MY MOTHER'S GARDEN.......

THE ROSE MY MOTHER WAS AND STILL IS IN HER INNER BEING

 My Mother is now ninety years of age and it is nearly three years since my Father died. This past weekend I visited my Mother at her house. It is uncertain how much longer she will be able to continue living there on her own because her health is deteriorating fast and her memory is also fading just as quickly. She has visitors each day  and the main tasks around the house and in the garden are done for her. While I was there I went for a walk around the garden and out-buildings and it struck me how periods and aspects of my Mother's life are reflected by what I saw - starting with the Rose that my Mother obviously was in her younger years and is still part of her inner being even now.....................

SPRING FLOWERS  AND WINDMILL

My Mother grew up in and around the Norfolk broads...Spring flowers for youth  and also a windmill. lots of these are seen in Norfolk.

A MORE MATURE PLANT REPRESENTING THE MIDDLE YEARS OF LIFE.

FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE THE COLOUR OF THEIR LIVES FADES AS THEY GET OLDER

LIFE'S CYCLE..?

A LOT OF THINGS NOW UNUSED...........

HOLDING THINGS TOGETHER....PATCHING UP...

RAVAGES OF TIME....OUTER APPEARANCE BREAKING DOWN

A HEART CAN STILL BE FOUND....LOVE OF A MOTHER.

AS TIME GOES ON MORE PATCHING UP IS REQUIRED.......

THE OUTER APPEARANCE CONTINUES TO BREAK DOWN.....

GUARDIAN ANGEL....

Throughout her life my Mother has always held Christian beliefs and has always believed in the existence of Guardian Angels......Even in her garden an angel can be seen...........!

ON THE BEACH.....

06.15HRS BOURNEMOUTH BEACH

06.30HRS BOURNEMOUTH BEACH

Over this Easter holiday with all the good weather, Bournemouth beach has been a real honey pot for holidaymaker and visitors.
The beaches have been packed and on Good Friday and yesterday there certainly wasn't too much space to be found.
With a couple more days of the holiday to go, the best time to pay a visit to the beach is first thing in the morning.....hardly anyone on the sands at all.
The sand itself is still silky smooth from the tide and the only footsteps to be found belong to our four-legged friend.........

NOT USED.......

GATE OBVIOUSLY NOT USED

Old gates and doors have always fascinated me as photographic subjects. This gate has not been used for a number of years judging by the plants growing around it. I saw this particular gate last May when touring in Normandy- Northern France. France is a good place to go if you are looking for gates and doors with character.....

ON EXMOOR....

TREE ON EXMOOR

Exmoor is a National Park in the south west of England. The area of the park is spread over two counties  - 71% is in the county of Somerset and 29% is in Devon. The entire park covers an area of 267.5 sq miles.
It is primarily an upland area with a dispersed population mainly living in small villages and hamlets.

Before it was a National Park Exmoor was a Royal Forest and hunting ground which was sold off in 1818. Exmoor was designated a National Park in 1954 and is named after the main river that flows out of the district - the River Exe.

COMPLETED IN 1762

THE CHINESE PAGODA

One building that can be seen from various parts of Kew Gardens is the Chinese Pagoda.
The Pagoda was completed in 1762 and at that time it was the tallest reconstruction of a Chinese building anywhere in Europe. The structure is a ten storey octagonal structure that is 163 feet (nearly50m) in height.

When it was built the Pagoda was very colourful  and had a dragon at each corner. There were 80 dragons in total- each carved from wood and gilded with real gold. Although over the years there have been a number of restorations the original colours and dragons have not been replaced with most of the work being done to the roofs.

The whole structure tapers, with successive floors from the first to the top being 1 ft (30cm) less in diameter and height than the preceding one.

THE JAPANESE GATEWAY

REPLICA OF THE CHOKUSHI-MON

As in the previous post we are still at Kew Gardens.
This Oriental building, the Japanese Gateway, surmounts a low mount. It is a four- fifths sized replica of a 16th century ceremonial gate, the Chokushi-Mon in the Japanese city of Kyoto.

After being shown at the Japan - British exhibition in London in 1910 it was transferred to Kew Gardens.
Skilled Japanese craftsmen recently restored it's superb wooden carvings and at the same time a Japanese landscape designer complemented it with a wonderful Japanese garden.