Taking the Camera for a Walk (1)

 

Some threatening clouds in the sky today; but checking my mobile hour-by-hour weather app it seemed the risk of rain was low until later in the afternoon - so I decided to take my 'proper' camera for a walk downtown for a change. (It hasn't got much exercise since I got my new mobile back in the spring.) Above is a view from the footbridge over the railway quite close to home (looking east). Next is the view looking in the other direction.

I continued to focus on the sky on my walk downtown. This triangular glass building is the head office of a Swedish fashion company (Gina Tricot, founded here in Borås in 1997).

 

Zooming in the tower of the17th century church

And further away, the tower of our largest church (early 20th c) is also sticking up over the roof tops.

I also popped in for a quick visit to this crafts shop (situated in the white building with the red roof seen in photo No 4). They also have an exhibition room where different artists present their works for a few weeks or so in a row. Just now, there was an exhibition focusing on recycling and upcycling clothes and textiles. (I only had a look this time, did not buy anything.)

 

Continuing along the river, I noticed some colourful tarpaulins / coverings put up on the other side (which I've not seen there before). 

I decided to cross a bridge to investigate... But you'll have to wait until my next post to find out what I found on the other side! :)

The Kitchen Window

 

Rain pouring down outside today, and not much to do but be grateful that I don't necessarily have to go out. (It may still clear up in the afternoon, though.)

The photo above was taken on a  somewhat sunnier day. It's the view from my favourite place at my kitchen table. From that angle, I don't see the next building, and - this time of year - nothing but green trees and a bit of sky. It's my "breakfast view" every morning, and a good start to the day. (Also in winter, because even with the trees bare, I only see the top of other buildings far off.)

My African Violets

Painted nettles. They grow fast and are easy to propagate: just put cuttings in water. Actually, last winter I put some cuttings in vases and just left them like that (did not get round to planting them)... They lived on for months on nothing but tap water, just sprouting more and more roots - just like that little one is doing now...

PS. It struck me after I'd already published this post that today it's exactly 15 years ago that I moved into this flat. And the view from that window was one of the "selling points" to me the first time I came to look at the flat, about three months before that. (Figuratively speaking, as I wasn't buying it, just renting.)

Rose Garden

 

We had a sunny afternoon on Thursday, and then I went for a walk to the park in town - where the roses are now in bloom. Many of them did look a bit battered from all the heavy rain lately - but they do still offer a welcome splash of colour.

I also bought myself an ice cream at the ice cream café in the park. Mostly for a bit of "holiday feeling" as it was really almost too chilly to sit outdoors and eat ice cream.

 

I fed the Bing Image Creator a few variations of the theme "woman in rose garden eating ice cream" but wasn't impressed with any of the results. Just for fun, I'll show you some of the worst this time:

 

Top left: I started out with "Woman sitting on a park bench in a summery rose garden, eating ice cream from a beaker"... Have you ever seen anyone sitting in that position on a park bench?!

Top right: I added "cartoon style", and here I'm wondering 1/ what on earth is she holding? and 2/ why is the back of the bench twice as long as the seat?

Bottom left: I left out "beaker", and added "Picasso style". I don't think Picasso would have been happy - and what are those objects behind her on the bench?!

Bottom right: I tried Rembrandt instead, but I doubt he'd have been pleased either...

Balcony

Back in June, it was too hot to spend much time on my balcony (facing south-west). Nearly all July, on the other hand, it's been too wet/windy/chilly... So basically all I use it for is to go out for a few minutes now and then to check on my plants. I have some flowering ones in individual pots to be able to move them around, and those can also be hung on the railing. They're too exposed to wind and rain on the railing, though, so they've remained sitting on the bench against the wall all July (and most of June too, but then because of the extreme heat and drought!). So they still need some manual watering. They seem happy with that arrangement, though.

 

In the blue pot is a cherry tomato plant. One has to look close to see the fruits as they're not ripe yet, but there are a few hiding among the leaves. They usually need watering too, because they're fairly protected from the rain in that position.

The strawberry plants would no doubt prefer a bit more sun for the berries to ripen properly; but otherwise they're very hardy, and having one box of those on each side of the balcony kind of gives it a green "frame" for myself (looking out from my window) even when I have nothing on the front railing.

In the strawberry box on the other side of the balcony I have a solar light that comes on the evenings. (Looks nice when looking out at it from inside, too...)

Looking up at the sky, one evening in early July.

Mother Ficus and her Babies

 

I somehow forgot to take photos of this Ficus (elastica decora, also known in English as India rubber plant) before I radically cropped it a couple of months or so ago. It had grown almost as high as the window. Its stem was bit crooked and the small pot in which it was planted was now almost tipping over from the weight of it. The tree had to lean against the window to keep upright. It also had never been replanted in a bigger pot or even had any new soil added for I-don't-know-how-long. It kept growing anyway.

But it had now reached a height that suggested something had to be done anyway. So finallly I radically cut it down to about a third of its size. From what I cut off, I took two cuttings and put those in water. One was the top of the plant, one just a piece of the stem. Somewhat to my surprise, the one that was just a piece of the stem (with two leaves) was the one most eager to sprout new roots. The top part proved more reluctant; but a few days ago I planted both of them - even the one on which roots were not yet to be seen (except perhaps as few little white dots at the bottom). So far, neither of them seems to have any protests.

The cropped mother plant (top photo) was replanted in connection with cutting it, and seems happy with that, as it now seems to be producing a couple of new sideways shoots. 

I know that the mother plant in turn was once cropped from an older plant, which I think I had in turn cropped from another...  Actuall I'm no longer sure how many "generations" back to the original plant.

What's unusual about what I'm now calling the Mother is that it never dropped more than one or two its lowest leaves. (Usually they do, when they continue to grow.) Which is why I waited so long to cut it in the first place; and decided to keep the Mother as well.