Spain

In September, we left the chilly mountains of Australia for the sunny slopes of Spain, arriving in Madrid to our very pleasant hotel,Plaza Major, just off a corner of the beautiful old square of the same name. It's a fine old building, renovated sympathetically both inside and out.
We found old Madrid a lovely place to begin our trip. This is one of our signature "mirror shots", taken at the shiny new extension of the Reina Sofia museum where the architecture (by Jean Nouvel) outshone the art collection within: a sweeping wing of polished deep-red roof over glass walls framed in black. Square cut-outs in the roof frame small patches of blue and white sky



Outside the Prado (no pictures permitted inside), we saw this delightful warning:



From Madrid we took a bus to Granada, which I have always wanted to visit for the Alhambra and the adjoining Generalife gardens. We found a simple little hotel on a narrow street within easy walking distance of cafes and shops.
In spite of dire warnings that we would not be able to get into the Alhambra because we had not booked in advance, we arrived at 9:30 am to find no line-up at all, and were easily able to obtain tickets to the interior of the palace for 11:30, giving us a generous two hours to explore the gardens first.
They did not disappoint.
While Michael sat on a handy balustrade to sketch the vista below, I was able to wander at my leisure among the flowers and fountains.



The first thing I noticed was this curtain of morning glory, living up to its name for once, even in the shade.



All the plants were spectacular.




But some of the simple effects were among the best,like these boxwood balls on a staircase...



...and climbing roses espaliered on some of the old walls.



Even the hedges were remarkable, clipped to mimic the towers of the Alhambra beyond.





The Alhambra gardens were equally beautiful





Naturally, I had to get a shot of the giant rose climbing over the entrance to the palace. That's me underneath it, with a couple of the entrance guards in the background. It looked like one of the banksia roses, which grow so well in warm climates.


The old town of Granada also had some interesting plant features, such as these "Hershey kisses" of ivy on some of the lamp posts.



And a fine, fruiting prickly pear doing its best to obliterate a little local graffiti.



From Granada we took a bus to Malaga, mainly because from there we could get a cheap flight with Vueling all the way north to Bilbao. As we expected, Malaga was full of British tourists, and the beach had little appeal compared to Sydney's beautiful sand and surf. However, we did enjoy walking up through an attractive park to the old fort above the city.


We flew north to Bilbao, took in the Guggenheim Museum, one of those iconic buildings which tends to overshadow the art within. In this case, however, the massive sculptures by Richard Serra that occupied a hangar-sized room were equal to the challenge.

Our last night in Spain was in San Sebastian on the Atlantic coast just south of the French border. The weather was cool and rainy, but we nevertheless found it an attractive town. Our room had a minuscule balcony overlooking cafes in the street below.

Evan's Crown

Last weekend our daughter took us on a drive/hike to Evan's Crown. This extraordinary collection of huge boulders rises from typical Australian grasslands dotted with eucalyptus. The climb to the top is surprisingly easy, as the trail winds across the face of the hillside at a gentle grade, so that it is quite startling to emerge above the treeline and find yourself among the massive rounded rocks...



...looking down at the rolling pastures.



My two favourite people posed for the camera...



...and then it was my turn.

Wallaby in the Weeds

Yesterday evening this lovely little wallaby was calmly grazing in the vacant lot next door to us, not too concerned about our snapping pictures of him/her. I think it must be a swamp wallaby as those are reputed to be the most common ones in this area.

Snow

That's right. Snow. We have chosen to live in a region of Australia that gets as cold as Vancouver in the winter. It snowed briefly on Thursday although, as it didn't stick to the ground, Michael claims it wasn't REAL snow. I did my best to capture the moment on film and will admit that it could as easily be mistaken for sleet or even merely rain.



Then again, this afternoon, another little flurry came by and this time it lasted long enough to make the ground look white for about half an hour. The photo below shows our Cootamundra wattle blooming defiantly above the white stuff.



