I don't know about you, but I'm slightly château'd and churched out. The weather has suddenly turned spring-like, qand as they keep saying on the TéléMatin weather reports, le printemps est arrivé. It would be about time. Maybe I'll come back from the past and live in the present for a while.
We slept with a window open last night. Walt got up early and said a cuckoo bird was perched in the topof a tall tree in our yard and was making so much noise that it was impossible to sleep.
These pretty peonies — pivoines [pee-'vwahn] — were growing in the back yard when we came to live here18 years ago. They're still going strong. I took these photos yesterday morning.
I just looked back through the blog and I see that the pivoines were in full bloom like this at the beginning of May
in 2006 and 2007. I remember that we had a very warm and sunny months of April in those years.
In other years, they've usually bloomed toward the end of May, as now.
Our skies are at least partly blue right now. High temperatures are in the low to mid-70s in ºF.
The roses in the photos above and below grow in our part-time neighbor's yard. She's been having a lot of work done on her house and we're wondering whether she's fixing it up for herself and her family or whether she might be getting ready to sell it. She lives in the Paris suburbs and has hardly been down here at all since the pandemic started. She's about my age (early 70s).
Peonies, especialy red ones, are among my favorite flowers. These are beautiful and your photos are excellent. Do they smell?
ReplyDeleteOh, Sony RX100 camera, by the way.
DeleteI love peonies, thank you for these beautiful photos! My English Nannie had dozens of them and she always decorated her church with them.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your weather is improving. Spring flowers are my favorites, especially wild flowers.
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh, the season of peonies!
ReplyDeleteOurs were great this year, and plentiful, but, of course, it always starts to storm when the peonies blossom, and that happened this year, too, so ours are kaput. But, we had a couple of weeks with them :)
A couple of weeks isn't bad.
DeleteHow tall will the pee-'vwahn get? Do you trim them down for winter? They really are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe don't really trim them down. They just die back and then come up again in the spring. They are as big as they get.
DeleteBeautiful pivoinces and roses! On my computer screen the flower colors are nearly the same. Perhaps more pink-fuschia with the peonies! Do you enjoy them in your home as well? With my cat, I really can't as he tends to paw at them, the vase spills the water, breaking the vase and then not only is it a mess but if I haven't caught it in a timely manner, the table is damaged and the glass can be a danger. That happened just once, btw. No cut flowers for me. C'est dommage.
ReplyDeleteMary, the below comment vis for you!!!
DeleteMary, did you see Ken's and my comments to you yesterday?
ReplyDeleteOui, chm! I did write a response to you and Ken, but now when I looked, it was not there. UGH! Thank you so much, chm and Ken for the online dictionaries. I have them noted and I will be using them. I really appreciate your suggestions for research online.
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