Showing posts with label lake. Show all posts

The Last Day of March

Just in time to wish you a very Happy Easter!
I really hope that you've had a beautiful day.

The catkins are dancing in the breeze, blossom is showing us fluffy flowers
against a blue sky.
Daffodils are still blooming
Dark chocolate Easter bunnies have been nibbled
and Honey Cat is happy just to enjoy life and the sunshine on my balcony!

Some tender pink blossom bringing us joy

Stretching flowery boughs up to the blue of the sky.

Cheery daffodils all in a row

and yellow Forsythia after the rain.

The first butterfly of the season
enjoying the blossom.

One day this past week, I went down to the lake and walked along
a pathway lined with flowering Magnolia trees.

It had rained quite heavily the day before.
Despite the residual clouds, it was much warmer and there was fresh snow
on the mountain peaks.
I sat on a bench contemplating this view and treated myself
to a vanilla ice-cream on a stick, covered in dark chocolate!
Sometimes, you just have to do what you fancy, don't you?!

I hope these pictures and words find you in good spirits and enjoying
the good things that come your way.

See you sometime in April with more spring images.
In the meantime,
"Don't wait, love your life right now!"

Hello April!

Emerging from hibernation!
The first spring flowers have been gracing our gardens for a little while now.
I am also appearing again with all these colourful blooms.
It is true that I had some frustrating computer problems and when they were resolved,
I found it difficult to get back into regular blog entries.
Anyway, here we both are: the spring and me!

The first Camellia on my bush this year

A walk along the lake in the small town of Montreux
The daffodils and pansies were blooming as well as a beautiful Magnolia tree.

An elegant swan and her reflection glided along

The Cherry Blossom here in Lausanne has been beautiful

Another day with a walk along the lake in the town of Morges.
The band of cloud and its reflection create an eye-catching design in the frame.

Closer to home, the beautiful pink Magnolia are blooming
and I managed to capture these still looking lovely despite the frequent rain showers
we've been having.  We have had moments of blue sky too.

Pretty against the greenery in the park.

Yesterday, we had two hours of sunshine and blue skies breaking through the clouds.
I loved seeing the reflections in this modern building downtown!

The Anemone looking so bright and cheerful in a public garden.

There have been new crochet projects and this is a lacy shawl which I recently finished.
I took it on a walk with me to be able to take pictures in nature!

Another photo on a wall.

I picked these tiny pansies from my balcony garden and put them in a circular vase.
I thought that the colours went rather well
with the Rainbow Blanket I made last year.

You can read about this blanket here:


I hope that all my blog visitors who comes to visit me here
are all quite well.
I look forward to connecting with you again!

Yellow and Blue

 

I think we all now know what the colours yellow and blue represent.
They make us think of sunshine and blue skies
but right now, they remind us of the Ukrainian flag
and what the Ukrainian people are going through. 

Whatever we are doing in our own daily lives,
our thoughts turn, irrevocably and with empathy, to all the suffering experienced
by innocent people as they are forced to flee their beloved country.

This is the yellow and blue mandala I made.

I have not posted for a while as I have been very busy doing important crochet projects
for gifts, and they have been taking up a great deal of my time.
When they are completely finished, I will post them on my blog.

 I love going down to the big market on Saturdays 
to buy fresh fruit and vegetables and farm eggs.

There are often musicians playing and this young musician was playing his
cello very beautifully to earn some money for his musical studies.
I gave him something, of course!

As I passed one street, I looked up to see the elegant tower of Lausanne Cathedral
which looked so lovely against the blue sky.

I've received an early birthday gift of a book on photography
on the work and life of Vivian Maier.
She has become famous for her clever street photography and self-portraits.
Since I am still doing my self-portrait class. I was inspired to try out a similar style.

This shot was taken in a richly decorated shop window where there were also mirrors.
The reflections have given a double self-portrait!

One of the exercises given was to take a picture of our hands,
so I held up a glass ball to try and capture my garland of hearts!
I finally got the ball centred after several tries!

I did receive some beautiful red roses and decided to make a collage of different details
of the lovely petals.

My pink Amaryllis grew a second stem with stunning and photogenic blooms

The back views are beautiful too.

A few petal details in this collage.

There have been visits down to the lake in Ouchy
and our weather has been so beautifully sunny - even if the March winds
have made it feel colder.

Both these photos are taken from Ouchy looking over to the French side and mountains
and the town of Evian.

One day, I took the train to the lakeside town of Vevey. It's not far at all from where I live.
I did love the sparkles on the water.
It was a little tricky to take the photo as I was almost facing the sun.

This is from the same town, but with a closer view on the majestic Dents du Midi.
They are a three-kilometre long mountain range in the Chablais Alps
in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

Closer to home, and in my neighbourhood, I saw these charming snowdrops.

On one of my daily walks, I noticed this tiny Harlequin Ladybird nestled
in the leaves of a flowering Viburnum bush.

Some of the south-facing Magnolia trees have started to bloom.
This particular one had such beautiful petals.

A yellow and blue collage for Ukraine.
The pansies are on my balcony
and I crocheted the yellow hearts set in a blue granny square.

It was also time to put a spring wreath on my front door. 
I chose pastel colours and a flower pattern
where you will see many beautiful flowery patterns.

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I hope that spring is waking up where you live and that the sunshine
and blue skies are uplifting your thoughts during these troubled times. 

We can help those in need by donating to the charities that are suggested in the media.
I like to use La Chaîne du Bonheur
which is a well-known and trusted Swiss organization
and also Doctors Without Borders.


A Heart-Shaped Day

Heart Shapes are always lovely to create and I love to make mine in crochet. 
This one is attached to a small branch of cherry blossom.
The pretty pattern comes from

I made another one in pink which is next to my Sonny Angel doll
dressed in cherry blossom clothes.

I received these beautiful pink and red roses in a bouquet
which tempted me to make a garland of mini hearts!
There's something special about anything heart-shaped, don't you think?

We have had many sunny days this month and I have been enjoying them to the full.
I liked this little leftover leaf from autumn, still hanging onto the branch.

Now I have to take you for a walk along the lake. I have been there several times
in the last week and the lighting has been perfect.

The mountains were slightly misty and the lake was a lovely shade of blue.

A slight breeze ruffled the surface of the water.
and there have been fresh snowfalls.

The bright sunshine created a myriad of sparkles on the surface of the water.
I was so glad that I was down by the lake that day.

What peace on this particular day.
I walked a lot and sat on a bench for a while, soaking up all the beauty and peacefulness.

We can see the tower of the hotel and restaurant called Le Château d'Ouchy.

I really enjoyed observing two Great Crested Grebes doing their courtship display

It was all quite enchanting

If you would like to see a short video clip of them doing their dance.
You will see it HERE

I always find this sailing boat very elegant.

Another small boat and a pretty misty background shrouding the base of the mountains.

Sunbursts and sparkles on the water after a night of rain.

I've joined a group of photographers to practice self-portraits
and our challenge of the week was to take reflections.
Hello to you all!

The first spring flowers are starting to appear.
The Snowdrops and darling little Violets, winter-flowering Viburnum and Primroses.

Two hearts for you for Valentine's Day!

We are in for a mostly rainy week, but we have been so spoilt with sunshine
and we must be happy for the flowers and the whole of nature
who need rain as much as they need sunshine.

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Remember to click on the photos to see them in a larger size.