....and the weather is high!
In fact - after nearly 6 months of a "green painted winter" -
we have since beginning of July a
HEAT WEAVE !
With temperatures between - most the time -
of minimum 30 degrees Celsius ( 86 Fahrenheit)
up to 48 degrees ( nearly 120 Fahrenheit!!!)!!!!!!!
And this for the last 5 weeks, nearly non-stop!
Only one or two nights with heavy, but really heavy, thunder storms,
electricity cuts and the usual damage in the garden, around the pool etc.....
No need for any further comment or complain.
No need to tell you in length the sweating...phhhp...
the kind of daily watering which is required....and....and.
*
Now - looking "at the bright side"
which means cool spots and snap shots....
Lavender and
olive shrubs or little trees (all - finally - survived two hard winters!)
creating a bit of a southern atmosphere around the pool.
*
*
Herbal border with different kind of lavender, rosemary, thyme,
yellow flowering curry plant - Helichrysum italicum,
wine and...and...
giving a beautiful aromatic fragrance/scent (??).
- I really do have my problems with the English language :-( -
*
*
In the garden....
Surprise - Surprise!
So happy to see this Poppy back in our garden,
disappeared for 20 years,
and now - suddenly - like 'out of the blue'
here it grows again amongst the Japanese Anemones.
Papaver somniferum - Opium poppy
a wild variety...
....with lovely silvery leaves....
...and "cool" pink flowers
Just simply love it!
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Anemone Japonica
"Es summt und brummt"...
...it's humming and buzzing everywhere....
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salmon-colored Dahlias
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just one of some rare fresh mornings....
...with my lovely Acanthus
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*
another morning -
looked like promising some rain...
....but all clouds moved away during the day...
...blue sky again...
...and it went hotter and hotter during the day.
*
*
"A little exterior transformation":
Trumpet flower - Campsis radicans
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*
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...still no rain in sight,
back to blue sky and...
...watering...
watering while our holiday guests are out,
out on a day-tour to 'explore' the Périgordian country side.
*
*
So, enough time for clearing or cleaning the terrace, the house...
...maintaining the pool...
and taking the chance for a few more snap shots...
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Have you ever seen...
...wine climbing up on a palm tree????
I have not!
Until now...
More about this of mother nature surprises
eventually in a future post....
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Despite the drought and heat...
...this little rose bush, given to me last year from a friend,
...keeps flowering since May!
Her name is BOTTICELLI
- isn't it a lovely name?
(
Meisylpho, Rose d'orient. Yes - just for a change - I've kept the label!)
"she" changes the colors, depending on the weather!
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It's summer time...
...the weather is high...
...and my world is "round"
- no matter the heat!
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Dear readers and blogger friends,
You certainly have noticed that I slowed down with posting,
mildly spoken.
Also with commenting to all your interesting and lovely posts,
I really feel somewhat terrible about it
and like to assure you that I still have you all in my mind.
A lot of things came up here at La Pouyette during this year,
somehow unexpected things which are demanding my full attention.
So, I'm hardly spending time in the blog world.
Let me say
thank you,
thank you to all of you for still visiting and reading my blog!
And for every single comment to my posts!
Please, please, don't feel neglected or dismissed in any way,
I will take my time during the next few weeks to visit your blogs,
reading and enjoying all your posts!
For now - I'm "blogging out" for a while until September.
I might write a short post here and there....I might not, however I feel like.
Having holiday guests since end of June,
being involved as a member of the committee in our annual Baroque Music Festival,
also responsible for the flower decoration in 7 churches.....
I just feel for having HOLIDAY !
*
Apropos the Music Festival:
I'll write/create a re-view of it sometimes in September.
Here just a short "pre-re-view" of it:
.... The twelfth anniversary Itinéraire Baroque remained
faithful to its maxims of baroque music, heritage and education.
There was again the opportunity to discover,
next door to our traditional centres of Brantôme....
Cercles...
...one of my favorite church.
This year I tried to create a kind of "garden" feeling for the musicians,
and the music of course,
using my Acanthus...
..... and lots of different grasses from our garden,
some wild flowers....
together with some artificial silk ones...
and nearly 3 meter high Bamboo branches
which was quite a challenge to fix them onto the rails on each side.
*
...Verteillac and St.Astier,
small churches of the Ribéracois, some of which have
been closed for several years for extensive restoration.
Vanxains with its magnificent Spanish organ,
the small Templar church of Combéranche,
and...
Bourg-du-Bost
famous for its frescoes,
Faye with its unique tympanum
and
St. André-de-Double
built in reddish sandstone
and lost in
the mysterious forest of the Double.
*
Our guest musicians have reflected a little this journey through our heritage.
Some things will never change :
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir and Ton Koopman;
here at the Sunday-closing-Concert in St. Astier
...our regulars,
La Risonanza, Fred Jacobs, the Corelli Ensemble....
New guests this year:
Charles Daniels, Roberta Invernizzi,
Caecilia Concert and the Cyclopes, to mention a few.
The program was similar with works from great composers
such as Bach, Haendel and Telemann but featured also
composers and compositions of 16th and 17th century Italian music.
link to web site with full program here:
Saint-Sulpice-de-Roumagnac
a lovely small church
build/constructed around 1100 (early 12th century)
with the most wonderful Retable from the Louis XIV. period.
For all Baroque-Music-Lovers:
please see my posts
from 2012: here and here and here
also 2011: here and here
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"Time to say goodbye"...
....only for now - or for a while...or so....
...with this lovely August-Sunset...
...together with Oskar who sends his greetings to all of you!
Wish you all a wonderful summer!
Until then.....
