Now you see it, now you don't

Now you see it...

It was already only half a hill...

... now you don't!

Disappearing hill?

The hill is going, going, gone!

I imagine that originally the hill that has now almost completely disappeared might have looked like the one in the picture below (in the distance) but I can't be sure. If anyone has some old photos, I'd love to see them.

Still there: the other end of the disappearing hill - much of it had already gone into the making of bricks

When I took these photos, some vegetation was beginning to cover the ugliness of the bare ground after the extraction of clay for the brick factory across the road.

Recently there was talk of building a theme park in this area but that project was taken to Spain. Now the bulldozers have flattened the land on both sides of the road and a monster depot for a chain of supermarkets is going up next to the brick factory.

View from the Guia-Algoz road

How will it look when completed?

View from Algoz - another small hill gone

I don't think it will improve the views from the village of Algoz. It has already changed the landscape by obliterating two little hills. I'm  hoping it will make up for that by creating some jobs and helping the local economy. I'll be posting updates in the near future.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2013

Welcome to my garden in hardiness zone 10 on the south coast of Portugal.

Summer has arrived with a vengeance and after a heat wave, some of my July blooms are having a hard time.

The roses

The little rose bush I bought at Algoz market at the beginning of May is settling in nicely

 

This rose is starting to bloom again

Surrounded by santolina

I had 2 rose bushes in pots, waiting for an opening in the garden - now I have four! I guess more lawn will have to go!

The lillies

Heady scent for the veranda

Unperturbed by the heat

A hub of insect activity

A blue flower, finally

Thriving bougainvillea

Peachy oleander still going strong

This variegated oleander is looking good

Colourful bed reclaimed from the lawn - a work in progress

I plan to plant two roses bushes in this new bed, as soon as I can take out some more grass.

The side and back patios look much the same as they did in June, so that's it, folks, time to visit May Dreams Gardens where the Bloom Day bloggers all link up.

Urban Design

"Urban design is the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages."

I have never lived in a big city - I grew up in a suburb of Harare (Salisbury to me), lived for many years in a village near Portugal's second largest city, Porto (which is still tiny compared to London or New York) and now live in an even smaller village a few kilometres from the beach resort of Albufeira, on the Algarve coast. 

But my heart belongs to Harare, a well-organised city with lots of modern buildings, tree-lined avenues and well-planned green spaces.

Here are two photos by my friend, Judy Jane (I've posted the second one before).

For many more photos, have a look on skyscraper.com. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the quality of Harare's urban design.

This post is part of the Sunday post challenge hosted by Jake. Check out more Urban Design at Jakesprinters.

Lovely lavender

Bridge

A pretty bridge over the Arade River, Portimao (Western Algarve):

There are actually three bridges in this area. When I took the photo below I was standing on one of those bridges and you can see the other two in the distance.

This is my contribution to Jake's Sunday post challenge.

I like the way they painted that bridge blue and yellow. What about you?