OH NO ! NOT AGAIN !!!

It is snowing AGAIN ! This is getting really boring, all I want is SPRING, a little sunshine and temperatures above 0 C°. So I am not asking much  or am I ?

This is what my garden looked like this morning.

THE POND WITH A LAYER OF ICE AND THE REST COVERED IN SNOW

MY AUCUBA JAPONICA COVERED IN SNOW

THIS IS HOW  I TRY TO PROTECT MY FIG TREE FROM FROST, IT CERTAINLY LOOKS A LOT BETTER THEN IT DID LAST YEAR BEFORE SPRING

Have a great weekend all and thanks for stopping by ! Enjoy your garden when you can !

 

BEGONIA IN BLOOM

I don’t have a lot of blooms at the moment, it is still very much Winter over here and the forecast for the next 2 weeks is not very good, still frosts at night and around 0 C° during the day with some snow or rain, so I am very happy to look at your blogs, some of you have Spring already ! Makes me green with envy but happy at the same time. Of course there are small signs that Spring is comming, I have little green stumps where I planted crocusses, narcissus, muscari, chionodoxa, tulips… and some tree’s and shrubs are getting bigger buds but as the temperatures stay low it is all moving too slowly in the right direction.

The only thing that is blooming (inside my house ofcourse !) is my beautiful begonia  Muddy Waters who has almost black leafs, when the sun is shining through the leafs they are very dark red. The blooms are pink with little dark red freckles, they are small but there are many of them in a cluster. Also the form of the leafs is beautiful, I like looking at it even when it is not in bloom. It’s an easy plant, I have it for many years, it is also easy to propagate by cuttings, I like giving plants away to family, friends and clients, it is my way of making this world a bit greener.

Here are some pictures of my begonia Muddy Waters.

Have a great weekend all and thanks for stopping by !

ICE RAIN

We have ice rain today, it’s horrible !!! Everything is covered in a layer of ice which makes the roads dangerously slippery. I have to collect my grandchildren from nursery soon, the biggest problem is that my driveway goes down to the road when I leave, I hope my car doesn’t slide down !!! I hate Winter !!!!! And I so want to start working in the garden !!!!

BEAUTIFUL KENYA finale

Today you’ll get the last pictures of our trip to Kenya, maybe you’ll want to go and see for yourselves how it looks as the real thing is always better than pictures of course, and as I said before, the smell you get with the views make it even more special. Kenya is highly dependant on eco tourists so you’ll be welcomed with open arms !

A LONE ZEBRA ON THE BEACH, YOU CAN SEE THE FLAMINGO’S IN THE DISTANCE

A BUFFALO HAVING A BATH, AND AGAIN YOU CAN SEE THE FLAMINGO’S IN THE DISTANCE

HUGE CACTUS

A GROUP OF PELICANS

ELEPHANTS ON THE MOVE

WE WERE ON A LAKE ONE DAY WHEN WE MET THIS GROUP OF HIPPO’S, UNFORTUNATELY WE COULDN’T GET REALLY CLOSE AS THEY ARE REALLY DANGEROUS AND THEY CAN BE VERY FAST

HERE YOU CAN SEE HOW THE KENYAN WOMEN DO THEIR WASHING, THE WOMEN DO MOST OF THE WORK WHILST THE MEN ARE USUALLY SITTING IN THE SHADE, TALKING, SMOKING, DRINKING AND HAVING FUN AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST SLEEPING

A FAMILY OF WOODEN HIPPO’S INSIDE ONE OF THE LODGES

I’M A CACTUS !

ADENIUM OBESUM IN THE WILD

BAOBAB IN THE EVENING

THE SAME BAOBAB BUT DURING THE DAY

MODERN AFRICAN ART

THE BEACH IN MOMBASA

We ended our safari with a few days at a beach hotel in MOMBASA.

I LOVED THIS TREE

                                                                               THE END

I Hope you enjoyed your trip through Kenya, I know I did !

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week !

BEAUTIFUL KENYA 3

And the journey goes on…

I DON’T HAVE TO INTRODUCE THIS ONE TO YOU, DO I ?

A TREE WITH  BIRDS NESTS, YOU CAN SEE LITTLE WOVEN NESTS HANGING FROM THE BRANCHES AND SOME BIGGER NESTS ON THE BRANCHES

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL TREE

THIS ANIMAL WAS CALLED GIRAFFE-NECKED ANTELOPE OR GERENUK

MORE BIRDS NESTS

One day we drove to a lake to see the thousands of flamingo’s, it was beautiful but the stench was something I’ll never forget !!! On the beach were death flamingo’s rotting away and also plenty of carcasses, on top the stench of their excrements….it was a smell I never experienced before and the heath made it all worse of course but the views were breathtaking (as well as the stench !!!)

 

THIS WAS LESS BEAUTIFUL

A BABY HYENA

MUM AND DAD OF THE BABY ABOVE

A TERMITE HILL

ONE OF THE MANY ALOE’S WE SAW

THIS IS CALLED A SAUSAGE TREE, THE SAUSAGES CAN BE HUGE AND WE WERE TOLD THEY MADE BEER FROM THE SAUSAGES

ONE OF THE BIG FIVE AS THEY CALL THE 5 BIGGEST ANIMALS ON SAFARI

PART OF AN ELEPHANT SKULL

ART. YOU COULD BUY ALL THE ANIMALS YOU SAW ON SAFARI, IN WOOD OR IN STONE, VERY SMALL OR VERY LARGE,I WANTED A MONKEY IN WOOD BUT THAT WAS THE ONE ANIMAL THEY DID NOT MAKE, WHEN I ASKED WHY THEY SAID THAT MAKING MONKEYS BROUGHT BAD LUCK, BUT I KEPT LOOKING FOR A WOODEN MONKEY AND ON OUR LAST DAY I FOUND ONE, IT WAS NOT DISPLAYED LIKE THE OTHER ANIMALS BUT IT WAS HIDDEN IN A SHED AND WHEN SOMEONE HEARD I WAS LOOKING FOR A WOODEN MONKEY HE WENT TO A SHED ON THE BEACH AND GAVE IT TO ME, I WAS OVER THE MOON WITH IT !

AND HERE HE IS, MY KENYAN MONKEY

There is more to come in my next blog, thanks for stopping by !

Take care and have a great week !