When I was walking Olga yesterday morning I noticed that this Paulownia tree near our flat has burst into bloom once again. It's commonly called a princess tree, empress tree or foxglove tree, because its individual flowers look something like foxglove blossoms. Apparently the Latin name comes from this Russian grand duchess, who sounds like a piece of work.
I stopped by later to take some pictures. It's planted on a gated housing estate but fortunately the gates were open so I could walk right up to the tree for a closer look.
I'd grow one of these if I had space! Apparently they're invasive in some places but this one seems to be keeping to itself.
Speaking of Russians who are a piece of work, some of you wondered in yesterday's comments what our Russian neighbors could possibly be up to, doing more renovations in their relatively small flat. Believe me, we often wonder the same thing. Mr. Russia recently told me they're rebuilding the staircase again -- even though they did it just a couple of years ago -- and he also asked about a space beneath their stairs that he wants to turn into a storage cabinet. He wanted to make sure cutting into it wouldn't invade our flat somehow. (It shouldn't because it's above our ceiling.)
So this is the thing. I think they just renovate and renovate and when they come to the end of a job, they start again on what they've already done. I know they've re-floored their kitchen a couple of times, for example. They seem to have a manic compulsion about home improvements. I have some suspicions about why this might be the case, mostly related to personal and familial happiness (or lack thereof), but of course I don't really know.
I think my big Canon camera may be dead. I've been having trouble with it for a while, giving me error messages when it tries to connect to my lens. I got it to work on Sunday long enough to take some pictures in the garden, but now I'm getting an error message when I turn it on and it won't let me offload the photo card. Hmmmm.
I'll switch out the card and see if that helps, but I've used that camera heavily -- almost daily -- since I bought it in 2012. I guess I've gotten my money's worth. I'm sure I could pay to have it reconditioned, but I'm thinking more and more it may be time to just use my phone. (Which I've been doing pretty constantly for the last month or so anyway.)
That is an impressive and pretty tree.
ReplyDeleteWe have a neighbour a couple of doors down who can't stop renovating.. basically she has nothing better to do and has apparently alienated most of her family.
She once gave us sixty paving slabs, a ton bag of pebbles and a bag of oggin.....better than it going in the skip, she said.
She replaced it with almost the same materials.
I've never seen a paulownia tree. That's got quite a spread. Thanks for the close-ups of the flowers.
ReplyDeleteYour theory on the Russians and their renovations makes sense. I wouldn't be surprised.
I've been using my iphone almost exclusively for photos. I sometimes keep my Canon on hand for its 40x zoom. Other than that, I'm quite satisfied.
Sorry about your camera.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and son-in-law had what they called a Pawlonia tree behind their house to shade the dining and family room, because it was reputed to grow extremely large extremely quickly, which it did but I don't recall it ever flowering. Perhaps I just didn't visit when it did.
Rather than renovate a small flat in West Hampstead, I wish that The Russians would renovate their government and rise up against Putin to begin the journey to freedom and democracy. Pulling out of Ukraine would be infinitely preferable to constantly pulling up flooring. Do The Russians ever consider the people and the dog below? Seems not.
ReplyDeleteYour other readers are much kinder (or more normal?) than me. I was thinking of the Russians burying enemies in the walls or floorboards.
ReplyDeleteThat tree is beautiful.
The first two things I would do is to remove the camera battery for ten minutes or so to let all the charges dissipate and also clean the contacts between the lens and the camera body with a q-tip. Perhaps some gunk got on the contact.
ReplyDeleteI know a few people who are always remodeling something in their house. Technically I'm like that I guess as I've had remodeling projects on my to-do list for all 20+ years of home ownership. The key difference is that I'm comfortable letting wide spaces of time get in-between those projects.
I know people like these eternal remodelers. One neighbor has redone his entire kitchen several times. My own is still the original one, painted about once every 15 years. But he doesn't cook! So I think he's answering a different need.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty tree. I had never seen one before, but it is sure impressive and I think that the flowers are just beautiful. They do resemble fox glove, but have a certain trumpet vibe. It would be nice to have one here for shade.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame about your camera. I hope that it is nothing seriously wrong with it. My iPhone takes really nice pictures, but I cannot get them to sync to my computer and I can't find them once I forward them to a folder. It's aggravating to be sure.
