GOING OUT IN A FLURRY OF PINK - PINKTOBER 3O

The most observant among you will realise that this is NOT actually the last day of October, but as tomorrow is Silly Saturday and I have something in mind for that, I decided that today, I would find all the flowers in the garden that were still blooming and pink, so here is a collage.  I might add that when I went out there just before 9 o’clock, I was also wearing my pink robe and pink flip-flops - so it truly was a flurry of pink!

It has been very windy and wet recently, so I am surprised that so many flowers are still blooming - they are so resilient and keep our spirits up, especially in these difficult times.  Outside the fence, there are several large Council sycamore trees, some of which are quite bare, but others are refusing to let their leaves go.  However, a few more windy days like today and the leaves will all be down - and mostly, I have to say, in our garden, along with thousands of “helicopter” seed heads.

For those interested, the flowers in the collage, going clockwise from the top left, are as follows - the last of the pink Carnations, grown by Mr. HCB, Hellebore, Snapdragon, Michaelmas Daisy, Verbena Bonariensis, two-tone white and pink Cyclamen, Chrysanthemum grown by Mr. HCB, Polyanthus, Passionflower, bright pink Cyclamen, back of a Japanese Anemone and another Chrysanthemum - as you can see lots of pink.   

Someone who would have loved to see these beauties is Mr. HCB’s mother, Joan, or to give her her full name, Phyllis Evelyn Joan, shown in the middle of the collage - we have been thinking of her especially today, which is the anniversary of the day she died in 1996.  

She was a kind and gentle lady, loved by all her family and was always grateful for all we did for her, especially after she was diagnosed with breast cancer not long after her dear husband, Harry, died in 1977.  Joan coped with having a mastectomy and all the treatment that followed and never complained even when she had had breast cancer for the second time in 1996.  Joan had many friends and neighbours who visited and as soon as she was able, she was up and about and then she would be visiting others who were ill and doing things for them. 

Joan also loved the garden, which she and Harry had created so lovingly;  she liked nothing better than to go out there, potter around, do some dead-heading and then have a good sweep and tidy up before lighting a bonfire at the bottom of the garden - always making sure that neighbours had taken in their washing from the line. She is still loved and missed after all these years and is a true inspiration to us all. 

Please remember to click on this link so that those who cannot afford to pay for a mammogram may have a free one - you have all been wonderful during Pinktober, clicking every day, and it is much appreciated.

“I am determined 
     to move forward and
          turn my experience
               into something positive.”
Roxanne Martinez : Cancer fighter

P.S.  You all know how I love to do a bit of fartnarkling - and the photograph of Joan, in the middle, was coloured, from a black and white photograph, using an app called Colorize, recommended by a Blip friend - and I rather like this version.