View from Valdovino

evening

Evening 9pm - 10pm wind variable 0-15kph, temperature 14C I decided to go out to club nautico its only a few mins down the road and there are these lovely cows with their calves on the way there.

Lovely evening but not a wonderful sunset

Looking the other way all is still green I hope there will be frogs in there in a while

Wild strawberries by the pontoon no shortage of them either.

Eucalyptus are in full flower just now mostly white ones.

Lovely tranquil walk with splashings and duck noises

Rushes seeding well looking rather African and full of faces to me

Rippleyness

and more

one little boat out there drifting around

A swan like bit of old tree

and just as it got dark the frogs started to sing Ave Maria along with the church bells, then they stopped to hear what time it was, we can just hear them from the house on a windless evening but down by the lake they are deafening.

afternoon

Temperature at 2.30 29C wind breezy 0-25 kph crickets were cricketing but it was too windy for a good audio recording unfortunately.

There is the hole in the living room wall through which the chimney flue will go later today or tomorrow

every day a few more Californian poppies open in the sun

The one Echium is now about 5 meters high good job its not been a windy year although it is well sheltered.

Just starting to flower and the bees are loving it, I wish we had bought a bee hive there are plenty of flowers around

An Acer that turns a lovely pink then russet colour in the Autumn but is a vivid green this time of year.

Fresias have done very well and the scent is so delicate

My favourite Azalea still flowering

and my second favourite one just starting to flower

I have been lifting the soil level in the front so it looks a bit bare at the moment but the cycad and bananas are settling in very well despite the dry weather.

All of the holly trees are in flower at the moment it looks like it might be a good year for berries, we have about 7 some quite small but good with the berries and growing fast.

Plain white and lovely carpeting a fair bit of the ground under the trees.

Seat number 1

This is the bluebell that isn't the Spanish kind it grows very well here and I have not seen any of the ones that we call Spanish in England.

Hotentot fig that I thought had died last year but is now doing quite well, they can become a bit of a pest but easy enough to pull up if they get out of control.

Seats 2 and 3 and a table

Fields below freshly turned today and all ready for Maize planting

Over the road more mature apple trees are in full blossom and humming with bees

The first strawberries have set...hundreds of them.

Hoping for less wind and some audio this evening.

morning

I am not getting out a lot during the week just now, just too busy so I though I would do a profile of the day at the house starting with morning sounds that are not that different from rural UK, the blogger compression has made them a bit quiet unfortunately. So glad we are above that mist, temperature at 7.30 13C, wind 0.

Early morning dew on Aloe spike, it is growing inches a day just now.

I spotted a couple of rogue Sweet Peas so gave them a tripod and planted more around the base.

Cherries growing well, it doesn't take long to go from blossom to fruit.

The first Canterbury Bells opened in the morning sun today.

Our one tomato plant is thriving

A young Walnut tree stretching out its new arms.

I must find out what these are called, they make lovely fluffy pom poms.

The first of the Orange blossom just about to open.

I really must get a tripod for close ups the beads of dew on the webs just now are lovely but you need to click on the image and zoom in a couple of times to see them.