In the Haunted Forest

One never knows what is going to happen in the haunted forest...

...shall we just have a look to see what's going on there???

You want to come with me?

ILLUMINA 2014

Bad Mergentheim, spa gardens / Kurpark

11. - 21. September 2014

 

The Provence is everywhere!?

Lavandula / lavender is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India.

One of the most famous and popular regions for cultivating lavender and having huge fields of lavender is the Provence, a landscape in the southeast of France.

Digne-les-Bains, a town in the department Alpes-de-Haute-Provence,
has been noted for being a primary center of the lavender trade.

The lavender species I took several photos from last weekend is one  of the species you can find throughout the Provence - among others.

But of course I didn't take my photos there, I captured the scene in the spa gardens of my hometown Bad Mergentheim.

Digne-les-Bains is one of the three twin towns of Bad Mergentheim, the other two are Borgomanero in the north of Italy and Fuefuki-shi in Japan.

So the (little) field of lavender in Bad Mergentheim's spa gardens is a gift from our friends at Digne-les-Bains.

Whereas the two Japanese cherry trees two hundert meters away from the lavender was a gift from our friends from Fuefuki-shi. (--> Sakura, cherry blossom).

Although Germany is not known for fields of lavender, you can see that this beautiful little flower feels comfortable in our region, too.

Have a great summertime whereever you live, dear blog friends from all over the world!

I'm going to take a short summer break to collect new impressions & ideas (hopefully)!

Take care on you and your loved ones!

Uwe.

 

桜 Sakura - the flower of the Japanese Cherry in my hometown

Bad Mergentheim, spa gardens, today.

  

Japanese relief stele and Japanese Cherry trees sponsered by Bad Mergentheim's Japanese twin town

Fuefuki 笛吹市  in the Yamanashi Prefecture.

Who can translate the Japanese characters cut in the stele for me?

--> "Gift from Isawa, Japan, (on a happy day in) May, 1993"

Thanks, Sapphire & Yoko & Sarah!

The two cherry trees left and right side of the relief stele are short prior the full bloom.

While taking the photographs of the blossoms and petals I tried to put the focus on a suitable background for my prime motifs - what was not always a simple task because of unfavourable surroundings in our park.

The thought flashed through my mind that ...

... I should try out my flashlight to create a different atomsphere on the blossoms.

On the spring equinox

Clouds wander about

The entrance of a mountain temple.

- Iida Dakotsu -

Happy hanami - happy flower viewing!

springtime is purple

Our German winter isn't finally through, but it definitely made a break last week with a lot of sunshine and temperatures up to 18°C... ;-)

But our nature seems to be fed up with wintertide, especially the crocuses can't abstain from coming to light.

In the spa gardens of our hometown we've a sea of purple gems currently...

...composed of tens of thousands of shining floral stars.

For next week the weathermen promised us to get cold temperatures and snow showers again, but more or less the winter is on its last lap.

So let's enjoy our sea of crocuses...

...as long as their blossoms cheer our eyes with their marvelous colours.

 - Click here to view all participnts of A Waltz Party -