I am keeping things simple today with a gallery of some of the beautiful flowers I photographed during our visit to the Philippines. I’m sharing these as a memorial for Cee, a special member of our blogging community whom we sadly lost last month.
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I am writing this at the end of March and spring seems definitely to have arrived in London. Street trees are in blossom, birds are more active and more vocal, and our garden is awakening. But my ‘story’ starts back in the tail-end of winter, February.
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I remember many a snowy January as a child, including some very bad ones. And well into my adult years snow was a regular occurrence. But in recent years we’ve seen it less and less, although northern England still gets its fair share. This January it probably got more than its fair share, as storms hit the UK, but in London we saw only a dusting of snow first thing one morning, gone almost as soon as it got light.
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First, a disclaimer: in calling this gallery ‘colours that complement’ I don’t mean 'compliment'. They won't be telling you how great your latest blog post was or how good you look today! No, today we are looking at colour theory.
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We have had plenty of rain this month, including during our anniversary trip to Paris. But we also had a week of Indian Summer, with temperatures in the mid 20s and plenty of sunshine. And it would be premature to talk much of ‘leaves of brown’, although they are starting to turn and some indeed have tumbled down.
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There’s a feeling of autumn in the air as we reach the end of August and head into September. And that's even though recently we’ve had some of the loveliest days of our rather patchy summer. Some leaves are beginning to turn, or even drop, and there are berries on many of the street trees in Ealing.
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While many of England’s grand houses were (and in some cases still are) home to the aristocracy, others were built by those hoping to emulate or even join that exclusive set. The so-called ‘landed gentry’ indeed had land but no titles, although they aspired to climb the social ladder. Among them was Sir George Bowes, a coal baron from north east England.
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What makes an English country garden? Is it the choice of plants? The generously filled herbaceous borders? Perhaps a wall, a gravel or brick path, and a statue or two?
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Phew, this has been a busy month! No travels abroad but plenty of other fun times. We started the month with a few days in Broadstairs, Kent. Despite unseasonably cold weather (we put the heating on in the apartment we rented most evenings!) we had a great time getting to know this little seaside town. We also had a day out in nearby Ramsgate.
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WIt took its time, but towards the end of June summer finally arrived in London. Overnight it seemed we went from cool and dull early spring days to a heatwave, with temperatures briefly touching thirty degrees Celsius. But throughout the month, whatever the weather, our gardens sprang into life and there were flowers everywhere!
