Pic Spam - mostly flowers, cats and birds...

[curiouswombat]

The past week has been TT Race week - and I haven't got a single bike picture! Mainly I saw the spectators as we plied them with tea, coffee, pasty and cakes - I reckon I made 140 small cakes or squares of large cakes - and I was only one of the people baking - others had an even bigger output.

However - the pictures start with two I took when I had to go and buy a new food processor in a hurry...




Our local electrical store has a river beside their car park - and a wee bit of green here and there - in which lives this handsome fellow -



And a couple of hens - but they were too deeply hidden in the bushes, whilst he came out to give me the once-over. His neighbours were less bothered -



I just like the way that I could take both those pictures standing by my car in the showroom car park.


Now some garden pictures - I have a clematis, whose roots are in a pot, under the pear tree - it just grows up, and through, the pear tree -












Sadly, this year, the best blooms are around by the oil tank...

A few more pics from the garden - poor old Statler and Waldorf are showing their age a little, but still enjoy the sunshine -



The creamy coloured petunias I bought as tiny plugs are all doing really well - here is one basket -



And some in one of the wall baskets -



This is the geranium that I see out of the kitchen window -



and there is a snapdragon growing happily in a pot with a fuchsia -



I think snapdragons are meant to be annuals - but this one is 3 years old!

Here it is in situ, along with a close-up of one of the odd things you find in some of my pots - this one is a dragonfly -



One of the miniature roses is about to open -



I really, really like this picture -



It is almost abstract. What it actually is, is the first of the two-coloured double surfinias to flower - just before it opened properly.

This was taken of the same flower, open, this morning -



Also, today, I took a picture of one of the roses struggling to survive in the rampaging fuchsia out the front - just because it is rather pretty with the rain on it -



And, when I got home from church - this is the front garden of one of our neighbours -



And this is the cat of another neighbour, just keeping an eye on us all from her vantage point -



Speaking of cats - here is Shaka sharing S2C's crisps whilst they both watched the football yesterday -



Cheddar and bacon flavour is, apparently, very acceptable to cats...

And this is him out in the garden at lunch time -



As you can see, the rain had cleared up well. He was waiting for me to come out with my lunch -



I gave him the skin of the salmon and he left me to eat the rest of it, and the salad, in peace!



We had a good time in Sunday School this morning, doing a lot of rhythm stuff with the theme of psalms and praise - with shakers, jingle bells, and lots of clapping on the table - great fun. In a couple of weeks we are having a sponsored 30 minute silence in aid of Water Aid ... that might be quite an achievement for some of the boys.

I have just posted the sixth chapter of the newly smartened up Ten Years After over a Twisting the Hellmouth, if you are re-reading, or possibly reading for the first time.

Also - we are definitely going ahead with another Where I Live weekend in July - so even more excuses to take pictures!

Comments

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

Shaka looks like Numfar!!


Lovely pictures

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

He does! Just shows what excellent taste we have in cats. Alternatively, as cats often seem to choose us, what excellent taste the matching cats have.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

You have some great things in your garden. The miniature rose is so perfectly poised on the edge of bloom. And the surfinia pictures are amazing. I wouldn't know a surfinia if pelted with them in the street, but the transformation from abstract to flower is stunning.

The cat on the car looks most proprietorial - and perhaps a touch disapproving of all your human activities!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Everything in the garden, apart from a very ancient pear tree, grows in pots - some planned, and others, like the snapdragon, a bit by accident.

The surfinia is an annual - it is really a highly bred, highly tarted up, version of the petunia - but as an abstract it is absolutely amazing, isn't it? And I was so pleased to catch that miniature rose just there. (Oddly, your comment reminds me of an upcoming line in Ten Years After - and now I think about it, the picture could almost illustrate it!)

The cat on the car clearly believes it is parked there solely for her convenience!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pictures. The adstract flower is really cool; but my heart belongs to the snapdragon. I wish they'd grow in my postcard-sized yard! I'm heavily shaded.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

That snapdragon is pretty tough - I would describe where it grows as pretty sunny though.

