I usually run with a theme. As I will this week. First and foremost however apologies are in order. I neither responded to your lovely comments on my last Sunday Selections nor visited your posts. I have been unwell and couldn't muster the energy. Several specialists and multiple tests later I am still unwell, and the cause is a mystery. It is early Saturday morning here. If, when Sunday rolls round I still feel foul I will put this post up - but turn off the comments. I see blogging as a reciprocal agreement and it doesn't seem fair to invite comments when I neither respond nor visit you.
So... back to the garden where for a change I have spent almost no time.
Starting with the eight foot (at least) sumo lilies against the eucalypt in the front yard. The sumo lilies are at the back, towering over their smaller relatives.
And the sky continues to delight me.
Stay well, stay safe. I hope to be back very soon.
And, as a postscript, I feel not right but better this morning than I have done in a while. Fingers crossed. Not only do I think that I will live, I don't mind. Much.
Glad you feel a little better!
ReplyDeleteThe ball flower is wild.
Alex J. Cavanaugh: Thank you. I feel almost human again.
DeleteBeautiful flowers and landscapes of scenery. I hope that you better EC, xxxxx
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: Thank you. I do love the garden - and the sky.
DeleteSo happy to see you back. Thanks for the sumo lilies. They are BIG! And those beautiful, stinky Hoyas They are indoor plants in Denmark, and I have one which I have to quarantine while flowering ;)
ReplyDeleteBut I care to disagree, yes blogging is a mutual affair, but if we only ever comment on peoples' blog if they comment on our blog, then nobody will ever read or comment much less answer to comments anywhere! Feel free to read my blog without commenting if you do not feel up to writing. I write to be read, not necessarily for the comments. I can see that my blog posts are read by more than 4 times as many as those who comment, and this is fine!
I send you well wishes for more than survival.
Charlotte (MotherOwl): That hoya lives on our front veranda all year round. The ants love it when it is in bloom. We picked it up at a market because its owner said she was tired of waiting for it to bloom. She should have waited a little more.
DeleteI didn't mean that I only comment on blogs where people have commented on mine, but that it feels rude not to respond when people have taken the time and effort to comment on mine. I read and comment in a LOT of places. Some reciprocate, some do not. Which is fine. I do hope that the coming week gives some answers. Some of the suggestions made have been more than a little scary, but I would like to know so I can move forward. And I would definitely like to feel better.
PS. I have written the above comment as one who also only now feels like surviving, and who have been reading blogs all day to divert myself from misery.
DeleteHoping for more than survival for both of us. Virtual hugs all the way from Denmark!
Charlotte (MotherOwl): Thank you. I hope that we both not only survive but thrive - and I reciprocate your hugs.
DeleteI wish my hoya would bloom, I may hold off the watering of it for a week or two, see if that helps. It is lushly green, but not a single bloom in sight.
DeleteRiver: Hoyas like to be potbound. The smaller one we are growing from a cutting that the birds took of the first is thriving - but shows no sign of blooms.
DeleteHappy Birthday!
DeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): Thank you. It was quiet, but nice. Very nice.
DeleteLaurie: Many, many thanks.
ReplyDeleteBoy! Those lilies are tall!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to learn you've not been well, EC...but happy to learn you are on the mend. Take good care and take it easy...one day at a time...steady as it goes.
I hope, too, the coming week is kinder to you...keep your chin up...cuddles to Jazz. :)
Lee: The lilies are hunungous. And a delight. I am not out of the woods yet and do hope that this coming week gives some answers. And thank you. I hope you and your furry overlords are doing well.
DeleteI wish I could reciprocate the delight I feel from seeing your photos. I am certain that my endorphins multiply greatly at the sight of your flowers and sky.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you have been unwell. I hope you recover very.soon. I admire and I thank you for pushing through and still posting. I hardly do anymore. But if I did I would thoroughly understand why you would undo comments.
Take care, heal and be well.
Myrna R.: Thank you. I find a great deal of solace and delight in nature and am very glad to share it.I am hoping for answers this week and perhaps healing in the weeks to come.
