Terry60's Outbox

There was no flash as it was still very sunny - the flowers are dying off but they were a pinky purply colour

I'm not sure Marguerite but I think it may be either broom or gorse ???? It has very sweet smelling yellow flowers and tends to grow on rocky ground

Yes it is quite old - the Church was built on the ruins of a Roman house - where St Peter hid in to escape from the Romans. In fact you can see the old Roman altar/ara where he was supposed to have said the first Christian Mass

No in actual fact I'd had an exhausting day showing my friends around - it was so hot that afternoon I just flopped on the grass for a rest in the shade of these pines !!

I've no idea Marguerite what they are - they are quite common in the fields

Yes it is Marguerite. Thanks for all your appreciative comments

It really is Marguerite - I sit for ages and drink it all in

Unfortunately I've not been very lucky with my roses this year - they seem to be blighted with these little pests that seem to be immune to almost any kind of potion or spray ....

This is a Franciscan sanctuary - one of the most beautuful and peaceful places I know

Rosie knocked down the vase they were in and then proceeded to strew bits of honesty everywhere ... I was so annoyed I burst out laughing ....

Thank you Marguerite - it's the entrance of a Franciscan Church - a truly wonderful place

I put the camera down and slowly went indoors and started rattling the box of cat biscuits - that sent running him running inside !!

No idea - perhaps cos of the heat haze

Yes Blodyn, it's the hoya carnosa - the detail is so pretty and like Spriyz says could easily be a broach with rubies

It was about 7.30 pm and the sun was yawning and thinking about going to bed - - - spectacular time of the day

Thanks Blodyn and Chrispook - They are the Appenines very near the Umbrian border. I know I am very lucky to be living here.

Thanks for info Jacque and to think it grows more than 1500 metres above sea level - they are VERY thorny as my poor toes in strappy sandals will verify.... !!

Yes Tasteyg these small towns with their rock-built houses in anrrow street seem ratrher similar. Vallata is in Avellino, near Naples - a lot of people left that region (and other regions in the South) after the war to seek their fortune across the seas - - -

I can well believe you will never forget that evening Xela. There' something magical about the whole atmosphere. In fact, as I walk to and from work, I often see Carla Fracci sitting at one the bar's pavement tables opposite the Opera House. She always wears white and even tho' I know she is a very tough lady, she looks so frail and waif-like.

Rome even!

Quarry Bank Mill, that's in Styal isn't it Greenthumb? I used to know the area very well (and used to go to school near the potbanks of Staffordshire) of course I'm biased and think the Cheshire countryside, with its happy Spring daffodils, is about the best in the Britain !! .....

I know Jacque I was so upset, I could have cried - luckily tho' the top half is still quite healthy and green - like you say let's keep our fingers crossed for next May....

Thanks to you all for you all for your invaluable help and suggestions. This plant (I think Xela it's a nandina domestica) is in the original plastic pot it was bought in years ago. I'm more and more convinced about Lori and Dioon's theory of mineral pollution. Could it have anything to do with our water being extremely hard and the fact I have an automatic timer-sprinkler?? Dioon, when would it be a good time to do the repotting? My neighbour was saying she reckons we have to wait till the end of the year but I'm afraid it might too late by then and although it may look extremely pretty and unusual, I'd rather follow the advice of my on-line experts ....

Oh dear folks, I have a very sad tale to relate about my campanula. Over the weekend, my lovely neighbour, who helps me with my plants (as you've all probably realised I'm pretty hopeless myself), found that it was infested with millions of all these rather smelly ants, that were slowly eating away all the roots and attacking the vine behind it. So what we thought was the end of season drynes was in fact death caused by these flippin' ants (that, according to my neighbour, have apparently been known to chop away and eventually kill almond trees) . A mass cleaning job has been done and the beasties have been eradicated but it has meant that I have lost all the lower half of my lovely cushion of blue. I was going to take a photo of it but I was so upset, I thought I'd wait till next May and see what happens.... sob sob

It's in Central Italy, about 60 kms from Rome, Tasteyg.
Where did you live in Italy Xela?

I've tried one of these in some cooking over the weekend - blimey, I can definitely say they are NOT COOL !!!! how on earth some people can nibble them raw with their meals, I will never understand

No idea what they are Lori and Marguerite. By the way, this old park was built admist Roman ruins, (on the left you can just about see a tip of Mecenate's Auditorium) - on the Esquiline Hill in the 1880s, so whether these palms are as old I don't know .... but magnificent all the same ....

It snowed again quite heavily in 1986 - I remember they even closed the schools and all the little children were upset because they couldn't get all drsssed up in their fancy costumes for the Mardi Gras Carnival party they'd been looking forward to - it was postponed to a day in Lent - not very Christian and going against all the dogmas of the Season - but Italians do not like upset children!!

I agree Blodyn, the mistyness does make it look very English - you wouldn't believe there were mountains and little hilltop towns in that misty hue behind ....
Lori - I too have often prayed to Father Tiber, asking him to make the train arrive on time - although there is neither Orazio nor the famous bridge at this point, nor am I Roman or Etruscan , which means that he's got his earflaps on and the train is nearly always late!!

Of course Ams, thanks. I'm still a novice at all this photographic technology - it never occured to me about the tall buildings creating a shadow in the early morning low sun!!