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!

A little trip to Delft

Delft montage - click to explore

View of Delft - Johannes Vermeer

I've visited Delft many times over the years - it's a lovely old city steeped in history. It has beautiful buildings, canals, a good market, many cafes and lots of interesting little shops to explore! Vermeer, one of my favourite Dutch painters, lived and worked here in the 1600's and it's also home to Delftware - blue and white pottery.


As regular passengers on KLM we've collected a streetful of these decorative little blue and white pottery houses - they're filled with Dutch Genever (or Jenever)- a spirit distilled from juniper.

I've just finished reading Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier - a story set in Delft, about the girl in the beautiful painting of the same name by Vermeer - lovely book!

Ranunculous Watercolour ©Caroline Soer


I painted these Ranunculous flowers in a delft blue vase some years ago.

And finally, here are some sunny Marigolds and sky blue Plumbago from my garden, arranged in a delft blue vase to complete my little Dutch post!