DeleteI'm sorry I read you are not well. But I really hope you will feel much much better.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are beautiful, it's nice to watch them because we have so much snow, only white color todays.
orvokki: Thank you. I do love the flowers and know that we are lucky to have them all year round. I do hope that you have beauty around you as well as the whiteness. Stay safe, stay well.
DeleteHaha, I love your last line!
ReplyDeleteObviously you've been miserable, I hope that changes.
As for blogging being reciprocal, I think there's room for flexibility. I don't always visit blogs or answer comments but hopefully good will is maintained unless it becomes very uneven
kylie: My last line sums it up for me at the moment. I have been miserable and am still quite unwell. Answers would be nice. Answers and not more bloody questions.
DeleteThere is indeed some flexibility in the blogosphere but it still feels wrong to put up a post when I know that I cannot/will not answer. So usually I don't.
Yes, we all hold ourselves to some standard
Deletekylie: And some days those standards fall into the category of a rod for our own back.
DeleteOh goodness I do hope you're feeling better quickly, and never ever worry about missing a visit to my blog. I always enjoy reading everyone's comments but life does throw us curve balls far more than we like and I as everyone else knows life does get in the way sometimes. My visits here are always delightful and even if you can't muster responding I do hope you keep in posting your lovely photos and your descriptions and charming read for us. Now take good care of you!
ReplyDelete21 Wits: Thank you. Life does indeed get in the way and sadly rarely in a positive way. Fingers crossed that we are on the up and up. All of us.
DeleteIt took a while, but the name hoya did come to me. An older female workmate once asked a young male recent immigrant for his banana skin to feed her hoya. He pondered for a while and then asked about this beast called a hoya. It was very funny at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe skies look soft and lovely. Good to have you back and that you are feeling a bit better.
Andrew: I have heard of feeding the hoya banana skins but am yet to try it. Perhaps your comment was the impetus. And thank you. It does feel good to be back - though I suspect I am going back to bed for a bit shortly.
DeleteGreat sky shots.
ReplyDeleteMike: Thank you.
DeleteI am glad that you are feeling a little better - fingers definitely crossed that the improvement continues, and that your worries lessen. Your beautiful flowers and the lovely skies may help - here's hoping, anyhow. At 5.30 this morning our sunrise was really beautiful but quite red and angry-looking; we're supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon...
ReplyDeleteI am always awed by the care you take to reply to everybody's comments, EC - it must take you ages every week. I send you a virtual hug from across the Tasman. x
Alexia: Our sunrises are almost always quite muted - galah colours. I hope that you get the rain and no damage if the harbinger is correct.
DeleteReplying to people's comments is a courtesy gesture for me - if people have taken the time and trouble I think I need to acknowledge it. And yes, fingers crossed.
Thank you so much for letting me know how you're doing, and since you let me put a comment here, I'll take a moment to tell you how important a person you are to me, and to my virtual family. I hope you will continue to feel better and better. I give you permission to forgo leaving comments on my posts! :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan: Many thanks. You (and so many others) I have found in the blogosphere have become very dear to me. Very, very dear. And commenting on your posts is a privilege.
DeleteThose Sumo lilies are so beautiful and so majestic and I love those begonias... such beautiful blooms. It amazes me that you have Hoya plants growing outside and blooming as I have one growing in the house as a house plant and are so fragrant in the evening... It's a family heirloom from my mother in-law who passed away many years ago. It blooms twice a year.
ReplyDeleteIt saddens me to learn that you are still feeling unwell. By the time I finished reading your blog, I saw that the comments were on and it made me feel better.
I hope that you will continue to improve as the days goes on.
Stay safe from Covid and get well.
Hugs, Julia
Julia: I am a killer of indoor plants so I am very grateful that this one thrives outside. The birds snapped off a leaf a year or so back and now we have a smaller plant also thriving on the veranda. With luck it will flower soon. Ours only bloom once each year - but we look forward to it.
DeleteAnd thank you. I hope for answers and improvements next week.
Dear EC
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear you weren't well and frustrating that you don;t know the cause. Your garden and the sky are a delight, particularly when we are in the depths of our winter here and have had snow this week.