[melegyrn.livejournal.com]

Clematis is one of my favorite flowers--I just love those pics. But all your flower pics are quite lovely! Makes up for the lack of attention the garden has had here at home. Ahem...that's where I'm headed here soon, to get to work on it as there's no rain in the forecast, although it looks like clouds are gathering.

Anyway, I like the rooster pic as well. There's something about chickens I like---well, I admit I like to eat chicken, but I love seeing them on their feet, so to speak!

And as always I enjoy your pics of Shaka. He always looks quite the well-groomed gentleman pus! Bacon and cheddar--he's got good taste! [My cat Jack just joined me at the keyboard, which means he's laying on my left arm and hand...]

I look forward to seeing your pics every week, and this morning even more so. Brightened the day quite a bit. Thanks!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I am so glad to have brightened your day - I see from your journal that it hasn't been the best of weeks.

My gardening is mainly done with a pair of scissors, a small trowel and a big jug of water - I tend to grow the things I know will survive, but they do look quite good!

Shaka has, fortunately for my typing, decided that my husband is a better place to sit whilst the football is on...

[melegyrn.livejournal.com]

Your approach to your garden is eminently sensible. Mom's yard has gotten rather too large--seems to get bigger every year! :-)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Your Cosmos is about the same height as my Cosmos.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Cosmos is such a happy looking plant - a really summery thing that makes me smile.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

In late Summer/early Autumn the goldfinches plunder the Cosmos seedheads, you can see the plant bending from the weight of the birds.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I keep dead-heading mine at the moment - but will let them go to seed later and pass the seeds on to my Mum for her birds - if the finches don't dare come down so low in a cat-owned garden.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Those pale yellow petunias are amazing - I don't know that I've seen anything like that before. And the miniature rose unfolding! What a perfect color!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I often have pink or purple petunias - but decided to go for a slightly more subtle look this year, with those creamy yellow ones - and I have decided that I really do like them.


The rosebud is going to open out to be a rose like the one in the icon - taken last year.

[maddeinin.livejournal.com]

What beautiful flowers (and lovely cats!), and that salad looks really yummy!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The salad was yummy, I have to say. Flowers are good models - they mainly sit still and look colourful...

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I like the "abstract" flower picture as well... they're always so neat looking when you can get that black background like that.

Your cat (and the neighbor's) is very handsome!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The black background was almost accidental - it's on the old black shelves that you can see in the picture of the cat, with a dark corner behind them, and the sun catching the plant itself so well.

Our cat is an old softy - the neighbours' one a little more stand-offish.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Your pics are all wonderful, as always, but I do love the cockerel!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

He is a rather handsome lad - lord of the electrical shop and all its surroundings!

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

Beautiful flowers - I love the clematis and the petunias/surfinias, which are some of my favourite flowers. I always make sure I get a few petunias in pots every summer.

And Shaka's looking very handsome there in the garden.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are such a nice way to brighten the place up for summer - I am rather taken with the purple and whit/cream ones, I must say.

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

Shaka's whiskers in the garden pic look like feathers! Very pretty. I love all the bright colorful flowers you have.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They do, rather - I think it's the way the sun catches them. I like bright colourful flowers for summer - especially ones that don't need a lot of fuss!

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Your flower close-ups are unbelievably beautiful, but you're right, the abstract one of the surafinia (? - I'm too lazy to scroll up and check, I'm afraid) is really something special.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I was so pleased with that one of the surfinia - even if it does look like an abstract cabbage!

flower pics

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Best time of the year ever.

Re: flower pics

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is, isn't it?

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Just beautiful! i especially love the rooster and cat.The flowers are gorgeous too.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The rooster is so funny - he struts around down at Tromode as if he owns the place. I do like to take flower pictures.

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

That is a handsome rooster! And that salmon salad looks soooo yummy!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It's a pleasure - I enjoy having people to share them with.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

What a bright and beautiful post. I love all the cheerful annuals. I've tried hanging baskets and wall baskets, but our summers get too hot and dry. Even watering twice a day, I couldn't keep things looking good in smaller pots. Such a pretty look, though.

Waldorf and Statler look good with a little age on them. I prefer things with the new and shiny worn off.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky - the annuals cope if I go out with the water after work each day - and they get rain quite often too...

I am so fond of Statler and Waldorf - even if they are just slightly wacky garden gnomes!