Sunday Selections # 318

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

Today we'll continue walking through the grounds here, now that Angel is safe at home.

not the garden, obviously, these are my footprints in the dust on my scales, which shows just how little I bother to weigh myself. Usually these scales live under my bed, guess I should vacuum under there more often (*~*)

the clivia under the lilly pilly tree are into their third year now and each clump is bigger than when first planted. They will spread to cover the area eventually. The flowers are finished for this year.

these are the fruits or berries on what I thought was a daphne but isn't. This bunch is quite large, they look like olives,

while other parts of the bush have smaller berries in larger clumps.

Someone's dwarf white agapanthus, in its second summer now, is flowering better than it did last year.

the hawthorn bushes are all completely covered in these small berries which all look like they're watching us through their single eyes. Bit spooky? Like little aliens scouting the area.

the once pink hydrangea has faded and dried to papery white

but now the cyclamens are beginning to flower, it's their turn. These pinks are usually first while the red ones further around in a different garden will flower a bit later.

a little blurry, these twinkle phlox are still showing pretty colours in a tub behind the cyclamen.

just across from my flat, this spread of greenery was just a few individual plants when I moved in,

the ones at the morning sun end are standing taller than the rest.

this cheerful pot of marigolds belongs to a neighbour who has been here just under a year; in that time he has amassed an impressive number of flowering pot plants and solar lights. In the evenings, his corner looks like fairyland.
The neighbour next to him came out and asked what I was doing, so I asked if I could photograph her ornaments. "Of course", she said, so I did.

look at this cuteness!

and this one with pink phlox in the bowl. These flats get morning sun, so all the flowers grow well.

I LOVE this birdbath, which has a pot of something sitting in it, no water.

more cuteness, a tiny bird eating a tiny pomegranate,

and a little black birdcage with a mosaic candle holder inside. This neighbour then asked if I would like to see her indoor ornaments. "Of course" I said, so we went into the lobby which she has decorated with plants and buddha statues, then upstairs where I saw this 

pretty green (plastic) butterfly in a plant that I know, but can't recall the name of. Here there were more plants, more buddhas and pretty mirrors. Then C showed me inside her flat. She has lived there just over 20 years and WOW! This place is gorgeous! 

Her entire decor is black, white and silver, with two huge pale beige sofas and touches of muted yellow on the throw cushions. She has two bedrooms and the smaller one, she has turned into a separate dining room. Glass table, black chairs, giant silver framed print on one wall, glittery chandelier. Stunning!

This is the chandelier in her bedroom. See the small corner of dark colour? The wall behind the bed is papered in dark grey printed with silhouettes of lamps similar to...

these adhesive lamps which are on each of her wardrobe doors. Lucky C has a whole wall of wardrobe, also in the dining room, which has..

silver adhesive lamp decorations.Sophisticated, stylish and very feminine.

On the way home I took one more photo, 

one of C's pots of orange and yellow portulaca. 
My own portulaca seeds were planted and promptly disappeared. I have another packet which I will plant eventually.