Birds and more Birds

 I wake many mornings and tell myself, get your camera and "Today you will get some good photos of the birds around".  Waking every morning tho he coooo cooooing of the doves..the twittering of the sparrows. trills of blackbirds ..but boy oh boy, is it difficult to get them on camera.  I need one of those fast click click cameras. I did get some nice shots  and am pleased with them.

                                     I have a family of doves, many of you will know.. here i took this one on the telephone pole-.

                                   Another dove decides to take a meander

                                      I was so pleased it didnt spot me. I have to be still like a statue

                                   I thought it might have been interested in Jeffrey's little toy teddy!

                              The sparrows, are starting to become a problem.  Each year its the same thing. So it looks like i will have to board inbetween the beams.. they make such a mess on my nice summer patio.

                                      They are watching me here, waiting for me to leave the patio

                                         He looks a handsome fellow

                                      They love the electric wires to sit on

            As i was moving around with my camera to see if I could catch sight of more birds.. I looked and looked again.. and there hiding behind the pump house is Shilah and if you look closely.. Pascoa is lying down.  It took me a few min to realize the were there..  Its going to be 28deg today.  They have found  a shady spot to hide.

 Yes,  this looks like a mop that has been tossed into the bamboo ... All was quite, when i saw a movement.. You got it!  its Isaa.. now I know where she hides.

Its been so beautiful here these days.  I have been spending time in the garden and relaxing around.
Sorting all my summer clothes and putting heavy winter ones packed away.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend.   Hope that your days are full of sun ,love and laughter.

val

The hills beyond & home

The 1st sunday in May.  A magnificent spring day here today.  I took some photos of the hills beyond my 'quinta' . The birds are still twittering in the trees. There is a light breeze in the air.

All so green ..with purple flowers everywhere.

 I am surrounded mainly to the east side and in front of me by hills of Olive groves , cork, and sheep in the fields.

 Yesterday two of my grandaughters Maria on the left and Didi on the right spent the afternoon.  It was their first swim of the season.
Hardy finally shows his face.  "come on in grandma , come on".. Oh my gosh! I think I would have died of fright.. I usually take my first swim around the 11th or 12 th of May. So If this good weather keeps up.. next week .. I will take my first dip.

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Hardy and jeffrey wanted to get in on the scene.

My Geraniums are growing like never before.. I think I am getting the knack of this gardening with the smaller flowers.

I have had my little statue boy for over 20 years. My mother bought it for me one day. I like this side of the garden..its at the right of the pool.. its semi wild.. and i put all sorts in there. 

 I have had a very relaxing day today.   My grandson Thomas came to chat..that was such a treat .
I spoilt myself with a couple of scoops of chocolate ice cream and watched "Midsommer murders"..
The dogs stretched out in the sun lazy and happy . I had a light tuna salad for lunch.
And I sat and took in all the beauty of the hills around.

I hope that you all had a lovely Sunday with your family ..  I share these beautiful white roses with you . I think them simply perfect.
I am blowing their scent to you .. wish wishes of a beautiful May ahead.

val 

May in my garden

Best and dearest flower that grows,perfect both to see and smell; Words can never, never tell half the beauty of a Rose. Buds that open to disclose-Fold on fold of purest white, lovely pink, or red that glows,.deep, sweet scented what delight to be a fairy Rose. 

A beautiful double scarlet rose.

                                  This bush is over 8 years old, and gives me the hardiest of roses

                                    I think i can 'brag' today and say these are simply stunning apricot pink

                                                      Deep red velvet

                                           A show of pink and little Isaa following me around

                         I ordered these roses from Germany.. They came so delicately packed.. I have three bushes. the scent is beautifully powerful and romantic.  A soft soft yellow.

      Its the 1st of May, in the village its a an age old tradition, that the villagers go to the fields to have a pick nick... After all its the day of the worker.
 Our weather has been a little dull this week.   I see the sun trying to peek through.. The people will be off with their trucks and baskets and friends over to the fields on the other side of the village. I hope the day is a good one for them

                                      The yellow daisies have left and wild purple flowers are all over my fields

 This is the sky this morning.    I hope  the weather will change for us all today.    1st of May is a special day.

