Flowery Interlude

 

This month of August seems to have gone by so quickly.

I've been doing wonderful little escapades with family and now I'm off again 

for a few days.

I have no time to organize my holiday photos, so I'm doing a flowery interlude 

of some of the beautiful flowers I encountered during this month of August.

There will be lots of dahlias, like this deep pink beauty above!

Pink and yellow look great together.

This one is almost fully opened.

This simple bloom with the marvellous centre was the darling of the bees!

Deep pink and luscious

Long, slim petals

Delicate shades of pink

Deep,  velvety red.

A collage to enjoy my favourites

Bees just love Zinnias

Now a selection from my morning and evening walks in my neighbourhood.

A pretty pink Anemone sometimes called Wind Flower.

A luminous Morning Glory and pink Bindweed climbing the fence.

A Red Admiral Butterfly enjoying a Zinnia.

I love the two little blue and black markings at the bottom of the wings

They make me think of eyes with white eyebrows!

A beautiful deep pink rose discovered on my walk yesterday.

Some gorgeous red roses that my son brought me when he visited with his wife.

Some Black-Eyed-Susan, or Rudbeckia

Growing in the grassy patch right near where I live.

Such sunny flowers.

A walk along the lake one day showed these beautiful hanging baskets of geraniums.

I have four strawberry plants growing on my balcony garden.

One day, I counted eighteen strawberries ripe at the same time.

I served them with fresh figs bought at the market and accompanied them

with triple thickness Gruyère cream.

The cream is not whipped, but a teaspoon holds upright in the delicious richness and thickness!

On this tasty note, I wish you happy days until next time!

Flowery Interlude

 

The flowers everywhere have been stunning

and I wanted to remember some of the beauties I have encountered

on my walks and outings.

This orange dahlia was growing along the lake.

I came across this huge bloom on one of my early morning walks in the neighbourhood.

Such a dark red with petals like velvet

A fresh white Cosmos blowing in the breeze.

Big and beautiful Rudbeckia and tiny Signet Marigolds.

Bright yellow Zinnia

A Dahlia starting to unfold its central petals

Another Dahlia in the morning sun with a profusion of generous petals

Some fresh green maple leaves looking very springlike before autumn

brings in shades of orange and red.

Curvy petals and the perfumed beauty of a rose growing not far away from home.

White Zinnia, Rudbeckia, yellow Zinnia and ornamental leaves down by the lake.

The colour harmonies in the flower beds along the lake in Lausanne-Ouchy

were fresh and luminous is shades of yellow with touches of white.

They looked rather pale and uninteresting at the beginning of the season,

but then they exploded into a very joyful looking sight

and it was a pleasure to see them as I walked along the lake.

Closer to home, on my early morning or evening walks, I love to see the Japanese

Anemone blooming in the late summer.

The buds are so pretty too.

A sure sign of autumn are the Golden Rod which start blooming in August

and continue into September. 

The bees just love them.

Dahlias come in the most beautiful colour combinations

I do like the white tips of the petals on this one.

I saved this one for my last photo today.

I do love the curly central petals, the tightly folded centre and that little bee.

Without going abroad or on a longer holiday this year,

I've chosen to remain in Switzerland because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This has encouraged me to make interesting and beautiful little escapades not far from home.

Next time, I'll be showing my September getaway in the vineyards

in the beautiful Lavaux area, not far from Lausanne at all.

Between Sunrise and Sunset

In-between two bouts of heatwave, it was decided to have an overnight stay by the lake.

The sunrise sky was so beautiful in the early morning.

We went out walking at 5.45 am in the delicious freshness of that time of day.

The street lamps were still lit.

A swan was enjoying this marvellous moment of the day as much as I was.

The rising sun hit the landing stage and created beautiful reflections.

A bit later in the morning, after breakfast on the outside terrace, we walked in the lakeside park

under the welcome shade of the huge trees.

It was lovely to observe the beauty of the environment and flocks of birds

flying across the sky in their hundreds.

I was unable to identify the birds.

I was wondering if they could be Cormerants.

Here they are again

Flying very high above the mountain peaks.

Click on the photos to see things in more detail when enlarged.

The port of Morges and the beautiful Mont Blanc mountain.

The atmosphere on the lake changes constantly. 

This lighting makes me think of a watercolour painting.

The lakeside Dahlias are stunning and there are so many varieties and colours.

This bright pink one caught my eye as well.

Sunset over the Mont Blanc.

Such peace.

I have been making fewer blog entries lately, mostly because of our heat

which seems to make everything a huge effort!

I have decided however, to increase my blog entries and just make them shorter.

I know that it's often discouraging to wade through too many photos

and especially too many words!

It was so beautiful by the lake and we prolonged our stay by one night!

Now we are experiencing yet another heatwave and going out in the early mornings

is the only comfortable time of the day.

My Balcony in June 2017

These are the last of my pansies which I picked mid-June

so that I could plant the dahlias!

Every season has its flowers

and after pansies come all sorts of beauties

like these orange and yellow dahlias with a fine red line around each petal.

Refreshing pink

and luminous red

and a mixture of warm colours.

Two window boxes of dahlias are planted in front of the garden table

where I eat every day.

A hydrangea heart.

This plant hadn't flowered for three whole years

and I was about to give up on it

and told it so!

It must have heard me because it suddenly started growing

beautiful light pink flower clusters!

This is my oldest hydrangea.

Last year, I bought a new hydrangea to compensate for the 

older plant which had remained dormant for so long.

I'm thrilled with the deep raspberry pink of these new flowers

which can be seen even better here.

but the hydrangea star of the show this year has been this beauty

in tones of  pink lilac, developing into deeper tones of blue.

This one was a beautiful birthday and Mother's Day gift

from my son this year!

The final colour.

Though as I speak, the flowers are changing yet again

to more muted pastel shades with touches of pale green.

Beautiful at every stage!

The Physalis, or Chinese Lantern

is doing so well.

I love to watch the tiny white flower transform into tiny bud

which then develops in to a little green lantern.

They will look so pretty when they all turn orange.

The different stages can be seen here in the collage.

Pink anthemis flower the whole summer through

these are a welcome splash of colour next to my kitchen door.

My small olive tree is laden with tiny flowers which will become olives!

New this year is an oleander plant with beautiful coral blooms.

Two kinds of bell-flowers or Campanula.

The ones above which have grown back from last year

and these smaller ones in a big tub which come back every year.

All these wonderful colours make life living in the town more bearable.

My flowers are my joy and I love to sit outside

for all my meals and read surrounded by all these manifestations of nature.

Sometimes,

I like to pick just a few flowers to enjoy inside.

If you have a balcony or a terrace, or if you're fortunate enough to have a garden,

I hope you are enjoying all the wonders of nature.

Just like me!