Yesterday was one of those golden days where we had a rare afternoon off together and met up at the beautiful Christchurch Botanic gardens for coffee... a beautiful place that holds many memories for us both. In full spring glory, the daffodils and blossom are at their best... and I often drive through the centre of the park where the trees line the road with this blossom. Finally, our trees are bursting into green again!!!!
Catching blossom...
The magnolia walk - taking a close up picture - see next shot
Enjoying the warmth, we headed towards the beautiful ponds that I used to take the children to visit and watch the goldfish. Or are they Carp! A journey round the gardens is usually a feast for the nose.. and yesterday was no exception. As we approached the water, there was a strong smell of chlorine; so strong I was trying to work out which flowers were producing the smell! Certainly wasn't the magnolias nearby. The smell eased as we stood by the pond, but the water was crystal clear, bubbling from a fountain, and with no plants or algae... hmmm.
Further on we explored the other pond, where there used to be lots of fish, and on a hot day, they would bask on the surface near the bridge.... sadly, we only saw one, and it seemed to have lost its tail fins, moving sluggishly. Not sure what is going on there! It is such a beautiful place.. should still be lots of fish there.
As we walked round, we were this time struck by the strong smell of pesticide... and we were discussing that the smells were all man made chemicals! At the next large bush, two young men were lounging round; the pesticide had not worked - there was a strong smell of "weed".... we managed to keep straight faces.
On the final part of the pool circuit, this romantic looking couple were busy texting on their phones all the time we were there... sad!!!!!
It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of ducklings everywhere...which is one thing that makes me feel like spring has really arrived. In the rivers there were eels and trout so whatever damage has happened to the other fish ponds, it was certainly not evident anywhere else, which was a relief :)
I will leave you with a picture of Saffy... the cigar like object in her mouth is a dental chew bar... which she adores and usually races out to demolish in record time. Today, we could not let her outside as the gate was still open, so she sat and looked at us, salivating madly, worried we might tell her off for eating on the carpet... had to take a picture! Her Winston Churchill look :)
