia flowers and three window frames.

Such a clever idea!

I'm so glad that I visited the lakeside in Montreux more than once.

There was so much to see.

Framing a small boat with palm tree silhouettes.

There were striking and very large Hibuscus blooms growing in the gardens.

The Léman Lake taken in Montreux.

There have been many lovely outings in August and September.

This is just one of them.

There are so many photographs waiting to be shown!

I can't believe that it will be the first day of October tomorrow.

September has been beautiful and mostly warm with wonderful lighting.

Today it was 19C which is still very warm for the season.

Remember to click on each image to enlarge it to fill your screen!