Taipei jardins

I went to a conference in Taiwan, where it was very HOT, and we mostly moved from air-conditioned hotel to air-conditioned bus to air-conditioned convention centre, and then the same in reverse, except for stops at lovely, air-conditioned restaurants for fabulous banquets on the way back to the hotel. I loved what I saw of the city from the bus and from my hotel room window. Here are some views from said window. Sadly, it was little too hazy for the camera to pick up the fabulous lumpy mountains out behind the skyscrapers, but at least you can see the wonderful variety of rooftop and balcony gardens.

View to the right:

Love the clotheslines and palm trees and water tanks.

View to the left, including (in the distance) the third tallest building in the world:

(The most elegant banquet was on the 85th floor of the second-tallest building in the world, "Taipei 101". Ears popping in elevator! Surreal, airplanesque view!)

I particularly enjoyed the closest rooftop, which was clearly prime outdoor living space for the whole family.

I watched the owners watering the plants and doing their calisthenics one morning. The next day I realized that these activities were being supervised by a couple of happy dogs! Can you see them being given breakfast in this next photo?

I feel very fortunate to be slowly learning about Asia. It is amazing how one short visit can start to pull a big, blurry, mental map into focus.

Hot days, cool kitty

Lost in translation?

I've been reading Temple Grandin's "Animals in Translation" and have been discovering many interesting things about autism and about animals. However, I believe the relationship demonstrated below needs no explanation beyond that which is already obvious to the uneducated observer.

"Whatchoo lookin' at?"

Ozzie and the cistus x corbariensis

     Last Sunday I finally really noticed that one of the bushes in the back yard had an awful lot of dead branches. I knew it did, because Mum and I had made a start on clearing them out in March, but I had sort of developed a blind spot about it as all the spring blossoms got going. This bush, which grows as a mass of tangled stems, normally has some pretty light pink blossoms that open into little white flowers.  Seen from the geek's study, the flowers seem to float on a pleasant light green backdrop. Except I was sitting in the geek's study on Sunday, procrastinating, when my unfocused gaze out the window suddenly focused on all the rusty bits that were where the pretty floating blossoms should have been.

     I am telling you all this because the next thing I did was rush out the door and grab the clippers, hacksaw, and bypass chopper thingey, and attack... without taking the requisite "before" pic. Indeed, I realize now that I have avoided taking pictures of this nice bush for well over a year. One whole view in the jardin neglected by the camera for months and months, all for the want of a bit of pruning! 
     So all I have to show you are the "after" pictures. These document that I am indeed a procrastinatory pruning diva. And that Ozzie did a thorough inspection, and approves.

Finally, here it is, your moment of zen:

All hands on deck

Blue toes and cat

A good year for peonies

OK, so I am playing catch-up. I missed May! This post has some photos I took around May 15.

There are quite a few peony bushes in the jardin,  but I have to say I haven't really gotten full value from them most years.  As soon as they bloom, we seem to get massive downpours that last several days. The huge blossoms then flop and rot. This year, though, we had an unusual combination of early heat, late cool, and concentrated wet. It's given us two rounds of peony blossoms. The first ones got going in early May, and didn't get drenched until I left for a conference on the 28th. Here they are, in all their glory. Notice the pretty alpine geraniums also doing their thing to the left.

Also just getting going in mid-May were my favourite geums.  They're still going strong!  Here they are against the backdrop of the forget-me-nots.