OPR Windows Around the World...

[macieklew]

This is tower of the church I can see from my window. It's quiet nice.

Maciek

[macieklew]

And this is view from my other window. The wall.

Maciek

[glennab]

Hi Maciek

What a beautiful view of the church.  It looks wonderfully historic.  And if you took that photo -- you're a master.  Great shot.  Where are you, and what is the wall?

Best wishes

GG

P.S. Since I'm being inquisitive and love horticulture, what type of tree is that in the foreground?

[macieklew]

Hi,
thank you - this photo was taken by my wife - she is the master!

I'm in little village near Dundee, Scotland and this is our Paris Church - it looks really nice. And this tree is cherry tree.

Maciek

[glennab]

Hi Maciek

Please give your wife my compliments.  I really do love the photo of the church.  I suspect you live in a relatively idyllic place -- especially compared to the rat race we U.S. city dwellers endure every day.  I hope you enjoy it!

I had no idea that cherry trees were so spectacular.  Living in a tropical climate, we don't see them.

We have some pretty wonderful flora here in Florida, but it's very unlike that of the colder climates.  In my yard I have a wonderful golden rain tree, and it's aptly named.  Right now the tree is full of tiny yellow flowers that literally "rain" onto the ground. My yard is covered with "gold."  That precludes the production of salmon-colored seed pods that are equally gorgeous.  It's our portend of cooler weather and relief from the brutal summer!

My best to the Scottish division of OPR!

GG

[macieklew]

Hi Maciek

Please give your wife my compliments.  I really do love the photo of the church.  I suspect you live in a relatively idyllic place -- especially compared to the rat race we U.S. city dwellers endure every day.  I hope you enjoy it!

My best to the Scottish division of OPR!

GG

Hi,

thank you very much (from my wife). She was so happy to hear it!
Well - we live in something like 'idyllic place' - you named it perfectly! There is a lot of trees, plants and flowers in here! So many colors! Yes - we like Scotland, sometimes the weather is not too nice - it's awfull grey and too much rain. But we feel relaxed in here.
And grass is always green...

We moved to Scotland around 3 years ago (from Poland) - so it's a Scottish-Polish division. S-PD of OPR.

Your description of your place seems nice to me. Maybe you can upload some photos from your yard?

Greetings from beautiful Scotland
Maciek

[glennab]

Hi again!

I just went out to look at the tree, because I'd like to post a photo of it.  Right now it's between color stages, so it's not as pretty as it was all yellow or will be when it's covered in salmon.  In a few days it should be gorgeous and I'll definitely share its beauty with you. The tree is so large that I have to go across the street to the park to be able to see the flowers and pods, as they tend to be at the top.

I discovered an interesting fact when I went out.  I have a southern Magnolia tree near the Golden Rain Tree, and it's going to seed.  The seeds are bright red and shiny and wrapped in a tan furry object that slowly opens little folds and allows the seeds to fall out.  Very pretty. I've never seen them before.

Our climate is very different from Scotland's.  The sun shines nearly every day -- in fact in the '70s the local paper used to be free if the sun didn't shine in a 24-hour period.  Our area holds the Guinness World record for the most consecutive days of sunshine - I forget the number, but I believe it's over 300.

Since I love horticulture, this is a wonderful place for me.  Our winter is so mild that this is the time we do most of our gardening and have the prettiest plants.  Only problem with that is there's no break from yard work!

Best wishes to you and your talented wife, the S-PD of OPR.  I love that!

GG

[macieklew]

Hi again,

I'm looking forward to see your photos.

I like sun, hot, summer...but not for 300 days!!! :)

SP-D of OPR

[glennab]

Hi SP-D!

I just found the small article I wrote for our publication about St. Petersburg's sunshine record.  We average 361 days of sunshine a year.  The record was 768 consecutive days of sunshine, back in 1967.

Actually it isn't always HOT.  We have 3 or 4 days of winter. (Just kidding)  It has actually snowed a couple of times since I moved here in '68.  Some winters are pretty cold, we have freezes (very hard on the citrus industry.  I lost a beautiful tangerine tree and an avocado tree to frost.)  But I don't own a coat, and we don't even have a heater in the house.  Most of the time if it gets cold we use the fireplace or space heaters.  So the winters are pretty mild.  That's why we have so many northern visitors and part-time residents during and after the holidays.  Many Canadians spend the winter here. And more and more Europeans have discovered Florida.

I ran out and snapped a couple of shots of the Golden Rain Tree this morning, but then I had to book it to work.  I'll see if they're any good this evening and if they are, I'll post one.

Guess I'd better get back to work.

Later!

GG

[macieklew]

Hi again

In fact I do like my Polish climate: hot summer and cold winter with a lot of beautiful snow. We're missing snow in here - especially our kids. But...

Wintertime is just beginning in Scotland. It means long, grey, dark, wet evenings and rain, rain, rain...
I'm going to take some photos - rainy photos. Tommorow maybe.

S-PD of OPR

[glennab]

Hi my Scottish-Polish friend,

Here's the best photo I could get of the rain tree.  Once the yellow flowers are gone, the pods that are quite small right now will be several times as large.  I'm quite fond of this tree.  It was given to me by the city for allowing them to use my well when they were landscaping the park across the street.  At that point it was a tiny little thing.  I think it's about 35 years old or so.

I love snow, too. I was born in New Hampshire and my sister lives in Maine.  It was quite comical when my son was little and we would go up to visit over the holidays.  He was accustomed to walking out the door in whatever he was wearing at the time.  He got quite indignant that he had to put on boots, coat, hat, mittens, etc. before he could even open the door.  Wuss!



Fall in West Central Florida!

[macieklew]

Hallo from rainy Scotland,

Beautiful colours and plenty of nice leaves on your tree. I really like it!

I've taken some gray - rainy - wet photos today and I'm going to post one of them later, so you can see my "idyllic" Scotland. :)

Maciek

[macieklew]

This is exactly my today's window's view. Not very nice day, agree with me? You can see tower of the church (where are these pink leaves?) and the wall (on the left side of the photo) - both are on my previous photos.

Wintertime in Scotland!!!

Take care,
S-PD of OPR

[glennab]

Hi SP-D

Rain & all it looks like a wonderful place.  What I think I'd especially appreciate is all the history.  You must love it there.

Thanks for sharing the photo!

GG

[glennab]

Hi SP-D

I thought you'd be interested in the change in the rain tree in 2 days.  I took this right after I got home from work.  I'd forgotten how quickly it transforms.

Have a wonderful weekend!

GG