I hope you continue to feel better and have a good week.
Best wishes
Ellie
Ellie Foster: And thank you too. I hope that your garden has survived the snow and that you can continue to be creative inside in the warm.
DeleteI am loving you and praying for your health and happiness.
ReplyDeleteCloudia: Many, many thanks oh sister across the seas.
DeleteBeautiful as always, the begonias are my favourites this week. Crossed fingers for finding the cause and cure soon.
ReplyDeleteRiver: There are more begonias coming out every day - and some of them are beauties. Definitely fingers crossed - and thank you.
DeleteThanks for another pleasant week, and especially for feeling better.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Noragon: And many thanks to you too. Your sunny yellow towels mopped up a few tears last week. Mostly tears of frustration.
DeleteSo sorry you've had a rough go of it but so glad you are feeling so much better. As usual your garden is a delight. Stay well my friend.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: Thank you. Not out of the woods yet, but this morning at least I felt better than I have done.
DeleteLots of colour to brighten your day and ours. I suspected something was happening... that you were not feeling well... better days will come, don't despair.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Caterina: Thank you. Still hoping. But very, very tired at the end of a 'whole' day out of bed.
DeleteI'm so pleased you think you will live :)
ReplyDeleteHope you improve each day.
The photos are wonderful and I particularly like the lily against the tree..
Margaret D.: You can see that lily against the tree from the road, and I think it makes a lovely addition to the street scene - and thank you.
DeleteHi EC - sorry to read you've not been yourself ... but glad you're here ... the main thing is do what you need to do and heal - all the best in that direction. The lilies must have been amazing ... while frankly the rest of the garden looks quite extraordinary - so wonderful to see the bright cheerfulness of the plants' faces ... stay safe, sent with lots of hugs and many thoughts - Hilary xoxo
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Thank you. Hopefully I will get some answers and some healing this week. In the meantime while I cannot get out in it the garden gives me solace. Happy belated Birthday to you.
DeleteThanks EC ... it was a good Hermitess type birthday day ... I do hope you're feeling easier. Stay safe - Hilary
DeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Hermits and hermitesses deserve nice birthdays - and indeed I claim the whole month of January. A little easier but my impatient self longs for more.
DeleteYour begonias are gorgeous. I did try them here. Once. Unsuccessfully! But I have some common ones running wild.
ReplyDeleteI hope the wellness continues on the up track.
dinahmow: More begonias in bloom each day - which is lovely. You can grow things I cannot. The wellness is at best marking time today.
DeleteBeautiful flowers! I'm glad you got checked out-- I hope you will be back to normal quickly.
ReplyDeleteBill: Thank you. I hope so too.
DeleteSue I am so sorry to hear you have not been well and I hope the doctor's will soon get to the bottom of it. Myself, coming back from the I.O.W I have also to been well but now getting there. You garden flowers are a picture and although at present you may not be able to do much in the garden yourself, I am sure the blooms bring you great joy in your heart. Please look after yourself and I hope you health will improve soon.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Birding For Pleasure: I am sorry to hear that you have been unwell as well. And glad to hear that you are improving.
DeleteThe garden will wait for me (while crying out for attention).
Glad to see you back on line, Sue. Take good care of yourself and don't worry about the reciprocal nature of blogging. Sickness sure cancels out that necessity. The flowers are beautiful, as are you. Get better soon!
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoingne: Thank you. Muchly.
DeleteHappy Birthday, my dear EC, and my goodness, I sure hope you feel so much better soon. We love, love, love seeing the beauty of your pictures, and we're more concerned about you feeling better and ding well. Sending many healing and birthday hugs! RO
ReplyDeleteRO: Thank you. Your healing and birthday hugs are appreciated. A lot.
DeleteHappy birthday to you and your partner. I believe you are both Capricorns as am I. Take care of yourself. Hope you feel better.
ReplyDeletegigi-hawaii: We are a Capricorn family. Me, my partner, one of my brothers, several nephews... Thank you, and yes I do hope to feel much better soon.
