SHOPPING

Ah! Shopping! Don't like the boring sort, ending up with dozens of pre-used carrier bags bursting with packets of cereal and pasta, etc.



But foreign markets seem so much more colourful than British! This one is in Bergen, Norway, down on the Quayside.




And this one is in Stavanger, also in Norway. Just a small stall, but beautifully presented vegetables. I did wish I had been self-catering!




Our local Garden Centre does like to keep its goods nicely lined up. No leaf dare stray from the straight and narrow here!




And then there are the Flea Markets. I can almost guarantee that you will find what you need, and a lot of things you don't actually need but are wondering where you could accommodate them! This one is in our home town, and has a gorgeous foodie section. Last Sunday in the month - well worth going to stock up on cheeses, bread, and Greek and Indian goodies. And skeletons, of course.




And then you'd need something to carry all these goodies home in! This is in our indoor market, there permanently, we hope, so long as the rents don't go up any further and drive the traders away.

Check out on Carmi's blog to see more Shopping!

VIBRANT

Carmi's Challenge this week is VIBRANT

I decided this colour was just about as vibrant as you can get (well in the NW of the UK in a perfectly ordinary garden). I took several shots trying to get the bee to stand still, preferably in the middle of the flower, before he obliged!

I am really pleased with these African Marigolds. I bought them really far too late to be putting pot plants in, and the place I got them from is a huge DIY chain (B&Q for those of you in the UK) who, although they have a biggish garden section, do NOT take care of their plants!

I needed something quickly, and there was a choice of mostly half dead marigolds, begonias and some very dead unwanted items. I found the best plants I could find, two marigolds and about 4 begonias - the sort with little, dark leaves, and complained firmly to the checkout girl that the plants were badly kept. So she promptly rang them up half price, and I took them home, planted them and gave them so TLC.

My reward? THREE different types of marigold for the price of two, all very vibrant, all making a grand orange show outside my kitchen window, and some beautiful pink begonias which have blossomed forth in all senses and look really lovely in a well weathered terracotta pot.

GLASS

Carmi's Thematic Challenge this week is GLASS




This is the view across our road seen through a beautiful glass ball we found many years ago.

It is a float that the fishermen attached to their nets so that they would find them later. it had been washed up on a lonely beach in the Isle of Skye, off Scotland's west coast. Miraculously, it hadn't broken, and despite the fact we were camping we managed to get it home in one piece. It has since survived three moves, and sits where the light can shine through it in my office, reminding me of the very beautiful Isle of Skye.

Unfortunately we didn't see very much of the island, as after the first day, when we explored some lonely beaches and found the glass ball, the weather turned foggy, and we could hardly see in front of the tent!

We abandoned our plans to go to the Outer Hebrides, and once we got back to the mainland the weather was beautiful, hot and sunny!

That's Scotland for you! One day I am going to get back to the Islands. I'm determined!

IT'S ROUGH !

This week Carmi's Thematic Challenge is ROUGH





The skin of this pineapple proved very rough, and hard to get off! There must be a gadget that does it neatly, cleanly andwithout getting juice all over the place!




I took the photo of this holly, as I loved the red of the new leaves. I suppose prickly rather than rough describes it, but its certainly rough if you brush against it, being a very close hedge-like holly bush at the side of a path!

IT'S RED !

Carmi's Challenge this week is RED.

Well, you can't get much redder than crunchy fresh radishes, can you? These were at Stavanger Market in Norway.




And these were at Bergen Fish Market, also in Norway.

Now, shrimps I know, and those at bottom right must be lobsters, but what are those bright red, tiny things next to the lobsters?

And WHAT are those long orangey tentacle-type things in the top right??

Hopefully someone can tell me - as well as admiring my photos, of course. ;)