The Constant Gardener 2

You may remember how, just a few months ago, I told you all about my gardening exploits. Well, now that the Italian summer is in full swing, I thought I’d take this opportunity to update you on developments.

First of all, let show you some ‘before and after’ photos…

This picture was taken in mid-April and shows my gladiolas starting to sprout...

…Look at how much they’ve grown!

Here I am tending to my young freesias...

…They’re not so ‘young’ now.

My begonias hadn’t even appeared above the soil when this picture was taken…

…After a while, they emerged. They looked like lettuces to begin with…

…But now they’ve blossomed into lovely flowers.

My little sunflower seedlings…

…This is how they looked a month ago…

…and TA DA!

Not forgetting the tomatoes planted in early April…

…They’re coming along great!

Finally, this was my mixed ‘herb garden’ shortly after I’d planted some parsley, tomatoes, basil, chili, lavender and sunflower seedlings.

Voila! It’s now more like a ‘herb jungle’.

Enough of the ‘before and after’ pictures, here’s some lovely photos of my garden in all of its glory…

Begonias

More begonias

Booti-ful! (The sunflowers aren’t bad either. He-he!).

Lavender

Chilies

Basil and parsley

Some yummy apricots! (Although I didn’t plant the tree, I’m claiming credit for these as they’re in ‘my’ garden!).

Me and my tomatoes.

Although I’m happy with the results overall, unfortunately not all of my plants have thrived as I would have liked…

…For instance, my peonies didn’t quite bloom…

…and the irises and lilies were a bit disappointing’. Oh well, better luck next year!

Of course, there’s no point in growing such wonderful plants if you’re not going to make use of them. So, I decided to ‘harvest’ some of the produce…

Here’s some of my booti-ful gladiolas.

I got Dad to help with the apricot collecting…

My stash of apricots. Yum…Can you see my drool?

Last of all, here I am with some of my juicy tomatoes.

I hope you’re impressed with my efforts? After all, how often do you come across a ‘Gardening Golden’?

Homer in Roma

Ever since my humans visited Rome and told me all about my namesake, Omero, it has been an ambition of mine to visit this great city. Well, following our visits to Pisa and Siena a few weeks ago, I finally made it there. Here are some photos from our trip:

My first stop was St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. I had a good sniff around, but I couldn’t find the Pope anywhere!

Me and Missus in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

And here we are with a couple of soldiers from the Swiss Guard. They were booti-ful. (But not as booti-ful as me!).

After our tour of the Vatican, we took a break to have a bite to eat.

Once refreshed, we headed off to explore the rest of Rome...

Here’s Grandma and me in front of the Trevi Fountain.


Grandma, Dad and yours truly at the Trevi Fountain.


Next we took a trip to the Pantheon in the centre of Rome.


Then we were off to the Spanish Steps. Here I am with Missus...

...and here I’m sitting with Dad.

Me and Grandma looking ‘cool’ as we overlook the city of Rome. (BTW, Grandma has left Italy now and gone back to home to England. I really miss her!).

We ended our sightseeing with a visit to the Colosseum...

It was magnificent!

The arch behind us is the Arch of Constantine.

Here’s me, Missus and Grandma getting our picture taken with a Roman soldier in front of the Colosseum.

Unfortunately, all of this exposure to ancient Rome gave Missus an idea...

...Tsk! She couldn’t resist dressing me up as a Roman Gladiator!

"My name is Homeus Maximus, loyal servant to Missus Caesar and definitely better looking than Russell Crowe!"

THE BIG FIVE (It's My Birthday!)

Dear friends,

I want to announce to the whole world that I’m turning FIVE today! FIVE! Woo hoo!

To my delight, Missus was baking me a birthday cake!

I couldn’t resist having a quick sniff...


... and a little lick! (Oops!)

And this is how the ‘a la Martha Stewart’ masterpiece finished up, complete with a yummy yoghurt topping!

Me and my cake. Five and still looking like a gorgeous stud! YEAH BABY!

Dad cutting a couple of slices for me. Man I was drooling!

My humans didn’t give me the whole thing. They’ve saved some of it for tomorrow.

Mmmm...cake with delicious bacon ‘sprinkles’.

I waited patiently for my cue to tuck-in...

...before scoffing the lot in few seconds! It was yummy!

Check out the other ‘loot’ I got for my birthday!

I couldn’t decide which gift to start with! Decisions...decisions...decisions. Eventually I picked out one of the packs of treats...

...which was given by Missus’ cousin. Thank you Jasmine!

I love the blueberry flavoured cookies! Could you send some more please?

Me and all of my presents!

See you! Woof!