DeleteE.C., I was worried that you weren’t feeling well. I hope you continue to improve and feel better by each passing hour. Your photos are beautiful and, like you, brighten my day. Take care my friend.
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: Many thanks. And thank you for your kind words about my photographs.
DeleteHappy belated birthday, dear EC. I feel so bad that you are not well and for this to happen on or near your birthday, too. Please get better soon. BTW, when I feel sick, I know when I am starting on the mend because I feel so much better, even though I am still sick. I hope the doctors find what is wrong with you.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are beautiful. I don't have a green thumb, but I can grow herbs. Your front yard is awash with beauty.
Oh those sky shots. Even when you don't feel well, you give us the most amazing views of your sky. Be well soon, dear.
Bleubeard and Elizabeth: Not belated at all. Today is the day. I have a way to go yet, but am better than I was - though I do hope the doctors can pin down a cause.
DeleteI do love skyscapes and am very pleased that you enjoy them too.
Oh that first picture with the path leading into a mysterious, secret garden (my fav childhood book), and the second to last with the road leading to adventures yet unknown. I love photos that excite the viewers imagination.
ReplyDeleteI did not know you have been ill. Keep feeling better please. And thank you for the good wishes.
J C: I love that you can see the secret garden aspect of our jungle. And a big yes to journeys ahead.
DeleteLook after yourself. Please. As I am.
Hey beautiful soul! I was thinking a few days ago, how is EC. I was worried something was wrong! Please take care of you! We love you! Happy Birthday! Your garden is breath taking! Truly beautiful! I don't know how you do it! You truly have a green thumb! LOL! Love the sky photos! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteMagic Low Crow: Many thanks. I will be fine. You look after you please. Any date for surgery yet? Holding you in my heart. Believe me, there are some things for which my thumb is definitely black.
DeleteNo date yet! But, crossing fingers, I feel good! Big Hugs!
DeleteMagic Love Crow: I am so happy that you are feeling good - and will cross my fingers with and for you.
DeleteNice flowers and garden wishing you good health regards.
ReplyDeleteSteve: Thank you. Best wishes to you and to yours.
DeleteEach flower is prettier than the other. They are ones that we would never see in this area.
ReplyDeleteI hope you continue to get better, Sue. We need you here on blogger. We care very much about you.
Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: What a lovely thing to say. You don't need me at all, but it is very nice to feel appreciated. I hope to get some answers this week (and hope that none of the scary things are the answers we are seeking).
DeleteAre they called sumo lilies because they are so big, like the sumo wrestlers in Japan?
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you're suffering, I am sending you wave upon wave of healing thoughts. Just keep enjoying the sky and your garden, make sure you are all better before you get too ambitious!!! Hugs.
Shammickite: I believe that they are called sumo lilies because of their size. Even the stems are huge. At the end of the season secateurs will not be enough to trim them to ground level.
DeleteI do itch to get back in the garden. Not yet though...
Your photos are gorgeous as usual! Lilys are my all time favorite flower. The flowers are such a contrast to what is happening here, though Alabama is never completely barren. We still have a lot of green, just not quite as bright as summer green is and the early camellias are blooming but the rest of the bushes are loaded with buds. We are just 6 weeks maybe until spring begins in earnest. Meanwhile seeing your gorgeous flowers reminds me that it is just about time to start my seedlings.
ReplyDeleteAnne in the kitchen: We plant literally hundreds of liliums each year and I delight in them. Like you, we are never completely barren but the colours do dim. Happy planting.
DeleteHope you are feeling better soon !
ReplyDeletecatladymac: Thank you. Me too.
DeleteYou blooms brighten my day. I hope you continue to feel better, EC. Take care.
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: The garden brightens my day too. Thank you.
DeleteI'm glad to read that you are feeling better. Hopefully whatever it is will go and stay away. I loved all the pictures.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: Thank you. What ever it is still hangs around - but is I hope slowly getting better. Glad that you enjoyed the photos.
DeleteLove your selections, as usual.
ReplyDeletePraying you feel better soon.
My selections will be over here.
messymimi: Many thanks. I really liked your selections this week - as I always do.
