Early morning walk

Thought I'd take you along this morning on my early morning walk!  This is the view from the top of the hill looking towards the next hill I'll scale!  No wonder the area's called Hillview!

 Stunning double hibiscus.  The national flower of Malaysia.

 Bamboo

 Aptly named Buddha's belly!

 Inside a Golden Chalice Vine flower - you can see more pics of these super flowers in another post on these here.

 

Plumbago

Banana tree in flower

Looks like Rambutan before ripening.

 

 Unidentified spikey tree trunks - youch!

This one's a bit softer!

And a stripey one!

Ylang Ylang - mmm, smells divine!

Exotic Gloriosa Lily - more pics here

 Spider Lily

Palm and flowers

Here's a little friend waiting for me!

 Poor lad has no home and is missing one back paw :(  He's fed by many in the community though!

 Waiting patiently...

licking his chops...

for his daily doggie chew!

 I come across so many flowers and trees I can't name.    What's this lovely almond-scented flower?

And this beauty?  Can anyone help me to identify it?

And what's this at the end of our travels ?...

A majestic Travellers Palm, standing tall in Diana's garden next door.   Hope you enjoyed the stroll!

Illustration Friday - Stripes

©Caroline Soer

A piece from the archives for this week's Illustration Friday. Sleeping stripey cat on patchwork quilt collage.

In my garden this week

Do you recognise this flower?

It's beautiful isn't it?

This is a coconut palm branch and the 'flower' is where the coconut was growing.

Beautiful potted Orchid on the terrace.

Regimented Palms - lovely aren't they?

 But sadly, all is not well with the tall trees:(

Hollow and rotting.  Could it be fungal infection or perhaps white ants (termites)?  I'm waiting for an expert to come and give the verdict, but whatever the problem is, they'll probably have to be removed.  Very sad..

On a more cheerful note, a pot of beautiful Oleander is in full bloom :)

SketchTravel and Quentin Blake

SketchTravel from Curio on Vimeo.

Have you heard about this wonderful project?  SketchTravel was an international charity art project where one red sketchbook was passed around between 71 artists around the globe for 4 and half years.  The original Sketchbook was recently auctioned in Brussels and sold for 70,000 Euros (96,200 US$)!  The entire proceeds will go towards building libraries in the third world countries, in partnership with child literacy non profit organisation Room to Read.  This excellent little animation was created as part of the project. I hope you enjoy watching it - the music to accompany the little story is super too!

The marvellous Quentin Blake was one of the artists taking part.  

His terrific illustrations of Roald Dahl's books have entertained children (and adults!) for decades!  If you go to the sketchtravel tv site you can enjoy a short film on his participation in the SketchTravel project.

And the winner is....

A little bird told me that the winner of my 'Bird and Berries'  GIVEAWAY  is ...  Patty!  Congratulations to you Patty!!!!

Please email me with your address and I'll get your print on its way from sunny Malaysia to its new home in snowy Anchorage asap!  Thanks everyone for taking part! x