Sunday 15 July 2007

Stealing Beauty from a Viennese Garden


















It's a lovely midsummer's Sunday
here in Vienna,
very hot, in the high thirties,
but low humidity and beautiful light.
If you live in an old apartment building
from the early 1900s,
that keeps you nice and cool,
you feel no desire
to hit the sun-baked pavement outside.




Do you remember
the last scene of the movie
"Notting Hill",
the happy couple,
Anna Scott and William Thacker,
(Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant)
sitting on a bench
in a "Secret Garden",
a private little park,
for the use of the people who live
in the apartment buildings framing it?
I have the incredible luck
of being able to look down,
from my Viennese apartment,
into such a garden, an island of mature trees
and flower beds, tended to by the neighbours.

Even though I did not venture out into the heat,
I let my eyes wander from up high, to the garden below.
at six o'clock in the evening,
when I spotted
my next door neighbour watering her plants.
She is the Mistress of the most beautiful part of the gardens,
the one I can look right down into from my dining room
and kitchen windows.
I went downstairs to join her for a chat,
and a photo safari.
The pictures above are some of her pink beauties,
a small part of the wide variety of flowers
Mrs. F nurtures in her own piece of heaven.


Mrs. F's Paradise

°

As always, clicking on the pictures
will open a larger version.



13 comments:

  1. love how you included Mrs. F
    from afar.
    nice touch!

    makes the flowers seem more real
    to me somehow.
    :-)

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  2. They are all beautiful, but that third photo, the color diminishing as it moves from the center outwards... exquisite.

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  3. Wow, clicking on the larger version of that flower... it is awesome.
    And you... living directly in that scene from Notting Hill?
    I am afraid I must hate you. Starting...... now!
    [You've brought this upon yourself, revealing such things to us mortals.]

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  4. Anonymous16 July, 2007

    Oh, how beautiful. Lucky you to have all this beauty and you don't have to work for it :-)

    How nice that you went doen to chat with Mrs. F.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Merisi,
    What a fabulous garden you share. Do you do some gardening too?
    What incredible flowers.

    The lake in my garden drained during the night of the deluge and I have been able to cut the grass once, but since then we have had nothing but grey skies and rain so the grass is long and straggly, soggy and squidgy.

    Oh joy, oh bliss, oh rapture! Blue skies this morning, so if it lasts maybe I'll be able to do something this afternoon.

    Huh, you and your 30 degrees! What's wrong with 15 degrees? Actually I heard on the news this morning about this bloke who has just swam .5K at the North Pole to illustrate global warming. The water was -2!

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  6. I felt as if I were in your cool apartment with you, watching Mrs F water her lovely flowers. :)

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  7. Anonymous16 July, 2007

    So beautiful as always. I especially love the hydrangeas!!!

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  8. Anonymous16 July, 2007

    It's so gorgeous!

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  9. Beautiful flowers You must be getting our summer as well as your own there

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  10. WOW
    WOW
    WOW
    Soooo pretty
    I would love to see a picture of your dining room window with the view...
    What will you have for diner?
    Can I see that too? :)

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  11. Yeah - I recall that scene , it also depicts that serene moment...when you are so content in your life....and I can imagine you experiencing that just by watching.....! Lucky you.....and I feel blessed as you are so so...always eager to share everything with all your blog readers...!

    Love the flowers....!

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  12. somepinkflowers:
    Mrs. F is the best kind of neighbor one can wish for, I consider her a friend.

    cipriano:
    Oh, please, don't hate me.
    I know I am a lucky girl,
    and it's very rewarding to see
    that other people enjoy sharing my fortune. ;-)

    Britt-Arnhild:
    I woldn't mind if I could work on a piece of that garden. ;-)
    Mrs. F and greet us in early worning (some rooms of our apartments jut out into the garden, so even though we live alongside each other, some of our windows are opposite each other) and several times during the day.

    lorenzothellama:
    No gardening for me. Gazing down and visiting are my priviledges.

    PG:
    Thank you. I love visiting your cottage!

    My Melange:
    Yes, those hydrangeas, I love them too (there are also lace hydrangeas!).

    Carol:
    True, so lucky. ;-)

    Mary:
    Oh Mary, we certainly could do with a little less heat. I'd love to share some with you and Lorenza! :-)

    ParisBreakfasts:
    Thank you.
    There are many photos of that window on this blog already, even though I didn't label them "dining room window".
    You will not believe it, but I actually photographed my dinner on Monday, July 16, 2007. Some brick-like spelt cookies. I plan on posting a "Why I don't have a Food Blog" item one of those days. Stay tuned! *laugh*

    Bendtherulz:
    Thank you for all you say,
    I truly appreciate your comments.
    Always. :-)

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  13. How very special! The flowers are gorgeous and how lucky you are to gaze into such a beautiful garden.

    ReplyDelete

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