DeleteSue, I'm glad you'll live!!! I'd love to inhabit your beautiful garden. Isn't nature gorgeous when partnered with a human? I hope you continue on the road to wellness.
ReplyDeleteDenise Covey: Thank you. I am still not glad precisely that I will live - but resigned. And nature IS gorgeous - with or without people.
DeleteEC, I am so sorry you have been ill and thinking scary thoughts. I pray and sincerely hope your diagnosis is mild and you feel better real soon. I love the pictures and sumo lilies are gorgeous! I have taken some time off due to medical issues and still waiting for answers, too.
ReplyDeleteGlenda Beall: Thank you. It was the doctors who put scary thoughts into my head. Rather a lot of them. Hopefully this week will give us both answers and improvement.
DeleteYour skies are beautiful but I always look forward to your flowers. Huge colourful blooms. I am so envious of your sumo lilies, I pay RM15 per bloom for similar lilies here and I usually have to buy at least 3 blooms for a vase.
ReplyDeletekestrel: We love the liliums too. The sumo variety will only fit one flower spike to a vase - and we delight in them.
DeleteWish you a happy new year 2021.
ReplyDeleteMay the new year be better than the previous year for all of us.
I am amazed by your garden. So many beautiful flower plants.
At first I thought that what was in the tree was an orchid, it turned out to be a lili. , The colors of Lilies are really beautiful,
Get well soon.
Indeed, the recent weather conditions apart from the rainy season, there are also many big and strong winds that make a lot of people sick.
Stay healthy .. stay safe there
Have a good week
Regards
Justcherry: Many thanks - and a happy and healthy year to you as well.
DeleteBom dia, que belas imagens me trouxeram até sua página. A foto de capa é um encanto. Adorei seu blog.]
ReplyDeleteEstou a seguir
Bia semana.[Bjss
Dina Fernandes: Welcome and thank you. Have a wonderful healthy and happy week.
DeleteI thought, "oh I love that first photo." Then it was "No, the second." But its the fourth I like best of the flowers with the tree, I think. Great photos! No! The third. For sure the third.
ReplyDeleteStrayer: What a lovely thing to say. I often wonder/fear that I overdo the photos.
DeleteBestest wishes always for your long life, perfect health and deepest delight in the beauty around you.
ReplyDeleteFor some inexplicable reason I expected sumo lilies to be triple the diameter of normal lilies, silly me! :) Magnificent flower photos this round, don't know which ones I like more, sky or flowers.
Nilanjana Bose: I am a beauty addict (which I suspect shows) and never fail to delight in the abundance of it I find.
DeleteI have been wondering about you and sad to learn you have not been well. How nice that you still managed to share some beauty for us in Sunday Selections. Hope you are in tip-top shape soon.
ReplyDeleteGranny Annie: Thank you. Even when I feel woeful there is still beauty around - for which I am grateful. What ever this is it is still hanging around. Fingers crossed it leaves. Soon.
DeleteDearest Sue...oh I am hoping, praying and willing your return to better health. Please get well soon, my friend, you are so very precious.🍀🍀
ReplyDeleteAnd still you have posted all this beauty...how amazing these wonderful blooms are...and may all this magical flower power cheer and heal you!!😊😊
Sending you all my love and healing hugs ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Ygraine: Many, many thanks. Worry about yourself dear friend, I suspect your health issues are more imperative than mine. Huge hugs - and healing wishes.
DeleteGreat sky pics as usual.
ReplyDelete:o)
Cheers
PM
Plastic Mancunian: Thank you. I delight in skyscapes and am not going to admit just how many photos of them I have stored on the PC.
DeleteOh dear, Child! I'm sending all kinds of healing vibes, good vibes, positive vibes. I hope you feel stronger and better soon.
ReplyDeleteThose little star flowers...I used to call them icing flowers, how I wished they tasted like icing sugar. :-)
neena maiya (guyana gyal): The hoya flowers do look like a sugar confection don't they? And it seems they taste that way to the ants.
DeleteAnd thank you too.
