A VISIT TO A KOI CENTER

Posted on June 2, 2013 by gwenniesworld

Last week we needed food for our koi who live in our garden pond so we decided to go to a place called “De Hofleverancier”in Ekeren near Antwerp. It is a nice place to buy decent koi, good koi food , pond plants and pond ornaments.

When we arrived we went to see the fish first, they have all sorts of pond fish but they are specialised in Japanese koi, they have all sorts from tiny ones to big ones. And of course my husband couldn’t resist to buy one, we already have plenty of them in our pond, and our pond is not that big , I told him we only came to buy some koi food but he still wanted to take another koi home and so we did.

So we came home with this little fella, it’s a bad picture cos the fish is in a plastic bag and he is nervous cos one moment he was swimming in a huge tub with lots of other koi and the next he was all on his own in a plastic bag in just a bit of water, poor thing ! But at the moment he is happily swimming in our pond together with the other koi and he is eating well. He must have had a big shock when we put them in our pond, he came from a huge tub with no plants into a pond with lots of plants and koi he never met before.

Although it was very cold that day we made a stroll through the garden center so I could take some pictures for you.

THE FISH WERE IN BIG TUBS WITH NO PLANTS IN SO THEY WERE HUNGRY AND WHEN YOU CAME CLOSE THEY THOUGHT YOU WERE BRINGING FOOD

BIG ONES

SOME WERE REALLY VERY PRETTY

SOME ORIENTAL ORNAMENTS

A SELECTION OF POND PLANTS

A WATER ORNAMENT

A WATER ORNAMENT MADE FROM A HUGE TREE TRUNK

I LOVED THESE 2 STONE PONDS, ALAS THEY WERE EXPENSIVE !

A POND STATUE

I hope you all enjoyed this little garden tour.

Have a great garden week and thanks for stopping by !!

ABOUT CROATIA AND IT’S FLORA AND FAUNA, IT’S FOOD AND ART (4)

Posted on October 7, 2012 by gwenniesworld

This is the last episode about our trip to Croatia in September 2012. For many years Croatia suffered from the war in ex-Yougoslavia, the tourists they had before the war choose other countries to visit even though Croatia was not at war. But now it seems the war is forgotten, at least in Croatia, and the tourists are back. It is a lovely country, it has sun and sea, good food, art and history and beauty, what more do you want ?!

Here are a few more pictures.

BEWARE WHEN YOU ASK A STEAK AS IT IS HUGE !!! I FORGOT TO TAKE A BEFORE PICTURE THIS IS AN AFTER DINNER PICTURE.

THIS WORK OF ART WAS TAKEN IN PIRAN, A SMALL BUT BEAUTIFULL TOWN IN SLOVENIA

PLENTY OF BOATS EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY SAIL BOATS

LOCAL FISHINGBOATS

WE MET THIS FRIENDLY DOG ON A BOATTRIP WE MADE, A MUZZEL IS A MUST FOR BIG DOGS IN CROATIA, BUT THIS ONE WAS SO FRIENDLY AND CUTE !!!

THE ENTRANCE OF ANOTHER AQUARIUM WE VISITED, I LOVE THE MOSAICS ! THIS AQUARIUM WAS ABOUT LOCAL SEALIFE.

A CLOSE-UP

ANOTHER CLOSE- UP

MAP OF ISTRIA WHICH IS WHERE WE STAYED, IT IS PART OF CROATIA

A BEAUTIFULL BLUE LOBSTER

SOME SORT OF EEL

UNDERWATER ANEMONE

STARFISH

A LOCAL CUTIE

ISN’T SHE OR HE BEAUTIFULL !!?

A SPIDERCRAB

THESE LARGE TENNISBALL’S IN MOSAIC WERE ALL OVER UMAG, THE PLACE WE WERE VISITING, APPARENTLY UMAG HOSTS YEARLY A WORLDTENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP WHERE ALL THE BEST WORLD TENNISPLAYERS ARE COMPETING

THEY HAVE ONLY ROCKY BEACHES LIKE THIS ONE

This is it for Croatia, I hope you enjoyed it !

Have a great week and enjoy your garden !

ABOUT CROATIA AND IT’S FLORA,FAUNA, FOOD AND ART (2)

Posted on September 29, 2012 by gwenniesworld

Croatia, land of sun, sea and a LOT of rocks ! We loved it !

WE VISITED A MUSEUM OF SEASHELL’S, IT WAS IMPRESSIVE !! THERE ARE SO MANY BEAUTIFULL SHELL’S. YOU CAN FIND SEASHELL’S ON BELGIAN BEACHES TOO OFCOURSE BUT THEY ARE TINY. COULDN’T FIND MANY ON THE BEACH IN CROATIA EITHER. THIS MUSEUM HAD SHELL’S FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

A BIT OF ART YOU COULD BUY IN THE MUSEUM

MORE ART, I THINK THEY ARE REALLY CUTE, DON’T YOU ?

FRESH FRUIT EVERYWHERE

THE WOMEN MADE SLINGS WITH ALL SORTS OF PEPPERS AND AT THE BOTTOM A SMALL BOTTLE WITH OLIVE OIL, THE PERFECT GIFT FOR TAKING HOME

THERE WERE NOT SO MANY FLOWERS ON THE WINDOWSILL’S NOR IN THE GARDENS, PROBABLY COS THE PLANTS WERE REALLY EXPENSIVE !

I SO WANTED TO BUY THE CACTUS ON THE RIGHT AND THE ONE ON THE LEFT BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO CARRY IT ALL THE WAY ARROUND THE VILLAGE SO I THOUGHT WE GO BACK FOR THEM AFTER OUR VISIT BUT THEN THE SHOP WAS CLOSED !!! THAT’S WHEN WE FOUND OUT THEY HAD SIESTA FROM 12 TILL 15 H !!! BUMMER !!!