Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Brown and Sepia

Updated to fix the link to Cee's new blog url.

Bark from around my rose bushes:

 A beautiful door in a nearby town:

 

 One of the many horses at the Santa Maria da Feira medieval fair last year:

Enjoy other takes on brown and sepia at Cee's.

Cee's Fun Foto challenge: Soft pastels

Updated to fix the link to Cee's new blog url.

The Algarve region of Portugal is not really about soft pastels; instead it's mostly about blue skies and sea, white houses to reflect the sun's rays and brightly coloured flowers.

However, there are always exceptions to any rule:

Enjoy many more beautiful pastels at Cee's.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2013

Welcome back to my Algarve garden. We had rain yesterday morning for the first time in over two months, which means the grass is back to green and must be mowed soon. It's late summer and the days are shorter but the midday sun is still very hot. 

The end of August/beginning of September usually brings out the bella dona lilies and here they are:

Roses are still blooming.

The rose bed is looking a bit forlorn, which might have something to do with the fact that I removed the invasive chocolate mint and had to get a bit violent. (That'll teach me to keep mint in pots!)

This lavender is still attracting the wildlife.

 

More lavender!

The oleander and hibiscus are doing well.

Under this bush I keep the potted cuttings of whatever I'm trying to propagate at any given time. There's a lot going on there at the moment. You can just catch a glimpse of my new compost bin, too.

And last, but not least, my potato vine, yip, still in bloom.

Thank you to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day on the 15th of every month.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: All one colour

Oranges from the local monthly market, not from my orange tree this time

Almonds start off green and peach-like

Autumn fields

Memories of summer

It's been a long time since I've entered Cee's Fun Foto Challenge. Check it out.


Oh, I've updated Cee's link.

Have you ever...

... reached the end of your annual summer holiday needing to recover from said holiday?

I think it is the first time it has happened to me. August was anything but relaxing.

I even went and did what some bloggers do: disappear without advance notice. 

Well, this blogger is back, starting the school year at a different school and having a hard time writing posts. I don't want negativity on my blog but, quite frankly, it's been a depressing summer, what with forest fires raging and firefighters getting killed,  thousands of state teachers losing their jobs and the country's financial situation looking as dismal as ever, it's hard to focus on the positive!

There, I had to write that.

Until my posting routine gets back to regular here is a photo taken from Pateo, Albufeira.

One thing nobody can complain about this summer is the weather - it has been great!