Palazzo on the grand canal, Venice

Palazzo on the grand canal, Venice, a photo by Lynners59 on Flickr.

This is the little palazzo that I would like to be given. It's just over the Grand Canal from the Guggenheim and has that Moorish look typical of Venetian architecture. Also a great view of Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana. You wouldn't need to go out much it you lived here, just sit in the sun at the window and watch everything.

Fountain with waterhorses and cute frogs in Vicenza

Fountain with waterhorses and cute frogs in Vicenza, a photo by Lynners59 on Flickr.

I really liked this fountain. The waterhorses are a very Venetian symbol, indicating that Vicenza was once part of Venetian territory. i don't think the frogs have any symbolic function - they just spout in a very charming way.

Enjoy your ride

Enjoy your ride, a photo by Lynners59 on Flickr.

The old Opawa shops are no more. They have been demolished. Did we enjoy our ride on the Great Earthquake Bicycle? Not much.

The onion-y bed

The onion-y bed, a photo by Lynners59 on Flickr.

Here's the cosy little straw-covered bed for shallots, garlic and elephant garlic, surrounded by bricks rescued from the old bicycle shop site in Opawa.

Winter sowing success

So! Looked at my winter-sown seeds yesterday and many have germinated. Cavolo nero, red cabbage and chicory are  all up and growing quite vigorously. The red onions have germinated but look a little weak, and the flower seeds have not eventuated, apart from the Freeth House poppies. Sweet peas are up, too, so out of ten punnets, seven have come up. Hopefully, I can keep them going on till the weather gets warmer. A few more broad bean plants are up, but these look a bit weakly.
  Nothing else much to report, the weather has been fine but cold so I have been doing lots of gardening - pruning, weeding, etc.

The lovely Julian

The lovely Julian, a photo by Lynners59 on Flickr.

Julian J., popular TV presenter and talk-show host (Live at Julian’s, Hey,hey it’s Julian J., All the way with Julian J., etc.) and gnome-about-town has smashed the closet door wide open in his new autobiography “ Hello, boys!’ Secrets of Julian’s past life are revealed, and he makes surprising revelations about the twilight world of gnomosexuality. “There’s so few gnomen (gnome women) around, that gnomes are forced to seek comfort from their own kind. But it’s no hardship at all, it’s such good fun!” he quips from his comfortable seat in a friend’s conservatory. (“I’m not an outdoor gnome. I don’t do cold and wet and muddy”, he says).
Expect to find out some little known facts about the on-again, off-again relationship between gnomes and hedgehogs, and the dirty on those Dutch gnomes - “It’s not just their hats that are red and pointy, I’m telling you!”, he laughs.

Hundredth post

Who would have thought it? On to two hundred.