Surprise Rhodo Purchase and Dreams of Cherry Cheesecake

A landscaper knows what type of spot (size, orientation, sun, etc) needs filling, and finds a plant suitable for it.

A gardener has various spots available, and watches for plants suitable for them, and sometimes moves them about to find better spots for them.

A plant collector has no garden space available, but buys a plant because he/she must have it, even though 5 minutes before he/she didn't know about this plant, and then proceeds to find a space for it, whether it means lawn must be removed, or other plants need to be hacked back to make room.

I am definitely a plant collector.

Tonight I walked into a Canadian Tire store, looking for a moss killer for my lawn.  After 10 years, it has built up to being more moss than grass in many areas.  I don't care about the look of it, I quite like the look of moss.  However, it gets to be very wet and squishy, and takes a LONG time to dry out, so is not so good for enjoying the yard.  So finally after 10 years of letting the moss grow, I am planning to fight it back, and restore the lawn, at least somewhat.

I found a moss killer, although it wasn't the format I was looking for.  I still had extra time, so I bought a cheap pair of $10 bypass pruners, since they felt reasonably good in my hands, and my current pruners are pretty much at end of life.  I still had a bit more time, so I went outside to look at the plants.  Canadian Tire never carries anything very exotic, it is basic landscaping plants and basket stuffers, for the most part.  For curiosity, I looked at the tags of a few rhododendrons.  I was surprised to see a rhodo with the name Hachmann's something-or-other.  Since I fell in love with a rhodo "Hachmann's Charmant" a couple of years ago at a specialty rhododendron farm, but only took photos, and tried to think about where I would plant it, and then never returned to buy it.  (Probably because it was information overload at the time, and I decided to study their rhodo list a bit more before deciding.)

Anyhow, here is the photo I've been carrying around (on my phone) of Hachmann's Charmant :

Isn't it pretty?

Anyhow, I flipped the tag on a small rhodo today, and the photo was just as pretty.  The name was "Cherry Cheesecake".   I love cheesecake!  The description indicated that it was just like Hachmann's Charmant, but a more compact shape.  OMG.  It was true love on the spot!

So I brought home the small plant (it is probably only 8" tall), and will find him a cherished spot.  I think in the front yard, where others can adore him also.

Here is a photo of my beloved Cherry Cheesecake, from a UK based plant nursery's web page :

I can't wait until I have the chance to plant him in.  I'm so excited.

Photos from Genoa Italy

I've already posted some photos from the beautiful Staglieno Cemetery.  But I took many more.  It was so dramatic, and so beautiful, I could have stayed even longer if the family had allowed.

At the entrance to the cemetery, there was a flower shop with beautiful silk flowers.

The other location we enjoyed in Genoa was the Castell d'Albertis (Albertis Castle).  It was the beautiful home of a sea captain, built on the remains of an old fortress.

 

Some parts of the castle were still decorated as his beautiful home, with artifacts collected by the owner from his travels around the world.

 

 

I really liked this beauty on the balcony.

 

The remainder of the castle was converted into a museum of world culture.  I was amused that the first exhibit was a totem pole...

...which looked very familiar to me, coming from the west coast of Canada.  Sure enough, the first exhibit area was of the Indians of the northwest of Canada and the United States :

The museum then covered south america, and continued to Australia, China, India, and various other parts of the world.  Lots of pottery and other hand crafts.

From the castle, we could again look down and see our cruise ship in port.

Love those palm trees also.  I think I would have liked a couple more days to explore more of Genoa.

Photos from Marseille

Looking through my photos now, I have the enjoyment of remembering special sights and moments from our trip.  At the time, it felt like I was taking too many photos, but now I wish I had more to look through.  Today I'm sharing some of my favourites from our day in Marseille, France.

We started at the Old Port, where I was intrigued by the eels being sold fresh off the dock.

We had planned to visit Chateau d'If, which is like a mini Alcatraz.  The military fortress was a prison for 10 years, and the setting for the famous Alexandre Dumas "Count of Monte Cristo" novel.  Unfortunately, even though the seas did not look rough, they were apparently too rough for the ferry to dock at the island, so we were unable to visit.  But we were able to view it from Notre Dame de la Garde (literally, "our lady of the guard").  See the photo below, the island of If is in the center, with the larger islands in behind.

We had our workout visiting Notre Dame de la Garde, since the Catholic basilica was built on a fortress at the highest point in Marseille.  Here we are, walking up.  We had told ourselves that we would walk up, and take a taxi to the next site, but the only taxis at the top were ones waiting on tourists for the return trip.  So we ended up walking all the way back down the hill also.

It is hard to see in the photo without clicking to enlarge, but there is a ferris wheel at the bottom of the hill, and that is at the waterfront where we started.

Almost the whole way up, we continued to see the church, but it remained elusive - always just a little further.

Finally we were there.

I loved this stone statuary of the sufferings of Christ just outside.  Such agony.

In one direction, there was the Chateau d'If.  Looking down to the port, we could see our cruise ship in the distance.  Also, this beautiful (must be turf!) soccer field just down the hill.

Outside, the basilica was already beautiful.

I love this detail on the door.

Inside, the basilica was very beautiful.  

The church also had a lot of artwork on display.  For some reason, I was drawn to this painting.

After our big walk, we had planned to visit the Palais Longchamp, but perhaps were discouraged by not seeing any taxis until we got back almost all the way to the waterfront, so we decided just to walk along and see what we could see.  The architecture everywhere was beautiful, anyhow.

As you can see, the weather was quite beautiful, cooperating with our visit.

We ended up at this building, some sort of museum.  It also had a good view, and a really cool sculpture of a shipwreck.  I tried hard, but couldn't get an angle which captured it fully, only shots from various sides.

I was amused by this sculpture of a deer / elk upside down.

Finally, here are a few more architectural shots.

More Photos from Barcelona

After laundry and waiting for suitcases Sunday, we jumped back into work Monday.  I finally have a day off tomorrow, so hope to get a lot of errands done, and feel settled back, and caught up with things in my life.  At least mostly caught up.

So tonight I can relax and post a few more photos from Barcelona.

We saw a few of these people on Las Ramblas, who looked like statues, and posed for photos with passers-by.  Pretty cool, isn't she?

I took this funky photo near the top of the Montjuic castle.  I liked the purple-blue grape hyacinths, in contrast with the red-yellow Catalan flag.  According to my quick google-research, the flag is named "La Senyera", and "La Senyera is the official flag of the Spanish Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Aragón, the Balearic Islands, Valencia and the historically Catalan-speaking city of Alghero in Sardinia. It is also included on the flags or coats of arms of Pyrénées-Orientales, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the flag of Roussillon, Capcir, Vallespir and Provence in France and is a quarter of the coat of arms of Andorra."  

There is also another Catalan flag, called "L'Estelada", which looks similar but has a white star on a blue triangle added to it.  "The full name of the Estelada is La Senyera Estelada, which means starred flag, and is normally a Senyera with a white star superimposed on a blue triangle at the top although a red star on a yellow background is also common.  It is an unofficial flag and is generally waved by supporters of Catalonia's independence from Spain, which is why you see so many of them hanging from balconies in Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia at the moment.  Inspired by the stars on the Puerto Rican and Cuban flags, who gained independence from Spain in 1898 and 1902 respectively, Catalan independentists began including stars on their symbols from the early 20th century onwards."

If I had known any of this earlier, I would have paid more attention to which flags I saw hanging in Barcelona.

I was drawn to this statue of a beautiful lady at Montjuic Castle....

... while the boys were attracted to the big guns.

This was a fun and joyful grouping of statues on the way down the hill from Montjuic Castle.

The Gaudi-designed Sagrada Familia (sacred family) cathedral, which is still under construction after more than 100 years, was so grand and awe-inspiring, that photos really don't do it any justice.  But here is a shot anyhow of the interior.

I was fascinated to read a little note in a kids' book about Antoni Gaudi, the famous Spanish Catalan architect whose works are all around the city of Barcelona.  At the age of 73, he was out for a walk and was hit by a tram, and died in hospital three days later.  Apparently, he used to dress so shabbily that he was initially mistaken for a beggar, and given only rudimentary care.  By the time he was recognized, his condition had deteriorated so much that he was unable to recover from his injuries.  A sad ending to his life.  Although by 1926, he would have had the satisfaction of seeing a fair amount of the Sagrada Familia taking shape.

Here's a closeup of the sacred family, on the exterior of the building.  I love the detail, it is so intricate.  Such beautiful stone work.

One final photo from Sagrada Familia, this one of the light streaming in through some of the many stained glass windows, and casting glowing shadows on the ceilings and walls inside.

Finally for tonight, on a totally different topic, I was amused by this floral fashion for Spring/Summer.  (The pattern is not only on the clothes, but also on the storefront window, which is why the photo is so funky to look at.)  This one was in Barcelona, but I saw some similar floral prints in one of the other cities (in Italy, I believe) which we visited also, so maybe this is a fashion trend to be noticed.

I took photos of both window displays, and even stepped into the store to look at the clothing.  But even if I could have been tempted, they were all in too small of sizes for me.