You can see the beginnings of some garden beds in this photo too, but as long as the weather stays this cold, not much more will get done. The area along the back fence gets the most sun, so that is where the veggies will be planted. I've already shifted my little bottlebrush plant to a spot below the wattle, and it will eventually become as large as the wattle and thus replace it. This particular species of wattle has a short life span and ours is already showing signs of ill-health. We won't replace it with another as it is considered an invasive weed in this region. Instead, I've planted a sunshine wattle which doesn't have the attractive powdery blue foliage, but is native to this area and so a more responsible choice. The bare patch at the bottom of the photo is always in the shadow of the house, so only only shade-lovers will thrive there. There are a couple of existing hydrangeas, not very attractive ones, but they will do if surrounded by more interesting companions. I've already added three rough tree ferns(Cyathea australis). When they leaf out, they'll cover a considerable area. Their eventual height will be 15 ft. or higher, like the ones I've mentioned in the previous post, but it will take years for them to reach it as they are quite slow-growing.
It will also be a good site for hellebores and Australian plant breeders have produced some stunning ones, including many doubles. Normally, I prefer the simplicity of single flowers, but in the case of hellebores I make an exception as they suffer from that tendency to hang their heads so that you have to tip the flowers up to admire the freckles, dark centres,or pretty stamens. The doubles look good without the need for any handling.'Mrs. Betty Ranicar', the first double white to be introduced, is for sale in many garden centres at around $15 a good-sized pot, and for twice that much there are cherry- and apricot-coloured doubles available from specialty nurseries.


It was cold enough overnight for the snow to turn to a crust of ice. In spite of the blue sky, it hadn't melted by 10:30am when I took this photo of George inspecting the front garden.

Old Coach Road

Our July hike took us along an old coach road, then followed a disused railway track leading us through a tunnel inhabited by glow worms back to our starting point. No photos of the glow worms for several reasons: my little camera can't handle a pitch black environment; being school holiday time, there were too many people shining flashlights and talking; apparently glow worms respond best to warm weather and this being winter it was icy cold in the tunnel. Consequently, the glow worms were sulking and only one or two were visible.
However, the old coach road we followed throughout the morning was too long a trek for young families and teenagers in flimsy footwear, so we saw no other hikers until we neared the entrance to the tunnel.

Here we are getting ready to head out for the day. That's our fearless leader, Libby Raines in the centre of the group on the left.



We came upon the usual number of stunning rock formations and views as we made our way along.




Beyond Donkey Mountain, a controversial resort and golf course is soon going to change the landscape.


In several places we came upon magnificent specimens of grass trees (Xanthorrhoea media),



one with a flower stalk just emerging, olive green against the tree trunk behind.


As we walked along the old railway line, we came through a deep gully where flourishing tree ferns towered above our heads.



At one point we passed a lyrebird's nest. Some of our fellow-walkers even saw a lyrebird but unfortunately I wasn't one of them



I was intrigued by the beautiful bark on the trunks of some of the eucalypts that we passed. The blotchy ones are spotted gums (Eucalyptus punctata).

Kangaroo Paw Fever

No, it's not a new virus; it's my new passion. I've fallen in love with this exotic native plant. (Australians would say this is a contradiction; exotic to them, botanically anyway, means a non-native plant) And I keep finding more must-have varieties to add to my collection.
I took the photo on one of our sunny winter days so that the shadow of the flower stem appears on the wall behind it.


The recent focus on using native plants in the garden has resulted in a plethora of new kangaroo paw cultivars hitting the market. The flowers now come in many colours from deepest burgundy to silvery-white, or a combination like this vivid red/black/emerald scheme. Some, including this one, have slate-blue hues in the foliage, which is in my opinion an improvement on the standard green. This particular variety is called 'Royal Cheer'

Vancouver in June

You always take a risk with the weather, visiting Vancouver in June, but I didn't really expect only one (1) sunny day out of fourteen. Still, it didn't actually rain much, even though the skies were cloudy and the temperature so low that I never got to wear the shorts I had optimistically packed.
And besides, the highlights were the times we spent with family and friends.

Visiting my brother-in-law at work gave me an opportunity to photograph the city from a bird's eye point of view, including:

The beautiful terracotta icing on the Marine building -


and its frieze of seahorses -



Downtown landscaping from above -




And the preparations for a green roof on a new waterfront project -



The last day of my visit was the one sunny day,and also, by good fortune, the weekend of the Vancouver Open Garden Scheme, so my good friend Sally and I went to have a look.

Water features, small and large, were popular elements:





A mirror on the far side of one pond gave me the opportunity to snap Sally and me together.



I particularly liked the hot tropical effects in this small garden:






And the thoughtful groupings of colour and form on this much grander estate: