Madeira - Day 1-2

 On Saturday the 5th April, CBC and I set out for a mile trudge to our local station where we caught a train so we could then connect with the X30 bus to get to Stansted Airport to travel to Madeira. We travelled with Jet2 flights who were really good.  As I had made several bookings with Booking.com over the last 2 years, we qualified for a free private taxi to our hotel in Canico (which is good as public transport to there is a right pain, 1hour 40mins,  despite being only 7mins drive away) and arrived at our hotel, Sentido Galusol around 6.40pm. As we'd only booked 2 weeks before, there were limited choices left. 

We must have been upgraded as our hotel room seemed like a suite. It was enormous. Here was the main room. Behind me was more space with double wardrobes and then a separate entrance space with double wardrobes and console table, then a lounge with sofa, TV and coffee table as big as the bedroom, then a vast bathroom with double sinks, double shower and then a large balcony with sun loungers, table and 2 chairs with a view of the sea. 

As it was fairly late, we booked into our hotel's buffet dinner which was great. Lots of choices and tasty. I was tempted to go and use the hotel pool but decided that maybe half an hour to change, get in, get showered and dressed for dinner wasn't enough. It was a decision I'd regret... 

The next morning, we headed down for our breakfast buffet. Great choices again. Fresh fruit, breads, pastries, cooked choices, juices, cold meats and cheeses, salad, omelettes cooked to order etc. 

We decided to book a hire car as we would need it to access a lot of the walks we wanted to do. We arranged for one for Monday to Friday. As the day was Sunday, we decided we would get the bus to Funchal to explore there. The bus timetable was slightly ambiguous but suggested at least an hour wait so we decided to walk up the hill to Canico to explore. It was very hilly as all of Madeira is! 

We saw a vegetable market and people coming out of Church and then as he headed onwards, we saw a bus (more like a coach) the 2 headed to Funchal. It cost 5,50 euros for the pair of us, cash only. 

It was really quick. We arrived in Funchal and wandered around. There was some sort of Book fair on which we wandered around after a trip to the Tourist Office to pick up some walk guides and a map. 

After that, we bought an ice cream and wandered in this central park. It had beautiful plants and flowers and was teeming with tiny lizards on the warm rocks 

We decided to go and ride up the cable car to go and visit the Botanical Gardens. There was a brilliant Bohemian street where all the doors were uniquely painted

The Cable car was undeniably touristy with photos being taken of each gondola and its inhabitants but it serves a brilliant purpose of helping you to travel up high very quickly. Funchal is super steep so the walk would be simply hours. It was great to look out over houses, gardens, crevasses and all sorts. There are wild Nasturtiums growing absolutely everywhere! 

Arriving at the top, we paid to get into the Botanical gardens and were given a map. There was an art exhibition to see. 

We heard the distinct "Eeeowww!" of peacocks and soon came upon this fellow. 

The paths meandered up and down and we enjoyed all the greenery as well as flowers. 

There were several ornamental ponds. 

The gardens were divided into various zones.  We didn't explore the whole thing!

The scale of the place was amazing.

When we reached this pond, you could walk under the tunnels and walk around under the waterfalls- we got a little bit wet!

I've never seen Flamingos in real life before! It was astonishing how pink they are!

As well as this butterfly, I also saw a Swallowtail but didn't manage to photograph it!

After this, we stopped in a restaurant where CBC had a salad and beer and I had a cup of tea.   We took the cable car back down and decided we'd like to walk through Funchal to reach the seawater lido area where you can get nearer the water. We probably walked about 6 miles or so and then got a bus back

As we were walking, we'd spied a restaurant that said they served the traditional espetada skewers.  This was the food that we were most looking forward to as we used to have a wonderful Madeiran Skewer house in our local town which is much missed since it closed.  On our way back, we decided to go here for dinner.

We ordered a Bolo do Caco, the traditional yeasted flatbread made with sweet potato which was infused with garlic for Starter and then I ordered a Prawn Skewer and CBC ordered the Salmon skewer plus sides of buttery rice and garlicky fries and roasted veg.

When we had finished, we jumped on the bus back to the main area in Funchal.   Google did not have any up to date times when searching for bus times back to Canico and all the bus stops were very, very confusing.  We waited at one busstop and eventually a bus came which had been mentioned on Google. It didn't go near our hotel but went within a mile's walk so we got on. Curiously, all the bus drivers we met in Madeira sounded really British!

We got back to the hotel and had showers and went to bed ready for day 3, where we'd meet our hire car and then have some more adventures.

xx

Cats and bees

Back in late August, CBC and I headed off to rural Essex to attend a friend's 50th birthday party.  It was really sweet that they actually asked us to check two dates before they announced the dates because they wanted us to be there.

They have a lovely house and beautiful gardens with a proper set of 'rooms' in the garden.  We all brought food along for the barbecue and accompaniments and stayed till quite late.  It was a really pleasant occasion.

For that party, I decided I wanted to wear a Summer dress that I hadn't worn at all this year or last (hoping and praying it still fitted as it is an 8!).  Luckily because it has a sheered back, it still fits perfectly.

It was bought for me by my Mum as an unexpected present in 2016. She rarely buys me clothes as she thinks I have too many but she saw this beautiful Bee dress from British Retro and bought it as a random present. It came with matching headband and is a full circle skirt in cotton sateen.

I teamed it with a cobweb, linen, lace Monsoon cardigan (charity shopped).

For the 'stuff' I added my bee and daisy necklace from Alex Monroe (40th birthday present from Dad and Stepmum) and wore, for the first time (as I had misplaced them!) these Monsoon embroidered espadrilles (charity shopped)

It was the perfect setting to wear the dress in their paradisiacal gardens.

As CBC took these photos, their cat, Slim Shady came along.  He waited by me. He then sniffed me.  In the 3rd picture below, I noticed him as he patted me with his tail. 

In the 4th, he placed a gentle paw on my calf.  I reached down and he reared up like a dog for his head to be stroked and in the final picture, he leaned over.  He's such a cutie!

They have a beautiful Rabbit ears plant, so I decided to accessorise with a couple of leaves!

Ah, I shall miss it when it grows to cold to wear such garments!

xxx
 

Heybridge Basin Safari

Last Summer (as in 2019), we went on a walk around Heybridge Basin, not so far from Maldon in Essex.  Lara told us there was something very exciting to see near the end of the circular walk.

We looked over the wall of a garden to see THIS:

What an interesting sight to see in the back garden!

 Not what you expect to see in Essex...

Klimt inspiration

Hi there,

My school are making good use of our time at home, keeping us busy (some of us make blog posts lessons for our kids daily which take hours! Teaching my musician curriculum is not as easy as shoving a worksheet up on the net Humph! I'm not wasting my time!A year 1 post has taken me about 3hours to recreate at least.) by setting us CPD tasks- (Continuing Professional Development).  We've got to choose from 3 online courses (some Open University ones that are reaaaaaaaaaaaally long), do a virtual tour of a place to visit, research an artist and I've been told to set a music task for everyone. It's fine but I really don't want to be spending any more time online than I am already. I get headaches from too much screen time.

Anyway, yesterday, after one course, I was trying to register with the OU to no avail so I decided to start with my Art CPD.

You had to select an artist from a list of those that you might study with kids at school and do some research, showing what you know, what you wanted to know and what you found out, perhaps creating an example of your artwork based on them.

I selected Gustav Klimt from the list as I'd seen his The Kiss painting at the Belvere museum in Vienna last year and wanted to know more.

I duly did and wrote up my research and then did my own version of one of his paintings using my watercolour pencils.

This one, Farm Garden was one I really liked and decided I would do my own musical spin on it as I discovered a Lithograph he did called Music. Plus, his mother was a failed musician!

IMage borrowed from
https://www.accents-n-art.com/canvas-prints/4x5-CPM00537.html

I created a violin shape and then used his piece as inspiration (sort of copying!) the groups of flowers and colours he did.

I think I'd like to give this another go but perhaps using a more conventional rectangle shape!

What do you think?

My Garden in July 2019

Hello there!

How are you coping with this stifling heat? We're surviving by drinking chilled water and moving quite slowly!

I thought I'd share some highlights from the garden this July

Above, the Acanthus having been looking very resplendently Maypole-like. They tower above the other plants,especially since I cut back the roses.

The hardy geraniums have returned to do their thing.

The pink Carnations or Dianthus (not sure which) appeared out of nowhere.

The pink Clematis was doing fine until CBC attacked it.

The Aquelegia (not pictured) also was a casualty.

The Toadflax has been a glorious purple mist leaning with open arms across the garden. It's been looking nice in a vase inside too.

The Verbena Bonariensis has recovered from CBC digging it up (I made him put it back in)

The Passiflora is taking over as usual as has been cut back though there is loads more to give joy to our numerous bee visitors.

Honeysuckle continues to adorn the side of the shed and seems to be thriving.

The Passiflora has been contending with both the Common Jasmine and the Golden lantern-style Clematis plant.  The Lavender promised so much- was glorious for two days and then snuffed it!

Since typing this, the Nandina Domestica is flowering, the Campanula has given a last few blooms and the Golden Rod and Buddlea have shown their faces.

On the edibles front, the Autumn-fruiting Raspberries are starting to form.  Sadly, after our weekend in Aldeburgh, our Summer fruiting plant completely shrivelled up to a crisp and died! We were dismayed!

CBC bought a tiny Yellow hot pepper plant from our friend who has a small holding and since I replanted it in a bigger pot, it has produced 2 peppers so far. I am not sure if they are going yellow or not?

After the disappointment of my Climbing bean plants floundering, one of them rallied and has grown all the way up the large cane and there are EVEN a few tiny beans so far!!

I planted Swiss and Rainbow chard seeds in a large pot and they have grown a lot.  Alas, caterpillars seem to have laid their eggs on them or butterflies (damn, should have thought of that!) but I am hoping for success.

Mum was given a pair of tiny Sorrel plants by a friend and gave me one. I repotted it and it is doing well. Delicious in salad!

My two courgette plants are prolific but apart from that monster which I featured a while back, they seem to stop at finger length and either stop or start to rot. Any ideas?  I am picking them small and eating them in salads.

Not pictured- 3 Celeriac plants my Mum grew from seed and some leek plants- they were doing well but the heat has made the two bigguns start bolting.

We have 3 tomato plants- two I bought and one that was an accidental bonus in the Pepper pot. You can see them below. Above, you can see one of them, the Tumbling Tom is covered in fruit, some of which I have already eaten, the other Bush variety has some large tomatoes on it but they are still green. The bonus is trying to catch up!

You can just see the Lime mint plant below being prolific and our apple tree. The apples keep dropping so we are hoping and praying for some success.

 The final new addition is the Blueberry plant below. I bought the pot in Aldi for £10 which I was dead chuffed about.  The Blueberry plant came from a local garden centre that I visited with Mum on her birthday. It was £2.50 and had blueberries already on it so I gave it a go.
CBC also bought a Dahlia for our party to fill a space to stop me putting Celeriac and more veg in the spot (spoil sport).
My Edelweiss plant blossomed again.

We had an absolute glut of strawberries- masses of them but they seem to have stopped now sadly

All the herbs are flourishing- not pictured-Parsley, Mint, Lemon Balm, Sage, Marjoram, Thyme, Oregano, Tarragon, Mitcham Mint, Chocolate Mint, Garlic Chives, Giant Chives, Rosemary- we have been enjoying them in salads!

How has your garden been this month?

xx

My garden in May

It seems a while since I did a Garden update as the Garden was dormant for Christmas.  It's really nice for me to keep a track of what is going on with it here.

Veg and edibles
We bought a new Dwarf apple tree which flowered prettily.  Now has lots of tiny fruits on it.I'm sad about the imminent June drop- hope some stay on the plant.
A thin row of Radishes planted at the back of the left-hand bed- started to sprout
2 Courgette plants planted.
9 Dwarf bean plants planted but all seem to have died. Sad times.
Strawberry plants are all flowering and embryo fruits forming including on the Alpine strawberry newly planted in the hanging basket
Summer-fruiting Raspberry has fruit.
Two tomato plants- one is flowering.
Swiss chard plant from Mum has suddenly shot up and bolted!
9 leeks planted but looking a bit sad.
New French Bean plants germinating in the Utility room.  No sign of growth yet.
Marrowfat peas soaked and placed in compost in a reused plastic fruit tray.  I am hoping for Pea shoots (more on that anon)
Rocket seeds planted in pot. (see top right picture in second-collage. Please help- are these actually rocket plants or am I lovingly nurturing a pot of weeds???


Flowers:

• CBC bought an Aganpanthus which he has planted in the right-hand bed.
• Lots of Love-in-the-Mist, Nigella Fennel flowers have flowered but CBC has removed a lot of them
• The chives have flowered annoyingly early!
• Hellebores flowered.
• Aquilega has flowered
• The Flowering currant (which looks so much like a Snowball Hydrangea!) flowered wonderfully all month
• Yellow Rose is now 6 ft 5 tall and flowering magnificently.
• Lavender is bushy and verdant and developing stalks.

Herbs:

• The Rosemary flowered beautifully
• Marjoram has flowered.
• Lime Mint, Mitcham Mint, Chocolate Mint, Normal Mint and Lemon Balm are all flowering
• Camomile looks sad.
• Parsley, Tarragon, Sage all happy and flourishing.
• Giant chives are flowering.  Garlic chives are chirpy.

How has your garden grown this month?

xx

Talk to the flowers

On Sunday, I went into the garden as it was sunny (it didn't stay that way).