Last of all, my sister and her husband are constantly renovating their house. They paint every year, lay new tile every other year, install shutturs and a variety of other things. New furniture, bed linens and just revamped their bathroom. I would rather put my money into something different every once in a while, but they are happy and that is what counts.
I guess that the Russians are happy with driving their neighbors crazy with all of their renovations. I would get tired of the noise really fast.
Have a great day!
What a gorgeous tree; night to spot those bursts of color as you walk down the street.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Russians are like Sarah Winchester who remodeled and renovated her home into the Winchester Mystery House because she was under the impression that if she kept working on the house she wouldn't die.
Does knowing what you know about the Russians which is that basically, they will never stop with the noise and the mess, make you want to find a new place to live? I'm not sure I could handle that constant chaos. Home is supposed to be a place of peace.
ReplyDeleteIt must be so frustrating.
I am so sorry to hear about your camera. Perhaps there's an easy fix. Or perhaps it is time to move on from it. It has served you well.
I've been thinking similar things about my Nikon. I love the camera because of the fantastic telephoto but lately it's been giving me trouble. Sometimes it's the display screen that doesn't light up, and sometimes it doesn't focus correctly. And, it never downloads correctly. If I have 38 photos on the card, it will download 27 and I can't get the rest until I delete a few. Other times if I download 60 photos, it says I have 120 photos and then downloads a duplicate to each photo. I never know what it's going to do.
ReplyDeleteI love that tree. It kind of reminds me of the yellow bells trees here. The flowers are the same shape, just a different color.
I do not understand how on earth they can stand to live in the middle of renovations. I've done that before, and the chaos and disorganization and the DUST. Ugh. I could not wait for it to be done.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers on that tree. I love the closeup photos.
ReplyDeleteI've started thinking about getting a new camera since I never did buy one when my old one died a few years ago. I've been using the iPhone ever since. But just yesterday I was looking at some old photos on the blog and noticed that the camera photos are SO much better than the iPhone pics. I may be looking to buy a camera again.
Your neighbors' obsession with remodeling makes me wonder if they're just missing the chaos of Russia and this is their way of recreating it. LOL!
I remember your saying in another post that you two were thinking of moving, or at least considering it. Given your location and beautiful garden, I think that would be hard but if anything tripped MY trigger it would be constant renovations above me! I mean, landlords can fix bathrooms or stoves (even if it takes awhile) but that reno has to be so annoying!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we have those kinds of trees here and if they'd grow in Michigan. That's a stunner and I would LOVE to have one in my world!
My Lumix gives me the lens is not attached error message ever so often. In the beginning, it was a lot, now it's infrequent. I struggle with the idea of a new camera, maybe I should get a new phone. All of my old point and shoots have started taking fuzzy pictures, so they're pretty much kaput. It's always something.
ReplyDeleteI love the colour of those tree blossoms. Are there two trees in that picture or does the one tree grow like that?
ReplyDeleteI would go slowly crazy if I had upstairs neighbours renovating over and over. But you are always so kind even in your frustration (i.e., "piece of work" not "POS", lol)
That tree is beautiful and I'm glad you shared a close up of the blooms. Does it smell good?
ReplyDeleteSounds like the Russians are somewhat compulsive when it comes to renovations. They are never satisfied with what they do.
ReplyDeleteOh no Your big camera, I remember when you bought it, seems like twenty minutes ago...I had my canon point and shoot, refurbished...it worked for about ten months. I should have just bought a new/improved one. Your phone takes excellent shots!
ReplyDeleteSome people are never quite satisfied and need projects on-going to feel accomplished. I'm the opposite! Love that tree with its interesting blossoms.
ReplyDeleteThere's a house here that I pass by frequently that has three of those trees but they're in the back with other big trees in front so they are very hard to see when in bloom. Are the flowers fragrant?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll ever buy another stand alone camera, especially since I got an iPhone 13. it tkes pretty awesome pictures.