Tag: May

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May sucked but look at those poppies

Let me be honest here: May sucked.

Not Theresa (though my British friends tell me she sucked too). Just the weather. May in Denmark usually has two or three weeks of gloriously hot sunshine during which everything explodes out of the ground in a cornucupia of scent and colour.

Not so this year. It’s been mostly cloudy and rainy. But in between the rain there’s been a few days where the sun came out (and even two that had summer-like temperatures). I managed to grab a few good shots in the garden and elsewhere, without getting drenched.

Without further ado, the pictures of May (such as May was).

The garden

Most of our garden is bee and small animal friendly but that doesn’t mean we don’t have beautiful colours.

Poppies in the front yard
I am in love with the colours of our poppies. Sure, they’re nothing special. Just poppies. But have you looked at that intense flame?
Sage and mint in a blue pot
For a beautiful blue stained cheramic pot, we need something blue. Decorative sage coupled with good old mint will provide aromatherapy all summer—provided that summer ever happens.
Rhododendrons and tulips
Find the pink tulips in a sea of pink rhododendrons.
Early tulips
The first tulips competing with the first bluebells, before the rhododendrons came into bloom.
Bluebells
Okay, now everything is in bloom.
Bluebells
I love the intense blue of the bluebells. Scillas. Spanish boys. Whatever you prefer to call them.
Sage and mint
A close-up of that decorative sage. It smells as good as its colour is intense.
Dandelions
Well. Yeah. It wouldn’t be our garden if there were no dandelions. Dandelions are allowed in our lawn.
the old man on the lawn
The old man prefers to lie in the shade these days. I’ve been trying to get a good picture of him for a long time, and this one does capture his contemplative old man attitude.

Skærup Zoo

There were two warm days, and we made them to the zoo in one. Out of about 1200 pictures a few were worth sharing (I’m still learning this camera).

painted squirrel is curious
This little squirrel was the embodiment of curious. I bet he wishes he had a camera to take pictures of me too.
very curious squirrel
No, really.
meerkats
Meerkats do the meerkat thing.
kookaburra
This kookaburra has the perfect expression. I absolutely loved his go-away face. Do not disturb the kookaburra in the sun.
goose
Don’t wake up the goose half of the geese-and-old-farm-implements exhibition, either.
curious george
Curious George is alive and well.
the best employee
This one was my favourite animal though. A park employee turned up early for lunch and took a nap in the sun. Later, he raided every other employee’s lunchpack, then went back to sleep. Talk about having it made.
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Beautiful May

Rock art

No time of year is more beautiful than May. No joy is greater than the first May in a new house, watching the flowerbeds and wondering what’s going to turn out to be in them. So far I am not disappointed. It’s picture day!

Dandelions under the cherry tree

No flower is closer to my heart than the humble dandelion. Together with the tiny white daisies they sum up everything I love about May. The sunshine, the freshness, the cool nights and hot days, the beginning of a new year. The earth awakens, explosively.

Those chilly May nights that soon enough become warm. They tend to be starry and clear blue, and my camera is not at all sophisticated enough to properly capture those colours.

And speaking of colours. Turns out we have a large rhododendron patch and not two shrubs are the same colour. Every shade from bright white over hot pink to blood red is represented. My favourites are the small purples and the large crimsons.

They’re there, the small purples.

Out in front we have poppies. Gazillion of poppies. They’re large and bright red and contrast gorgeously with the bright blue scillas.

And of course there’s a corner for self-planted more or less wild flowers as well.

But the strangest flower of them all is the hairy lawnflower.

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May Pretties

The husband bonds with animals on a level I can never match. No fuss, no big deal, they just fall in love with him as easily as he falls in love with them. And sometimes, I swear, they’re talking about me.

“And then she said …”

We’ve had two weeks of blazing summer-before-summer; in fact, one of the hottest May months in a century. After the meteorological disaster that was 2017 I can’t say I am complaining. I don’t do well with heat, but it’s pretty to look at, and no one yells at me for sitting in the shade.

The heat means I have to braid Emilie’s mane or she’ll sweat buckets. She wasn’t too fond of this notion last year, but something must have clicked: Now she stands perfectly still and seems to even enjoy the treatment. Of course she also picks half the braids out in an hour once released into the pasture. Oh well.

Barbecue on Thursdays, carrots optional.
Barbecue on Thursdays, carrots optional.

I love how expressive Emilie is. She talks. All the time. Some of it is vocalized, little grunts and snorts (in a surprisingly deep tone). Most is her eyes and ears, though. I always pull her forelock aside so I can watch her eyes when we’re together. Her eyes are so remarkably talkative, and so are those big draft horse ears.

"No, seriously, then she said ..."
“No, seriously, then she said …”
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