I noticed so many plants that had started growing which was a joyous surprise!!!

A lovely white Hyacinth- I don't remember these last year!  Those red berries have started growing again as as the Flowering Currant-type plant and the Fennel flowers have already become prolific but in the foliage stage only.  The Rosemary flowering looks really attractive and the miniature Daffodils are a riot of joy,not forgetting the cherry Forget-me-not!

 And there's some pink too!
A cherry blossom by my shed looks so attractive right now-  I only pruned it weeks ago! A pink Hyacinth too and I always forget the names of these small pink flowers!! Anyone know?!

I can't wait to see the garden gearing up to show its best as Spring reaches us!

How is your garden faring now?

xx

Did you see the Snowdrops

Last week when visiting my Dad, he told me that the Snowdrops were out in the woodland towards the end of their garden.   The patch has grown over the years but what makes it special is that they are in one hallowed position.  They nestle beside a lofty, old tree like a beautiful, young granddaughter from a fairy tale who nestles beside her beloved Grandfather, leaning in, being read an awe-inspiring story or being bequeathed wisdom of the years.

 They exude a purity and delicacy that long lives imprinted on the memory beyond their annual demise.  I think of them as tentative steps towards Spring, paving the path for other blooms.

 Or perhaps they are bells that ring gently to wake up the bulbs and seeds in the ground below?  Bells only audible to flowers to say, "Make haste, your time is coming soon! Spring is on her way!"

 Did you see the snowdrops?

xx

Vienna- The Schonbrunn Gardens mazes

CBC and I travelled to Vienna in  Austria during our half term holiday.   We flew from our local airport which was incredibly easy and stayed in an Air BnB apartment.

On our penultimate day, we travelled to the Schonbrunn Palace.   Having spent several days in museums and art galleries, we were keen to explore the gardens.  Happily, there was no cost for these.

Schonbrun was very impressive looking and there was plenty of space for all the visitors to walk in the gardens without it feeling at all cramped.

 A myriad statues flanked the gardens.

 I adore mazes and was very happy to discover you could pay to go into the Schonbrunn mazes.  The mazes were designed by my favourite maze maker, Adrian Fisher and were highly entertaining.

The first thing we did was to enter the main maze. You had to reach a raised platform with stairs in the centre.  CBC and I went together.

 We took a few wrong turns but eventually reached the centre were we got some nice views of all around.

 CBC almost always beats me in any sort of physical challenge or race (I win on the board game front) so we decided to have a competition to see who could find their way out the maze quicker.
He went first and I timed him until he was out the main entrance.  Then it was my turn.  I confess to watching him very carefully, as much as I could, however, when I am actually trying to find my way, I do get very disorientated.  I was giggling really nervously.  I heard him give me a 10 second countdown to when I was going to go over his time- I ran frantically and...

 BEAT HIM BY just over 1 second! I NEVER win these things!!!

 Next, we headed into a lower maze where there were different things to find...

 In one place, we found these fun wobble board, like in that game, Screwball Scramble.

 Then there was a sea-saw water pump....

 My personal favourite was this musical item- it was like a glockenspiel that you played with your feet!

Here you can see CBC playing it.

Then there were some big speakers in the middle of the maze and the outside you could speak through.  CBC pretended it was the Crystal maze through the loudspeaker and I had 10 seconds to reach him outside the maze- the last challenge was these stepping stones.

In another place, there was a kaleidoscope of mirrors- we spent ages there being silly.  

 Next, there was a more rustic looking maze, made of more conventional trees rather than Box and again there were things and challenges to find.

 Adrian Fisher makes these fun maths challenges.

 On this one, you had to start on the +1 and try to find your way to the centre of it.  There were two ways to play it.  In the first, you ignore the plus and minus signs and just move left, right, forwards or backwards by that exact number of spaces.
The second version, you do exactly the same, but you have to keep track of a sum in your head and try and end up with a final answer of zero when you reach the centre. 

 CBC spent AGES trying to work this out!

There were some impossible poles to climb!

 Then there was the kids playground with musical challenges. I liked this pentatonic instrument which was a cross between tubular bells and an mbira!

There was an Archimedes screw...

 and there were other challenges.

After that, we headed out further into the gardens for a walk. We stopped for an outrageously expensive cup of tea.  A cup of tea was so expensive in Vienna 4.50 Euros +.  If you got a big pot of tea, it wouldn't be so bad but you get a tiny glass and a tiny teapot which barely makes even 1.5 cups!

It was definitely good to get outside and the mazes made it really fun!

I hope to make a few more posts about Vienna but I do find holiday posts like this quite daunting so I won't promise anything!

x