BACKYARD VIEWS

Hi Everyone! 

Welcome back for our next adventure! Over the last several weeks we have been getting closer to my home on our park adventures, today we have arrived! Yup, we are visiting in my own backyard.  

My backyard is a jungle of tropical plants and trees and right here and now, I'll just say I'm not a gardener.  My husband is the outdoorsy person, doing all of the yard work himself, which takes approximately 3 hours per week just to keep the bushes and vines from overtaking us!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE plants and flowers but do NOT like dirt on my hands or sweat in my eyes. 

You may have seen the photos of my orchids in bloom....in the kitchen window and on the front porch, and yes there are several in the trees that bloom off and on. 

Mostly the flowers in our yard belong to my neighbor, Capt. and Ms. Louie. Now both of them have gone to their heavenly reward but their legacy still lives on in their yard.  

 This is  a little painting I did of Ms. Louie's flowers, they hang over our fence and are quite colorful. Once my husband made the mistake of thinking they were weeds and "trimmed" them and boy did we hear about that.

Our small patio is where we spend our time when the weather is nice.  We don't have a screened in porch or pool like many people do in Florida for obvious reasons (bugs).  We enjoy having the pool in the sunshine and the occasional visitor of a frog or snake or other small animals. We once had a pair of ducks land in our pool! When they tired of paddling around they flew away. 

I like to take my sketch pad out and draw.  This particular day it was the Christmas Cactus (which I've managed to kill) and some sea shells picked up on our visit to the West Coast (of FL) on Sanibel Island. 

There are many plants that I don't know the names of, this one seems to be in the bromiliade family (I'm guessing here). It has the most delectable pink flowers. 


And this one climbs the fence on the side of the house with its tiny pink flowers, it might be a weed of some sort but it is so pretty.

And of course our marker of autumn is when the Croatians turn from green and yellow to the most lovely shades of orange, red, and burgundy.

That's my backyard and some of the tropical plants you'll see growing there.  I hope you have enjoyed the visit and will come back next week as we go inside to the studio! 

Until then, 
Suzy

SCENT MEMORIES

HI Everyone!

Signs of Spring are everywhere!  Magnolia trees are blossoming in my son's neighborhood. I wanted to get a shot of the huge magnolia blossoms but they were too high up in the tree! I captured three stages of the blossom for you instead in the photo below.





When I walked inside the house I saw this magnolia blossom on the counter, of course it is now brown and fading but the colors caught my attention and I thought it would make a lovely sketch to add to my sketch journal.

Isn't the pink in the center lovely? 



Don't you just love the smell of Magnolia trees? I do! It is one of the scents I remember from childhood, like gardenias, honeysuckle and jasmine, roses and mimosa fragrances. Gosh, those smells take me back to a sweeter time. Isn't it funny how certain scents can zap you back in time? 

Oh, I have a scent trigger of Evening in Paris perfume that takes me back to my granny's house, to her bedroom and dressing table on a warm summer's day. 

Evening in Paris

What scent brings back fond memories for you? Please share! 

Have a beautiful day!

Suzy