A Floral Oasis

Orange isn’t a colour I ever thought I’d like. But here I am, wearing it for what is probably the first time and I actually rather like it. I love a good cheerful print and the day we took these photos was a very happy spring day. The flowers were looking magnificent, bees were crawling all over them and there were lots of dogs enjoying their morning walk. I think I’ve already said this previously, but I really like taking photos on a weekend morning because it means I get to meet lots of dogs. On this particular morning I met a gorgeous maremma dog called Latte. Isn’t that a fitting name for a maremma? For those that aren’t familiar with the breed, they look like a cloud on four legs.

I’ve been very happy with my bob lately because it’s nice to finally enjoy the thirties dresses I’ve hoarded. I wish I had asked my husband to give me a haircut earlier but I was hesitant since I also love to wear forties outfits. What I’ve realised though is that I can just cheat and wear my hair in a turban if I’m in the mood for a forties style. For now though I am really liking the sleek fuss free silhouette of the thirties. Of course I had to put together a hat to go with the outfit. Since I knew there would be Icelandic poppies in the garden it obviously made sense to decorate my hat with artificial ones!

Funnily enough there were some very confused bees there that made attempts to land on my head. November here means the final month of spring for us, so soon flowers like this will be a distant memory. Instead it will be either scorching winds or a wet heat if we’re lucky enough to have some rain. You wouldn’t know it to look upon this beautiful garden, but we are in the middle of what has been a very long drought. However the gardeners responsible for this rainbow of flowers have been very meticulous in their watering that you wouldn’t know it.

Yesterday when we went for our usual country drive it broke my heart to see the skinny cattle standing in the fields that were more dust than grass…The sad reality is that a lot of animals all around the country are being put down because there is no food for them to eat. And the food that is available just keeps growing in price…as does the water. So just as social media and blogs show only the desired depiction of our lives, this garden is also an illusion of how we wish things looked in this dry, drought stricken country…