flowers

Grand plans …

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Peonies near our house

Today I had grand plans to finally write about Romania, my sister’s visit, the surprise house down on the Wohlensee, the garden at home and in the city, and and and … but the sun is shining and Pastora suggested we meet for a beer …

No contest!

So here are some recent photos which sum up the start of summer, and it couldn’t come soon enough! I’ll get back into the swing of writing again, I promise.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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My first strawberry. It was absolutely delicious, like a strawberry should be!

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The wonderful feeling of putting on sandals for the first time since the Fuerteventura holiday and there’s still sand in them.

Flowers for a friend

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Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. Whether you’re a cynic of the commercialised day of overpriced flowers, or a true believer in the power of love, I wish you warmth from an inner glow.

Lovely Leo surprised me yesterday with this beautiful bunch.

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Happy Valentine’s Day

I’d like to share them, with Leo’s blessing, with Freda, from livesimplysimplylive, whose husband is in hospital. Freda gave me encouragement to start blogging and is a wonderful supporter of fitfor15in15.

Without her, I wouldn’t have had the joy of cyberspace “meeting” Penny L, swissrose and other readers who have dropped by to say hello. Or joined in the fun of Kondoing. Or swooned at her red gate and garden. Or learned about so many plants and flowers. Or enjoyed the simplicity of white. Her writing is a calming force.

Everything is crossed for Barry’s safe return home, and soon.

Wishing you a wonderful day. Hug your loved ones.

 

Delicate and intricate

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There’s an ornate building next door to my work which I’ve loved ever since moving to Bern. It’s in the Langgasse quarter, which has lots of uni buildings, student accommodation and a laidback feel to it all, all conveniently located next to the main train station. I may have talked about this area, and building, before.

Walking along the main street, just past the building on the left, is a driveway. My eye was drawn to an amazing plant growing along the fence. Just like the massive building before, it was delicate and intricate in a different way. Balls of a fine swirly, white, starchy substance replaced any greenery and brown octopus/spider legs wiggled inside. What a showstopper of a vine!

I stole a sprig for closer inspection. Here’s what they look like magnified …

The spiders legs fall out very easily, and the feathery material feels almost little a cotton ball/make-up wipe thing – not as soft as you’d think, but not scratchy either.

Do any of my clever green-thumbed friends know what the plant is called? I had zero luck searching the internet.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

And Vale Alan Rickman. What a chameleon he was, with such an expressive face and that rich, smooth voice.

June 3: Very warm, very lazy

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Lovely flowers from Liliane as a thank you for being invited to dinner last Friday

I’m surprised to see the day wasn’t as warm as I thought. It felt like more than 30 degrees, but apparently we had a maximum of 26 around 4pm.

I was in the garden for an hour from 11-12, snooping around for any rogue weeds hiding about the place. There were plenty, but I had to draw the line somewhere and somewhere was the heat!

How soft am I becoming?! I used to live in Darwin, Australia, and thrived in the high 30s with 90% humidity. Now it’s 24 with no wind and I have to take a break? Sheesh! Three and a half years in Switzerland has turned me into a mild-weather lover as opposed to a sauna lover.

Maybe today’s ‘lapse’ was my mind secretly telling me, “Hey, you, watch some French Open tennis.” So I made myself comfortable on the couch for Serena Williams’ match against an Italian, whose name I’ve forgotten, and Djokovic beating Nadal.

I feel very lucky to have had that as an option.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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These very soft, pink blooms grow in spring/summer from a green grass ball. Love it!

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The first white flower from the tall spindly plant … I really need to learn the names!

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Another little garden photo

May 16: Gardening all day!

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Rene, our neighbour and owner of the whole property, called us this morning and asked if we could help him clean the ride-on lawnmower today. No problem!

From midday, we prepared the mower to be in tip-top working condition. We both got a bit sunburnt! Oops. Here’s Leo cleaning out all the caked-on grass.

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Scraping off the hard grass

I cleaned another part and Rene sharpened the blades and then we put it all back together again. After nearly two hours it was ready to go, and Rene was ready for bed!

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Rene decided to have a little pause here

The grass was still a bit too wet to mow after yesterday’s all-day rainfest, so Leo and I put up the umbrella at our house and rebuilt the hammock holder. We also made a quick trip to the local shop for some new plants and soil.

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The terrace looking all summery with the soon to be planted flowers on the table

When we came home, I jumped straight on the mower and did just the back of the house and half of the front. Rene wants to see if the grass in the furthest part of the front lawn can thicken up a bit if we cut it less. So the grass looks a bit half and half. We had lots of problems with the wet grass clogging up the mower again. Afterwards, I decided to weed around the little house Liliane calls the pergola, where they have dinner parties and so on. It’s like a small shack with two tables and an indoor fireplace. Lovely in winter and great for barbecues in summer. Didn’t take a photo of that, I’m afraid.

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Looking good

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Can you see the line where I stopped mowing?

Leo made dinner then we sat outside with Liliane and Rene admiring our handiwork and watching all the birds. We finished the night with the James Bond movie Thunderball. I’m feeling exhausted! Right butt cheek muscle is feeling better today, so that’s another win!

Looking forward to planting all the new flowers tomorrow.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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My little garden will get a spruce up tomorrow

February 14: A 48-minute Valentine’s Day workout with the cutest couple

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

How cool is this car-track design outside our garage last night? What a fluke to have two crazy hearts! Happy Valentine’s Day! (Not that I’m really into it, but I received beautiful flowers which I’m very happy about.)

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My lovely bunch of flowers from Leo

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A lazy morning then grocery shopping (how romantic!) took up most of the day, and it’s now 5pm and we’re going out at 6pm for a “surprise” dinner. I think I have an idea what it’s going to be, but for now I’ll just be quiet and wait patiently for the reveal 🙂

I felt like doing a Fitness Blender workout again, because normally they’re short and to the point, but instead this longer workout, part of a five-day series, caught my eye. So I did day one today and will complete the series on Wednesday. It was a really good workout, lots of squats and arm exercises, and I used the tins cans instead of their clever weights. I’m sure I’d be feeling a whole lot worse if I’d been using the recommended weight!

Now only was the workout fun, the hosts who are obviously a couple are just so darn sweet. They bounce off each other (verbally, not literally) in the nicest way and it was hard not to giggle along with them. Awwwww, lovebirds! The perfect workout for Valentine’s Day!

I’ve done a few Fitness Blender things before, but what I didn’t realise is this husband and wife team are behind it all. They have made over 400 exercise videos available to us for free. These guys are not only cute, they rule as far as I’m concerned!

Would you like to join me on Fitness Blender’s 5 Day Workout Challenge to Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle? They say you shouldn’t drink alcohol during the five days, but I’m going to have to break that rule/suggestion tonight!

And now for a shower and away we go! I’ve got half an hour to get ready! Yikes!

Wishing you a wonderful day.