Your garden is like a little piece of Heaven. And I adore the Sumo flowers!!!
ReplyDeletemshatch: Thank you. The garden is a work in progress always and is crying out for some attention at the moment. Soon I hope.
DeleteGood to hear that you are feeling better.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers and sky.. nature is quite marvelous.
Hena Tabeb: Thank you. Not out of the woods yet - but getting there. I hope.
DeleteAnd a big YES to nature.
I'm sorry you haven't been well. I always miss you when you aren't around, but sometimes that's the way things have to be.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Janie Junebug: Many thanks. I hope that you are doing better too. Much better.
DeleteI sincerely hops you are feeling much much better! Lovely shots as always.
ReplyDeleteLady Fi: Thank you. I have a way to go yet but I do feel better than I did.
DeleteOMG. I've never seen lilies that tall. They are wondrous.
ReplyDeleteKnow I'm thinking of you.
Hugs
Sandra Cox: The sumo lilies are impressive aren't they? And thank you.
DeleteDear EC, during the days after I read your postings--and I've been so negligent for the past months--I always find myself thinking of you and your life. The skies/clouds. The birds/feeder. The public art/building. The great good compassion you have for all/the depth of your sensitivity. And so now I'll be thinking of you not feeling well and I'll be hoping and praying and visualizing that the cause of this un-ease/dis-ease/problem is found and that your body will respond to whatever treatment or medicine is required. Take care of yourself. You have taken such care and interest in all others, now I hope you will be gracious to yourself. Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee: Many thanks. Putting myself first has always felt selfish and wrong. At the moment my body is calling me out on that lie. I do feel better than I did though - even if not right yet.
DeleteLovely photos but goodness, I do hope you feel better by now.
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: Thank you. Sadly not yet. A smidge better, but a long way to go.
DeleteOops, I think I missed your birthday!
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated Birthday Wishes.
I am so sorry to read that you have not been well and I do hope the doctor's will soon get to find out the problem.
In the meantime if you need to rest a while please please do. Looking after yourself is of primary importance.
Sending lots of good wishes and healing thoughts to you.
All the best Jan
PS I did enjoy all of your photographs here.
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Thank you. I claim the entire month for my birthday so your wishes are not late at all (and are very welcome). And I am glad you enjoyed the photos.
DeleteI'm very late here, but what is that flower that buds all its sub-flowers into almost a sphere shape? That's so cool!
ReplyDeleteJohn Wiswell: It is a hoya bloom. For most of the year it is pleasant but unexciting - and then it comes into flower.
DeleteAfter an embarrassingly long hiatus from all things bloggish, I published a post this week. Not surprisingly, you were the first to comment on my post. You generously and faithfully support other bloggers and I have always been appreciative and impressed by that. I do hope, as I write this, that you are feeling much better EC. From our opposite hemisphere, I always enjoy your Sunday Selections photos. And as for Words for Wednesday, past word prompts are leading me to possibly publish a version of my fiction short stories inspired by them. I'll keep you posted (and you and Delores will get a mention in the credits if I do!) Feel better!
ReplyDeleteSusan - of every moment: It is lovely to see you back in the blogosphere. Really lovely. Publishing some short stories? I would LOVE to hear more.
DeleteI'm glad to hear you're feeling a bit better, anyway. Here's hoping that trend continues! Your flowers are lovely, as always, and a real treat while we're in the depths of winter here. I recognize the lilies and begonias, and is that a hoya in bloom? I've only ever seen them as houseplants. :-)
ReplyDeleteDiane Henders: It is indeed a hoya - which lives on our front veranda. We picked it up years ago at a street market. The seller said that she was tired of waiting for it to bloom.
DeleteIt gets cut back by frost most years but comes back happily and this year is blooming really well.
Such lovely flowers. You are a good photographer. My wife would love to stroll around your garden but don't let her near a shovel or she'll be digging stuff up tp steal. Except we can not grow what you can. Paradise.
ReplyDeleteThe Blog Fodder: My mother kept a pair of secateurs in her handbag for her thieving raids. I am happy to share what grows here - but MUCH prefer being asked.
Delete