April is Here

Early mornings are what I love the best!

All is quiet until the birds start to sing their pre-dawn chorus.

We had a few dull, rainy days, so I put a cheerful table-topper on my little round table,

made myself a mug of peppermint tea and had a peaceful read before breakfast.

I like to choose my mug according to my mood

and I have chosen spring flowers for this morning.

The yellow pansies are growing on my balcony.

Every morning, at a certain time, the sun shines in through my kitchen windows

creating pretty patterns from my heart-decorated net curtains.

I love seeing my spring flowers growing in pots on my balcony:

Yellow Allysum, red Camellia and three Begonia plants.

Here is the dark pink Begonia

After lunch, I went out for a walk in my neighbourhood.

I came across some cheerful dandelions and noticed some fallen pine needles on the path.

I'm wearing my comfortable lace-up walking shoes which are perfect for all the hills here.

The primroses have been wonderful this year, covering grassy areas in carpets of yellow.

I did like these very much growing next to some violets.

Tiny Anemone growing in shady spots among last autumn's fallen leaves.

The crocus are nearly over now. I do love their bright yellow centres.

So beautiful in yellow too.

On the first day of April, it snowed!

The pansies in my window box were a little surprised.

This purple one contrasts well with the white of the snow.

This chunky blossom is called Japanese Flowering Quince.

I saw this today on my walk.

The cherry blossom is one of the first to come into flower.

I saw the first ones in March, but these are flowering now in April.

There have been walks along the lake.

This was taken from the lakeside village of Cully.

The old wooden jetty taken from the same place.

The view was quite misty that particular day.

Last week was a challenging week with several electronic devices giving me problems:

my computer was frozen for several days until the technician could come and sort things out.

My iPad needed an upgrade and even my new landline telephone would not work.

As things sorted themselves out, I saw this little crystal angel downtown...

I thought that she would like to come and live with me - and so she did!

I made a collage of my latest crochet project.

It's going to be a couch throw called 'Granny's Secret Garden'

The pattern was created by Marion on her blog.

 You can visit her site by clicking on the name of the blanket.

I'll explain the pattern so far: on the upper left are the flowers which create the middle part,

then we come to a round of yellow and blue squares which represent Forget-me-nots.

The last round in pink and red are for the cherry blossom in flower now.

The plain coloured squares will be on the next round.

Here they are finished and attached. They make a pretty frame for the garden!

Right now, I'm making a second round of plain squares.

It takes quite a long time to do, but I work on it about an hour a day, sometimes more,

and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished blanket.

I hope that you are enjoying this month of April.

What are your favorite flowers at this time of the year?

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.

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

from Apple Blossom Dreams

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.