Rainbow art and sunshine

Finding different places to walk has become our weekend ‘thing’. The first weekend where the lockdown restrictions were lessened we headed into the City, and it was good to wander around old haunts and I’ve yet to share some of the photos here, but I will shortly. And yesterday we headed along the Thames, walking from Woolwich to the Greenwich Peninsula, only really possible with a bus trip at either end. I’d seen online that there was a new art installation on the Peninsula so we were keen to take a look at that first hand.

hundreds and thousands by liz west

And we were well rewarded at the end of our walk, and I don’t mean the flat white purchased from one of the pop-up coffee stalls. The sun came out and shone through the rainbow art, the new addition to ‘Turning the Tide’. To be honest, we’d not seen this before; there continues to be much development in this part of our local area but this walkway seems an excellent addition.

rainbow art a technicolour walkway

The artwork is ‘Hundreds and Thousands’ by Liz West and it’s due to remain here until the end of May according to The Londonist.

rainbows at the peninsular

It’s great - and we were lucky to experience it in sunshine, chilly sunshine, but sun no less. And that made a huge difference to see the reflection of the colours shine though.

sun shining through the rainbow art installation

Let alone see them against the textures of the surrounding buildings.

rainbows pattern and nature together

But my favourite shot is this one. Angles, lines and colours - it’s just fabulous.

rainbows and angles.jpeg

It’d be great if this could stay around much longer.

PoCoLo

Remembering nature on our doorstep

It’s all too easy to forget what’s on our doorsteps isn’t it? Even though in lockdown and since we’ve stayed relatively close to home. For us it’s easy to remember Greenwich Park, and of course Blackheath. But even so there’s bits of those we rarely visit. A few weekends ago now, we took an overly long walk to the shops around the corner. Partly to get out, and partly to see something a little bit different as cabin fever started to take hold, and of course ultimately to pick up supplies.

It threatened rain, but didn’t quite manage it. It had been raining and there was a distinct whiff of autumn in the air. The wet leaves were golden, and glistening started to confirm this.

golden autumn leaf

We headed into Blackheath, stopped for a long overdue look at ‘my tree’ and then headed on into the private estate for some serious house spotting - something we did often when we first moved to the area - then through Blackheath Village and our plan was to go onto the shops. However once we were out, and as the rain was holding off a new plan was formed.

We were very tempted to stop for a pint in the pub edging the Heath (which you may know as Blackheath Common - something we never call it), but we didn’t. Instead we headed straight for Greenwich Park, entering through the gates you see runners streaming out of on Marathon days, of course, sadly not this year though. Turning right we were in the Flower Garden and it wasn’t long before the fungi on the bark had me curious.

fungus on a tree in greenwich park

It really was a peculiar pale pink colour. It’s not just a reflection of the brightness from the flowers below, which despite their raindrops were ever so vibrant.

vibrant flowers in the flower garden in greenwich park

As it was a day of unplanned plans, we made another unplanned move. Instead of taking our usual route to the shops, we headed into a part of the Heath we rarely visit, and which we refer to as Vanbrugh Pits. It’s a wilder space, with a huge dip in the middle. It’s not open, and not somewhere I’d walk through on my own.

But it was worth the detour. I’d forgotten its wild side, and forgotten the gorse it was home too.

gorse on blackheath
gorse on blackheath
more gorse on blackheath

It’s just as well we’d forgotten about this though, or else you’d be experiencing many, many more gorse shots here. I’ll try to resist, well at least a little.

Remember 'my' tree?

It’s been five years since I last dedicated a post to ‘my’ Paulownia Tomentosa, which is crazy. I mean five years. Though of course you may think it slightly more wacky for me to be writing about a tree, and to call it mine!

But anyway, on our long walk to the shops the other Saturday we ended up walking past the tree which I followed for a year. And it was kind of nice to be back, a bit like visiting an old friend, though of course it hasn’t really gone anywhere (nowhere at all in fact) and I could have stopped by at any time.

going back to visit 'my tree'

It was strange, yet familiar, to be back. The straggly, tall branches. The leaves as big as your hand.

still there, still has big leaves and is still big

But also, for possibly the first time fruit, or buds. I wasn’t sure which. Surely not buds though, as it was late in the year.

what look like fruits forming

So if they were fruits, had the tree flowered? I suddenly felt cheated!

But who knows?

a rosebush in flower behind the tree

The other noticeable change was the large, flowering rose bush behind the tree. There’d been a climbing rose there before, I’m sure, but not as large as this.

against the lamppost - still as tall, perhaps not quite as dense

As we headed past, as was customary, I looked over my shoulder for one last glance, and couldn’t resist a final shot for comparison.

I’m sure, if I was clever, I could make all sorts of comparisons, to many parts of life, relationships and more. But you know what, it was just nice being back.