A Garden of Peaceful Thoughts

Sometimes it’s nice to sit somewhere quiet.

And think

peaceful

thoughts

in

perfect

solitude.

Surreal Spring Blossoms

One of the things I like about my job is that even though it involves a lot of travelling around during the day, I see a lot of things around London which catch my eye, and which I wouldn’t normally see. And because it’s during the day, I get to enjoy the summery weather occasionally ( when I’m not behind the desk!)

These are some beautiful blossoms I saw yesterday while I was out, which I thought looked quite surreal and bright, partly because of their translucence and also they almost looked like paintings against such a blue sky. Although I love the bright colours of flowers which unfurl and grow in the summer, I also love the tree’s blossoms at the beginning of spring too, and it’s nice to see pink-and-white fluffy clouds floating in trees right now.

Purple Ombre Flower Mondays

The weather the last few days have been beautiful. it’s finally shining brightly and there’s a nice cool breeze outside which we really have been making the most of (translation: we’ve been wandering around the garden and looking at my mum’s flowers). Here’s a pretty ombre-style purple-pink flower to start the week off, it caught my eye because of the pretty tones of pink, fuschia and lilac and also because the petals remind me of tissue paper.

Here’s hoping the week stays warm and not temperamental (last week we had all four seasons in a single day, sun, rain, wind and slight hailstone!) – Happy Monday everyone!

Vintage Pink Blooms

It’s nice to see that there’s some pretty flowers slowing unfurling and blooming (probably because of all the rain we’d had which has watered them silly), so here’s a snap of some of the pretty pink’s I’ve been seeing, which is making me look forward to spring : )

Weekend Pretty…Swirly Pink Cupcakes

I’m told these are easier than they look to to make (it’s all about the right nozzles!) but the effect is pretty, two-toned swirls that look just yummy. I haven’t made cupcakes for quite a long time, but I’m feeling inspired now!

Pink Room Mondays

I visited the Warner Bros Harry Potter studios last year, which was amazing fun because of all of the props, huge sets and detailed little pieces which were all over the studio. After my visit, I decided against posting pictures of the tour and the studio, because I thought it would spoil things for people who wanted to visit, especially as there are plenty of different things to do, sets to see and activities to try out.

I’ve been reading Harry Potter since I was a young top hat, and grew up loving the books without ever knowing what a phenomenon it was and how popular it became – I’m glad I never knew while I first started reading it, because it meant I read with no expecations, and genuinely loved the books. I was 11 when I first started the series (same as Harry Potter was!) and it’s always felt slightly like I grew up with the series, at the same time as the hero did.

Even though I won’t spoil the tours for you, I’ll post one photo from the day, which was one of my favourite sets. This was the set used for the extremely pinky office for Dolores Umbridge in the film, which surprisingly looked a lot more glamorous up close than it did in the film (pink decor wouldn’t exactly be my first choice!) The room is in a little round concave, which looked amazing from the outside looking in, particularly when you see the tea-cups and saucers on the wall.

So here’s to some pinky mondays, not always favoured, but sometimes glamorous.

Eid Mubarak!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curved Flowers

I thought I would join the Weekly Photo Challenge, which is ‘Curves‘ this week – my interpretations is curved (and curving flowers). I found these beautiful flowers (and a whole load more) at the wonderful Eden Project, Cornwall.

#1. This is one of my favourite flowers that I saw at the Eden Project (and not just because they remind me of those striped sweets, Campinos, either!). These flowers looked vividly coloured and graceful, and of course, they’re very photogenic. From all of the flowers in the Eden Project that stays with me the most, this is one of them.

2. I remember my mum pointing this out to me in the walkways at Eden Project, which we all ‘ooh-ed and ahhed’ over. It’s not obvious in the picture, but this patch was pretty huge, and covered quite a wide space, which made the purple and green spirals look even more magnificent because it encircled the stone walkways and seemed to follow us around as we walked around the garden areas. It must have taken a lot of work to make these curves, but it was well appreciated!

3. Lastly is this arum lily, which I saw in abundance at the Eden Project and which I’ve included because it’s one of my favourite flowers. There’s something about this flower which represents elegance to me, it almost reminds me of a sheath dress made from a single piece of fabric and seamless stitched together to make a striking, elegant Greek-style robe. The way this flower curves upwards and outwards in a shape which I’ve always tried to capture on paper and in photography, but it’s something which will always fascinate me.

And that folks, is my post about curves – what’s your idea of a curve?

Flowering Magnolias and Blue Skies

In China, the symbol for the magnolia flower is beautiful woman. I don’t know about you, but I’d say that the meaning is pretty apt, magnolias are certainly beautiful, and are graceful flowers which have lasted almost a millennia, unchanging, strong, and almost un-evolved, which is seen from their early flowering in February – sparks of colour in wintry, cold weather.

Here’s a few which I shot snaps of in my mother’s garden a couple of weeks ago, they were the first flowers to appear and are still freshly and growing even now. I love their silhouettes against the blue sky, and the pretty hues of pinks and whites. And soon, while the other flowers which are brighter, bigger and sunnier will soon take your attention, while the magnolias’ petals will fall and close, the tree will remain, waiting until next early spring to be the first to show its new buds again, which will grow into these beautiful magnolias. : )

Silhouette of a Pink Rose

My mother’s garden is blooming nicely, and so it should be, the amount of hours and work she puts into it. We’ve had our rose bushes for years, growing faithfully, year after years, in shades of pink, red, mauve, peach and white. Those rose bushes are the oldest thing I remember from my childhood in our garden (well, that and an apple tree we used to have, which our neighbours decided to cut down because it inconvenienced their plans to build an elaborate shed. Rude, I know).

I don’t see myself as a ‘girly-girl’, but I’ve inherited my love of flowers from my mother – she’s spent years tending to her garden, buying bouquets of daffodils, roses and gerberas to put in her special crystal vase on the kitchen table – and it’s something I would like to continue in my own home one day. My view is that you can have as many expensive trappings and furnishings in a house, but all you really need is a pretty bunch  of flowers in a vase to bring life to your house.

For my mum, it’s lilies and roses. For me, gerberas and tulips. But nevertheless, whenever I see these pink roses, which are an odd, almost old-fashioned pink (think shiny party dresses and Cyndi Lauper pink lipstick from the 80s), I always think of my mum’s roses, growing faithfully in our garden, year after year, showing their faces to the sun.