In case you were not aware, CNY is nearly here. Dont worry folks nearly finished the pics!
Here is the famous CNY Kumquat tree, bringing lots of luck to all (and gorgeous marmalade!)

Took this about 5 minutes ago. It's at a bit of an angle as I was leaning out of my roof window which slammed down on my head! Also, I was quite excited to see that there should be a pot of gold in my son's living room.

'Jimmy Figgs', a Tudor building in Thame, Oxfordshire, now used as a pub - and having a rather poor reputation with local residents. Nice looking building though!

No new photo today, so here is a photo of a watercolor done by my great-great grandfather.

"Philadelphia from Hestonville, September 1889"

Hestonville, now part of Philadelphia, is now almost lost within a densely built urban area. The foreground road is possibly Lancaster Avenue, also known as Route 30.



Link to larger picture

Winston was very comfortable curled up on my sister's dining room rug the other day. He was so comfy that he didn't bother to uncurl himself to eat his ice cream!

Ren, when we lived in Pasadena, California, we had a Kumquat tree hanging over the roof. It was huge! It looked nothing like the tidy little one in your pic. Do you know if Lowquat is the same thing?

Veronika, cumquats and loquats are not the same and despite the similarity in name, they aren't even related.

Cumquats are small citrus fruits. I am not sure how loquats are classified but they are definitely not citrus. They have a large central seed but I don't think they are classified as stone fruit either.

veronikkamarrz,

Found this interesting link about the loquat. Hope this helps.

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/loquat.html

The kumquat trees get to be so neat and tidy after a huge amount of work by local farmers. They seem to start about September , grafting and training the trees. I was looking today in the office building I was at and all the trees were the same size , covered in fruit and then there were lucky packets tied on. Beautiful.
That was an interesting link about loqats, it was one of those things I always meant to find out about.
Anyway it looks as if most of the trees are sold and it was a good year , inspite of the freezing weather we have had lately (11 degrees C lol). Here is the farm last week

Kapuskasing ~ what a beautiful painting from your great-great-grandfather. Amazing what that area used to look like. You got me thinking about great-great-grandfathers in general, and what their "time" was like - so here is a photo of some of my ancestors (this hangs in my hallway), including my great-grandfather (second from left top row) and great-great-grandfather (middle row with the beard.) Aren't they a jolly bunch?

Ozzz, on a smaller scale you aren't as far off as it seems, I remember the Datsun 120 (before they were called Nissan) over here with the 1200cc engine, which was pretty slow, and in America it was the 210. Same car, 2100cc engine. I never got to drive their version but must have almost taken off like a rocket.

Here is a block in Finchley where my friend used to live but looks quite photogenic as well.

On a drive on the outskirts of town I spotted this prickly pear covered in fruit.

It was very foggy this morning.



You'll see just how foggy it was if you look at this photo .

Thanks for the link, JTJ. Very interesting!

In fact, I now believe the huge tree in our yard was probably a Lowquat! The description of the fruit was more like it. Live and learn!

Mmmmm! wigwam those prickly pears look delicious. Have you ever eaten them?

A lovely day today; I walked along the South Bank of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge. This is the view of Canary Wharf, with St. Paul's Cathedral on the left, and the unusual building nicknamed 'The Gherkin' on the right.

That brings back some memories picqero, they'd just put that up when I went to see David Blaine by Tower Bridge in 2004 and got some similar photos as well. I also looked up at the London Eye and got vertigo just from the bottom. No big wheel experience for me!

Here's another unusual house I found yesterday in Finchley.

I should say it was foggy, Liz! What a difference between the two photos.

It rained for us on Sunday, but the mountains got lots of snow. Apparently a foot and a half in a town just north of us.

lady1 I've never eaten prickly pear fruit. What do they taste like? I took a close up of the fruit though:

Once again, it is snowing. Took this about 45 minutes ago, at 11 p.m., using available light. The sky is bright white with the clouds and snow.

wigwam the closest fruit I can think of would be a kiwi fruit. You have to remove the skin, then place them in the fridge to get nice and cold. mmmm...

djsgal those mountains look amazing.

liz are you tired of all the snow yet?

Here is another flower that is very lucky at CNY , Peach Blossom. It is very expensive , and usually only bought by companies and big shopping malls.