Seasons Greetings to You All.

Seasons Greetings to you all.  I hope you have an enjoyable time with your family and friends.  Last weekend I did not have time to post a new blog as it was party time for my 90th. birthday.  The tables were set amongst the trees in my garden and delicious food and drink was had.  The dessert table is just a small example of what was available. A lovely day with friends and relations.

Water Iris

Some pictures of the iris growing around my pond which are looking wonderful this season.  I would love them to multiply and look like the huge areas of water iris that we saw when we were in Japan.

More Garden Pictures

The lighting on this rose bud attracted me yesterday and the yellow maple is always lovely with its new foliage.  Unfortunately it sometimes gets wind damaged later.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

My garden just grows wild these days.  The mix of Flanders Poppies and Aquilegia by my back door come up every year from self seeding.  The yellow rose is almost overgrown but always has a very sweet perfume when flowering.

Evening Light

These two photos should go together as a panorama.  They depict part of the view from my home showing the long shadows over the contours of the lawns in the evening light.

Floral Beauty

In a sad way fallen blossoms can be very beautiful.  The Paulonia has flowered well this year but my tree struggles in the conditions prevailing here.

The End of Winter

These bare trees are now well coated with leaves and look lovely with their fresh green coats.  But winter can be very picturesque as well and I enjoy scenes like this in my garden.

Spring Garden Pictures

This year my Spring garden has been very pretty.  This lavender bush by my door attracts many bees so care is needed when going past.  The dogwoods and bluebells were out together and looked most attractive.

Some Close Up Photographs

This cream dogwood is flowering wonderfully this spring and does not seem too bothered by the winds we have been having.  The lower picture is of the stamens of a magnolia.

More Blue Flowers

Anna asked about the blue rhododendron which is flowering well this year.  The lower picture is of what I understand to be a Japanese Iris.  This image shows just a single flower but they flower on stems with a number of flowers coming out over a period of a week or more.

Blue Flowers of Spring

My garden has a number of blue flowering plants which mostly seem to come out at this time of year.  There is even a blue rhododendron coming into flower just outside my window.

Much Traveled Pots

This cylinder of mine and the tear drop vase of Estelle's have just been returned from the North-East of the United States.  They were sent there for an exhibition some time ago and, thanks to the efforts of friends and others, were returned in perfect condition after travelling such a long way. I am really glad to have them back.

It Must be Spring!

My peach is flowering well this year - it is just from a self sown stone which I think is called Mary's Choice.  The Sakura is wonderful as usual and the other blossom trees are all showing signs of life as well.

Timely Images

These two clocks belong to friends of mine and I find them both intriguing and amusing.  The top clock is called a "Qlock Two" and if you like to look on the Internet using that name they have a very interesting website.  The other clock is confusing until one has seen it several times then it becomes almost normal.

More Spring Flowers

The little grass flowers I have shown before but this year they are so very prolific.  They have spread from a small patch to now cover a large area of my lawn.  My lantern with the spring flowers growing beside it is always lovely at this time of the year.

Spring Flowers

Top photograph is of my Hollywood Bell blossom tree with a yellow Acacia in flower behind.  The lower photo is of my Stellata Magnolia which has been flowering for weeks but is now nearly finished.

Three Images from Japan

Three lovely images from Japan.  Only the photograph of the Geisha is one of mine the other two I have cribbed from a DVD about Japan - mostly as a experiment in photographing the TV screen.

The marvels of texture and colour on anagama pots.

Here are two more close-ups of pots fired in our anagama kiln.

Two More Close-ups

The result of a long firing and very even and regular stoking the flame patterns have been written into this platter.  The white edgings on this cut sided vase only happen in a very hot firing and is quite unusual.  What wonderful results can come from fire on clay - nothing else was added.

Some Close Ups of Glaze Effects

These two pictures are close ups of the glaze effects from the long wood firing in our Anagama,  The pots go in the kiln without any slip or glaze coating - just dry clay.  The firing of about ten days gives many coatings of ash which melts and combines with the clay surface to produce these magnificent colours and effects.  No wonder we thought it worthwhile to put so much effort into the firings.

Images

The evening sky taken from my window last Sunday with the moon and Venus in close proximity.  The rose is not from my garden but from a garden in Havelock North where the frosts are much less and the late roses were still flowering well.

From My Garden

This year my Hamamelis or Witch Hazel is flowering beautifully and this calyx from a persimmon has such wonderful colour and patterns.  There always seems to be something different to find when the weather is nice enough to be outside.

David's Photographs

This is a very much photographed lighthouse in Cornwall, UK and I thought David's portrait of the seagull was particularly good.  I hope David does not mind me using his lovely photographs on my blog but I have not taken any interesting pictures for some time.

Colour

The wind has now removed all the leaves from my persimmon tree and the birds have removed all the fruit.  Last week the evening sun showed up this rainbow against the dark clouds.  The dark tree on the far left hand side had a large branch blown over during the following night and I am still working on cleaning up the mess.