beauty

A SNAPSHOT OF TODAY’S BEAUTIES

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Today we ventured on one of the ‘hop on hop off’ busses which travels virtually the whole of the island. It was the first day we that the sky was overcast and there was a breeze which made it quite chilly travelling on top of the open bus, but the views were spectacular. I wanted in particular to see what sort of crops were produced on the land. I have got a much better idea about that now, I took many photos and will write about this particular subject in the near future, it is a subject close to my heart. We enjoyed the Craft village where we saw all sorts of crafts being worked, most interesting to me was the lace making, but more about that also in a later blog. So much to write about…. Meanwhile I hope you enjoy the photos.

MY DISCOVERY OF GOZITAN ART

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I’ve had my eye on this exhibition for a few days already, I did not know anything about the artist or his work, but I thought that I had to start somewhere if I wanted to discover the art of the Gozotian people, and that I wanted.  So today I stepped inside the hall and immersed myself in the works of George Scicluna, an artist born right here in Victoria on Gozo.  His work did not immediately appeal to the eye, you had to look at it long to try and get what was going on in the artists mind, I struggled a bit with that, I did notice that all of the large paintings had a religious motive, but not in a devotional way, I thought that the artist was looking for answers in his mind, in a most torturous way, looking for answers about life, about belief, faith, fear, torture, redemption, humankind.  I could be totally wrong about all this.  But I strongly believe that true ‘Art’ is supposed to allow or encourage the observer to ‘feel’ something, or to ‘experience’ something, and that it did for me, this exhibition of paintings made me feel how mankind does run around with deep anguish about its existence, about the why and how.  I can relate to that very well.

That’s all, and that is good enough for me.

Later on I went to check out some more work of the same artist and found that he is also a sculptor, creating fine, sculptors in lime stone.  Nice.

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Some of the works in the exhibition, with the artist.

 

 

 

BETWEEN MOON RISING AND SUN SETTING

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This evening we took a walk along the cliffs at Xlendi.  It had been a hot day and the evening cool was nice and refreshing.  Where the path leaves the road it becomes interesting and I found many wild plants and flowers growing here.  The landscape was beautifully lit by the setting sun, which throws a special warm light over the earth.  Higher up along the cliffs there is an amazing array of terraced walls in the local stone, the walls are dry, stones just left on top of one another.  It looks like they are terraced agriculture land but they are actually a pathway winding its way up to the top of the cliff, towards the tower, we did not get that far this time but are planning another walk and pick-nick soon up there.  The moon was rising at the same time, full moon it seems too, it is so very beautiful here, photos just don’t do it justice.

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MARSALFORN – GOZO

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A little journey to visit Marsalforn today, an apparent busy tourist place in the North-East of the island, where the apartment buildings greet you as you get closer to the sea and the promenade.  The narrow little streets of the older village are quant and more interesting.  The sea itself is so blue and transparent, and to the north of the harbour you can still see some fishing boats and nets.  It is only a few minutes bus drive from Victoria, which is the capital of Gozo and lies in the middle of the island.  Every place on Gozo is close by each other, a short bus drive and you are there.

I discovered a few colourful and beautiful sights while there today.  I saw that the reddish fishing nets they had in Marsaxlokk, Malta were being used here too, and baskets to catch octopus, as far as I know.  While walking in among some of the apartment blocks I then came across the little yellow Oxalis Pes-Caprae flowers, and a few of the Sulla flowers which brighten everything with their beautiful shade of red.

On the way to Marsalforn I saw some signs of agricultural practices, this I am very interested in, Gozo has suffered drought for a few months now and everything does look very dry, though the neatly ordered rows of vegetables, I saw lots of onions, looked healthy enough.  The hay had been harvested too in lots of fields.  I want to explore this further, what is being grown, produced and so on.  I did see quite a few vine yards but they were smaller than in Malta.  The grapes are delicious here though.  I know that a lot of wells are being used to water the land, but also that the mains water comes from desalination of seawater, I want to find out more about all this.

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The views out to sea along some of the coast are impressive with the limestone eroded in all sort of shapes.  .

 

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As far as I know it is a basket to catch octopus with

 

One of the stones of which newly built walls were made near the dried out river in the town, in this limestone I could see crystals if that is possible, very beautiful and intriguing.  These type of walls you see all over Gozo and in Malta too, they used to be erected to prevent erosion but also of course to divide the land.  I think they look so lovely, all the white limestone pilled up on each other.  The wall I came across in Marsalforn was a new one, but I believe that the older types are now under the protection of the Heritage rules.

Though I was not that impressed with the touristy area of this town, we are going to go back and explore the older town and beyond, beyond is where the salt pans are and some other villages, I am curious!  More to come on that part of Gozo.

GOZA’S NATURAL HERITAGE

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This morning we made our first walk in Gozo. We are staying in Xlendi which is a little place on the South-West of the island. It consists of what looks like a ravine, or a mini-fjord, and is flanked on the one side with apartments built in honey coloured limestone, and with rocks and short shrubbery on the other side.

DSCF4526We are staying in one of the apartments, ground floor at the front door, but a very high fourth floor on the opposite side where the balcony is.

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The apartment does not get much sun as it is NW facing, only when the sun is about to go down do we see any of it, nice to get the setting sun, however, it does make the place here rather chilly for the time of year, and for the first time since we arrive on the Maltese island have I had to wear thermals inside. Outside, though it is glorious, lovely and warm in the sun, and the sky blue without any cloud. Obviously we are going to be outside most of the time, soaking up the sun as much as all the history and architecture of the island, but this morning I concentrated on the natural heritage which is simply amazing and so interesting.

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We walked down a path only a stone’s throw away, and discovered a wealth of wildlife and flora, we also saw the most beautiful blue sea and rocks stretching as far as the eye could see. I got working with taking macro photos of the flowers and insects while Ian strolled on and sat resting on one of the many benches. One of the most pleasing factors was the sea breeze which was both refreshing and warmly scented.

The flower of the Mallow plant, and an ant lost on the large hot rocks. The shrubs and wild plants are low and stay small mainly because there is such a water shortage here, it is April right now and the people have not seen any rain since the New Year. The rocky soil also contributes to the stunted growth of the plants. Everywhere we see lizards, beautiful little creatures, very fast, though they love to just sun bathe, difficult subjects to take photos of.  Their colour varies, but like this one green seems to predominate.

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There is a steep road down to the little harbour, apparently at some time there are many of the Gozitan fishing boats anchored there, but now, now we only saw clear aqua marine water and fish of which I do not know the name.

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This is the path leading down to the sea, there is also another path that leads over the hill towards the tower seen on the left and to some of the salt pans. But that is going to be a walk for another day.

 

 

In the photo on the right, Lichen, these lichen are growing colourfully on some of the rocks, the rocks are mainly limestone, with plainly to see fossils.

Here is one of the fossils, they are so interesting and make for an exciting walk, to think that these creatures are the makings of the sedentary rocks surrounding us.

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One of my favourite photos and views of the morning was this flower, the name of it escapes me totally, please if someone knows can you tell me.  It was delicately scented.

DSCF4590Among other plants and trees I’ve seen are the African Tamarix trees here, they are considered an endangered species, but seem to do well here.

And yet another creature I came across, a type of beetle I guess.

I know that there is a lot more to explore in nature here, this is only the first day and we have a whole month here.  I hope to keep writing about what I discover and illustrate with my photos.  Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A WINTER GARDEN IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE

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During the very early spring days of 2016 I had the privilege to visit a beautiful garden in the South-East midlands of Britain, in Cambridgeshire.  I received kind permission to use photos and information here in my blog from the lady who is the creator of this marvellous garden.
What appealed most to me was the way the eye was led effortless through a variety of colours and textures, shrubs, purposely dried flower heads, trees and their undergrowth, borders, arches, hidden corners, effective hedging and ornamental pebbles, trellises, wooden fencing, all making this garden into a whole that works, and that even in winter can, with ease, hold the interest of any visitor.

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The hydrangea arborescence Annabelle,  and the dry grasses here add some lovely beige colour in stark contrast to the evergreens.  The Iris Unguicularis flowers give a magnificent bright blue among it’s own rather dull foliage.  The Gold Dust Variegated Aucuba, looks indeed as if it has been dusted with gold, it is a lovely subject.  The spiky foliage of the, what I think is a Cordyline australis Variegata, but I could be wrong because I can’t rightly remember the name I was given, highlight sharply the more rounded subjects around it.  I enjoy such a variety of shapes and patterns.

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As you walk through this lovely arch you have entered into a grassy area where you will find a variety of trees and even some hidden corners, the undergrowth at this time are made up of colourful daffodils and snowdrops. You also enter a very organised and productive vegetable plot, all of it sheltered from harsh winter gales by the high fencing and the trees.  I found jasmine climbing along the hedgerow here, not quite flowering, but that must give a lovely scent in it’s season. Everything in this garden. as in the general area, is ahead of it’s time this year, I’ve heard so many people say this both in Ireland, and also here in the UK, blossoms are well ahead, the magnolia flowers are almost open. Daffodils are blooming gloriously.
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There is more to say and show about this lovely garden, but I could not load anymore photos, I want to talk about the ornamental shrubs and flowers in the borders, among other things, so I will follow this blog entry up with another one. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

FROSTY MORNING

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This morning a glorious sun rose over the hills to the East, a bright blue sky welcomed me from my dream-filled sleep. The grass fields across the valley looked like well ironed patches, smooth and very green. And in the garden there I found jewels. Jewels because it had frozen during the night, but already the thaw had set in, some of the vegetables and little plants were still beautifully laced with ice.  Texture and colour, a feast for the eye.
A precious new morning, a beautiful new day.
I feel energized from this sunshine,
something to be very grateful for.

LONDON FROM THE WINDOW OF A TAXI CAB

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Kings Cross Station – London

It had been a long time since I was in London for any reason, but recently we had the pleasure of being invited to a luncheon with my partner’s brother and cousins, a bit of a reunion you could say, and very pleasant it was. This meant that we would take a taxi ride from the train station to the venue, and sitting in the back of the vehicle I had quite a good view behind me and also from the side windows, so out came my mobile phone and I just snapped away. Not too unhappy about the result I decided to share some of the photos here. All these photos are taken somewhere in the central area. London has so much to see architectural wise, also delightful is to see all the people passing by, normally I am very careful about photographing people, I am always conscious of not wanting to be intrusive, so I was delighted to notice that I got quite a few people in my pictures this time, I find it so interesting, such an amazing diversity of humankind to be seen in this cosmopolitan city.  I was very impressed with the beautiful contemporary architecture of Kings Cross railway station.  Like being underneath a gigantic mushroom inside!
I am also always very interested in the trees that grow in cities, they make all the difference to and add enormously to the beauty of the buildings, even, and perhaps especially in winter.   I am thinking of the boulevards in Paris, the many mulberry trees in Lisbon, the pine trees around Athens, and the plane trees in Antwerp to name but a few.    It is also good to see that trees can still form part of modern city planning, more and more so in fact.

I’ve enjoy the short visit to London and after all it’s only an hour’s flight from Cork!

 

 

WINTER TREES

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With the very wet winter we are having here in West Cork, it is rather showing up some beauty all of it’s own, it is how the trees look fresh, bringing out the colours of the trunk and branches, stark against a sometimes grey sky but now and then against clouds and sunsets. We have five trees in the garden, and these photos I took either from behind the glass if heavy rain, or outside, each brings out different aspects in the photo. Some bring out a rather foggy mood, some are melancholic, but some others bring out a bright clarity, it reflects the way that the mind is affected by the dampness, and according to Chinese traditional medicine, the mind is affected by the spleen, and the spleen is in turn very much affected by dampness, cold dampness, and that is what we get here in winter. It follows then that during these winter months the mind might become a little foggy if not careful, CTM advises us to eat warm stews made from root vegetables, with plenty of ginger to counteract this dampness inside… but that is going away from the trees a bit.
I love trees, I might even be a tree hugger, always want to touch their bark and admire their beauty, and beside that there is nothing as nice as using wood in the kitchen or wherever, the feel of it so smooth after it has been sanded, the lines and colourful markings are very nice too. I have wood on the ceiling and wall in one of our rooms, it often gives me pleasure to take in the many knots and lines visible to the eye. The scent also of wood is so pleasing.
Right now our trees are blowing in the wind, it is quite stormy and has been all winter, but they seem able for it. The silver birch moves most of all, it’s high and thin but the branches are very flexible. The Hawthorn moves very little – that is why the birds like to hide among it’s branches. The oak and the pine sway as if to the sound of their own music, while the chestnut watches over it all, stiff and majestic, even despite it has lost some of it’s branches last summer after we cut some down as they were making the garden far too shady. My trees are very much alive to me, I sense their moods, they are powerful and nothing fazes them, but they do like me to touch them when walking around the garden.
The trees, they give me much pleasure, I feel they are a blessing in our garden, and I am very appreciative.

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