At last.. I am back in blogland.... so I must join in at my favourite place
AJJ and the 'we're all/going theme' which is hosted this month by
Chris from pearshapedcrafting
This is a mix in my A5 journal of stamps by Altenew, distress ink and some digital additions.
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| This was my original stamped page |
I don't like the heat at this time of year but I do love the flowers the sunshine/heat brings.
Every year we wonder will it be the year our cactus flowers - it's the sort that blooms over night and lasts a day or two at the most. This summer it has had four flowers - three almost all at once and then about 3 days later another single flower - this is probably the most flowers its had in nearly 40 years - yes 40 years!
Our two Nisperos/Loquat trees - have had the most fruit ever. Although one of the trees probably had half a dozen fruits only, the other one made up for that. This tree isn't native to the UK so its just luck and our climate here on the Essex coast that probably helped.
Its hard to explain how this fruit tastes - maybe like a mix of peach, apricot, lime and something tropical - quite an intense flavour - but really lovely. Dave has blanched, sliced and froze some to save for the winter. There's still a lot left on the tree to pick which hopefully are still edible and not all pecked by the birds :)
And the reason why the fruit is a bit battered looking is probably because the trees have attracted a lot of birds. This time of the year there are a lot of young birds about and the black birds appear to use our garden as a kindergarten and leave them with us to look watch over and they repay us by devouring the fruit ha ha :)
The Hebe has a mass of white flowers
We had a lot of Foxgloves - all freebies that have seeded from somewhere else and blown into our garden - what a lovely treat - I love them and so do the bees :)
And I had a lovely surprise; there was a young squirrel in the garden
and he kindly came up to the door and posed for me.
That's all from me for this time.
Thanks so much for visting here.
Happy Sunday.
Gill x
A wonderful page dear Gill and I love the cactus flowers , and all the beautiful pics from your garden! Amazing!!! Such a cute photo of the squirrel! Thank you for joining in at Art Journal Journey again dear Gill!
ReplyDeleteHappy new week ahead, thanks for the last mail too!
Big hugs, Susi
Hi Gill, good to see you around again. Your journal page is fantastic. Your garden is blooming lovely! And what wonderful fruit gree. The photo of the squirrel is so sweet. Have a nice evening, I'm off to bed. I was out all day and walked for miles. Hugs, Valerie
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I thought I left a comment earlier. Your beautiful journal page is incredible. I always love when you create hybrid art, and this is stunning. I love the flowers, and of course, the sentiment you chose for Chris's theme is perfect for Art Journal Journey,
ReplyDeleteYou have a bumper crop of wonderful goodies, dear Gill. That cactus is unbelievable and those foxgloves are stunning. Whatever planted them for you, they did you a favor! Your photo of the squirrel is amazing. I'd never get that close to one in my yard. It also looks like it's a gray and brown squirrel, too. Very rare in the states.
Wow Gill, it is great to see your art and read about your garden. I've heard of Loquat but never tried one and your description sounds fascinating. And wow, those cactus blooms are just gorgeous. I can see why you were inspired to make this journal page. I am having a lot of garden flowers this year too which is really great to see and watch. So I will gladly join you in your garden for this challenge. Happy July. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteYour floral page is beautiful Gill, and I love that cute squirrel and the young blackbirds. The birds have been feasting on our strawberries, but we have managed to pick a few for ourselves :-)
ReplyDeleteAlison xx
This is a lovely post, Gill, and it is so nice to see you back in Blogland.
ReplyDeleteYour AJJ flower piece is so pretty. It's a strange quote, but it's true.
Imagine keeping a cactus for forty years, it's certainly kept you waiting. Maybe you'll both have to hang about for another forty years to get the next flush of flowers.
I love baby blackies but they are not the most intelligent of birds and their parents (at least here) go insane if there is a cat within three miles of their precious babies who hang about for days sometimes wandering over the grass without a care in the world. You've captured a terrific picture of them.
I love hebes and foxgloves too, so reliable and prolific.
Some people don't like squirrels but they can come here anytime, although maybe not too many at once, one is enough. That's a great photo of the squirrel, he obviously wants to be on the blog.
I am finding that, as with this one, that my comments are't being published all the time! I really love this page and so pleased that you linked to AJJ and my theme! Love foxgloves too! Hugs, Chrisx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pages, I love all of the flowers and that wonderful sentiment! Stunning pictures too... Thanks so much for stopping by my blog :)
ReplyDeleteTammy x
Love loquat fruit, it does have a strange but pleasant and addictive taste to it. Not seen much of it anymore here...welcome back with a fabulous pages and great wording. Gill your photos are such a beautiful show piece.xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful page and your garden looks amazing! I've not seen those fruit before, how wonderful that you have such a large crop of them this year, they sound delicious 😁. Wow,So you garden is bursting with life, it's so nice to see birds and critters in your garden, we have had baby blackbirds, dunnocks and house sparrows in our garden this year - yay! The cactus looks so pretty in flower too! Thanks for your kind thoughts and wishes on my blog and wishing you a wonderful week! Hugs, Jo x
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