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"Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.-- Henry James

...............................................May brings the flowers of Spring. butterflies are all around
                                               Time for friends to get together..
Wishing all my dear blogging friends a wonderful 1st of May.   Sending lots of love and good wishes for a very happy day.

val.

Yellow ,Mellow days.

The colour of sunshine.
Many have written.   Yellow is for happiness, hope, rememberance,loyalty and joy. I am sure it can stand for many other things too.
For me its happiness and joy..  Yellow draws our attention to it. . Its attractive and warm.  It always make me think.!!  Think of many things, also of softness and sweet smells and friendship.

Flowers blooming in my garden this morning..and lemons from my new lemon tree.

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Yellow flowers in the fields..thoughts of love and  long walks  along the lanes.. sitting under the trees with the warm bright yellow sun shining down.

                                      I painted this over 25 years ago.. It was a litte touch of van gogh.
Yellow is a warm colour it can enhance your vision and a great colour to combinate with.

                "There is no blue without yellow and without orange"  -- "Vincent van Gogh"

                                        My one and only yellow table cloth. I use it at easter time.

                                      A little bunch of yellow roses - hand painted on porcelain by me

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot. Others transform a yellow spot into the sun"--"Pablo Picasso"

                                      This photo is for  'Meggie'- she showed her beautiful field of yellow on her post this morning.   My fields are full of these sweet yellow wild daisies.

Lemonade days are on their way.

  Sending warm sunny greetings to you all.

Yellow for -Romance, laughter, joy, friendship and happy days ahead. -Today, I feel Mellow-Yellow, the birds are chirping and are happy in the warmth of the sun. The bees are busy about the pollens.
Life is good, and I hope that you are all enjoying your day today.

Maybe you would like to tell me about your favorite color.   

Spring Sunshine and Flowers

It was only more or less over a week ago, that it stopped raining.  I never thought that it would end. It really was a very long winter. Especially for us here in Portugal. We are used to having bright Easter's and sunny days.  I know though, that most of the world seemed to have very unusual weather patterns this year. I was beginning to get a depression.   

  Within a week , my garden flowers are just blossoming and blooming . Finally I have some colour around the 'quinta'.   The bottle brushes are full of their red long stemmed flowers.

This jar  with the close up yellow rose is the  first I cut of the spring roses .  I can tell you, truly they are so enormous. They seem to get bigger each year.  I think I might have mentioned before, what I think is the secret. Is  the feed.  Roses  love to be fed and watered..pretty much like us ):  I particularly like the yellow bloom.  I married with a bouquet of yellow roses.   Ohhh..that was a long time ago. The white one at the end is a close up of my soleno bush.. its just busting out all over.

"SHEILA"  blissfully grazing down the bottom feild.  Both her and Pascoa are just soaking up these warm spring days.

 This rose, when closed is more of a yellow colour.   Then it turns into orangy,pink and yellow.. its beautiful.   I do not know the name of any of the roses I have.   I just know that I love all of them. Most give beautiful scents.

                                Here are some of my bushes.  The earth is getting dry.. watering tomorrow.

Look at the size of this perfect bloom.  Its delightfully beautiful.

                                I think this plant belongs to the family of verbena.. but like many of my followers know.. I am hopeless at flower names.

Today, the birds have been chirping.  The sun has been warm -Its been as perfect as it can get for a spring day.
I have started putting my patio furniture in place.. and slowly getting my outside space comfy for the summer months.
Hope that you are all having wonderful spring days, wherever you are.

Blowing big handfuls of warmth and best wishes to you all.
I would also like to thank many of you , who have bared with me through these last blogging glitches.
If you cannot get my updated posts on your blogs.. please just join my site again.  It seems to work.
"blogging"- I think one needs to go to MIT to understand it.

Happy days

val