Deck the Halls

Holidays are getting closer, so my creative side is starting to adapt to the circumstances :)
I went outside and looked for pretty things to put in a christmassy arrangement.
I found those branches and those berries and that poppy pod forgotten from the summer days.
I added a couple of apples
And I made this:

 

I must confess I'm quite pleased with the result.

And even better, after having enjoyed it for almost a week on our living-room table, I can offer it to a friend to keep her company during the holidays.

 

Speaking of remnants from summer days, this rose bush seems to ignore it's winter.

Can't really complain, especially since I'm not very partial to this particular rose because of its lack of fragrance.

 

In the garden, the new flowers started to show on one of my hellebores

It's nice to have some colours in december

First Snow this Winter

We've waited and waited and we've been jealous (just a bit, really) on our friends and family in Romania who had their first snow in October, but this week, we've also had a bit of the white stuff, much to my kids' delight.

It was no big snow, no roads blocked, no shovelling, but it was enough for the kids to play a bit and pretend it's a proper winter :)

These are a few photos I took in the garden, just before the snow melted.

Pretty, isn't it?

 

This Moment

Joining SouleMama

for {this moment}...a single photo from the week I want to savor and remember.

 

Bouquets of Late Autumn

As expected, the first frost hasn't arrived yet and I keep gathering a few roses now and then.

Probably, if I had more time to take care of my flowers, there would have been more, but winter arrives with such lack of energy for me plus the loads of germs that my girl brings from the creche and always shares with me :)

Still, I've managed to plant all the bulbs and clean a decent part of the garden.

Now I just need to cover all those rose cuttings I took and we're (almost) good for winter.

 

Here are some photos of small bouquets I brought indoors during this month of November.

 

 

Of course, colours needn't only come from blooms...

Looking for Summer

The last week of October was a week away.

Away from the grey days and the cloudy skies and the very cold mornings.

We didn't have to travel far - only 1:40h flight and we landed in Mallorca where it was still summer.

 

The kids were excited and their mood contagious.

 

I believe this is the first travel entry I write on this blog, but I just enjoy these images, especially now that I'm back in cold-grey Luxembourg.

 

This was the beach near our hotel in Playa de Palma.

There were some spectacular sunsets, as you can see.

One day, we rented a car and went beach searching.

These are two of them:

On another day we took the vintage train to Soller.

Soller is a town you can see a part of in the photo below.

It's set at the foot of the mountain

 and it ends in a perfect little port with clear water and fine sand.

On another day we visited the city of Palma.
Just like the first time I visited it, 5 years ago, it reminded me of Barcelona. A miniature version of Barcelona.
This is its cathedral

And this is a photo of the Palma marina

 

Although there were plenty of flowers in full bloom, I only managed to take these two flower photos below :)

 

And every day, we played and bathed by the sea and my little girl and I admired our pink toe nails in the sand.

Rose Blooms and Fragrances

I haven't touched my camera in over a month, but I've taken regular pictures using my phone.
I know, not the same quality, but I thoought I'd better post some images of these September beauties.

Gentle Hermione in all her glory.
It's a rose I adore, despite its myrrh fragrance

Now, in another league as far as fragrance goes - Evelyn Rose.

A simply amazing perfume!

A very different type of perfume comes from The Pilgrim.
I can sense aniseed in there, but in a delightful way :)

Now, not only David Austin roses have great frangrance.
This German lady also has an amazing fragrance, alas is does not repeat so well for me and it suffers from summer sun burns.
Astrid Gräfin von Hardenberg

 

Let's get back to the David Austins with yet another AMAZING fragrance on an almost perfect (if it were not for the thorns) rose.

Lady of Megginch - it smells like old roses and raspberries!

Flower Fields

The administration of the village I live in has had this wonderful idea for the last couple of summers of planting a grass area in the main park with a mix of fuss free flowers.

They also created passages through it and kids are simply excited to use it as some sort of labyrinth.

This evening, as my kids played there after the apple festival, I had the time to take the photos bellow.

A Thing of Beauty

Roses in Parc de Merl - Luxembourg

I've never managed to see this little rose garden in all its spelndor until last week.
I took no panoramic pictures, since I found the individual bushes and blooms much better looking than garden views.
Here are the beauties which I've hardly manage to remotely identify