50 + favourites

North Cornish coast. Southwest Peninsula Coastpath. My sister's shot taken last month on their brief visit to Cornwall to see our parents.

This hardy survivor found a minuscule crack to etablish itself in on the driveway and has happily survived for several weeks. For some reason I have become quite fond of it and always say hello when I pass it on my daily constitutional! I asked my sister to take this as I can't yet bend down so low!

Ballowall Scillonian burial chamber (Bronze Age). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballowall_Barrow

The Retiro Park, Madrid. I've liked this tree since my first visit to see my sister in Madrid, back in 1981 (and somewhere I may just have some slides of me, my sister and my old school French exhange partner all sitting on this tree! I will try and find them - but on reflection, they've long since disappeared, sadly!)

Apricot tree in the garden. Apparently they should be ready in about a week. H. A. N. W. E. everyone! Additional note 2 days after posting - they're starting to eat beautifully now!

Another garden rose (I could have saved the upload for a fence Friday but I forgot!)

The steps down the side of our house leading to the back garden and fruit and veg area. Taken at the end of May but already the lush greens of Spring have all but disappeared under the relentless sun! The two houses are more or less identical, built by the same builder who lived in the house to the right until he died a while ago and both properties were put up for sale at an amazing discount, hence my sister was able to buy the one on the left using a large redundancy payment as a deposit. It was all down to lucky timing!

I used to live near here and it seemed then that it took the local authorities at least 10 years to turn this narrow strip of land between Calle Bravo Murillo and the water works grounds of Canal Isabel II into a pleasant park. But I had reason to go past here yesterday and found that it had at long last opened.

Evening shot. The green awnings are to protect the young and tender veg. shoots from the fierce sun. There is a fence in there somewhere, honest!

Actually this shot was taken a couple of weeks ago. I took the last three fruit off the tree yesterday. In the background is a white rose bush.

Difficult to see but the harvest was taking place and the distant hum of the combine harvesters kept going until well past 11 pm every day this past week. My niece (whose home this is of course, although she has been a doctor on Lanzarote these past 5 years) says this view reminds her of Tuscany (she studied medicine on an Erasmus couse a decade or so ago in Florence, so she should know!). Except that ... the world famous impression that Tuscany is full of poplars is quite wrong! This only came about because of a famous photo of an aristocratic estate where the owner had decided to have poplars planted on his lane leading uphill to his palacio. The photo became popular, the rest is history .. and a misconception! Please, best on large and then on large again!

Parked near the front gate, I didn't really notice this container shrub until it burst forth with these large white flowers! In answer to many members' questions about the aroma, I refer to my reply to Peggy below! And for a definitive answer, please see Valeriane's comment below too!

The roses near the end of their showing. But a heavenly and heady fragrance still! A portion of the front garden.

Growing by the path down the side of the house. An attractive flower. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linum_grandiflorum

A view from near Algete to the Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid Province. Amazingly this is only 17 miles from Madrid centre!

I try to do these steps at least twice a day as part of my rehabillitation programme, and today I can proudly relate that I didn't have to stop for a breather once, for the first time! It may look easy but there are 98 steps and try doing it in the height of a Spanish summer! And only 2 months ago I was reliant on my walker / zimmer frame! So Isabel, bring on those mountains! :o) www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayL1WTR1Go Just because I like it!

Another one from this place. The last one was from my sister this year. I've not yet been here in foul weather but can imagine the despair and terror of those ships' crews driven ashore here - and they were, in their thousands!

A strange situation; over the mountains and into Segovia Province, they had a succession of storms all day while we had unrelenting blue skies. Only late evening, as I relaxed with a glass of something alright, did I see the storm clouds and the edges caught by the rapidly sinking sun.