Sunday and the heatwave continued. After a sweaty day in the countryside we returned home for a late evening swim in a bay filled with the beats of the last DJ set at the Drakes Island festival. This morning the sunrise and dawn chorus are in the exact same spot with a cool breeze and cooler water.
All the same colours, just spread out differently
Farewell June, you were a funny month. One moment too hot to handle and the next, raining so hard that unusual places flooded. And then in the middle of another heatwave a sea mist rolled in and we could barely see which way to swim.
Welcome to July 1st,🌞lets see what interesting weather you have in store for us.
Woman and Snail, both doing a balancing act.
Summer is officially here and a job needed doing. We have a large parabolic sun parasol. Something was not quite right with the parasol last year but we put it away regardless. In my experience over-wintering a problem never improves the situation.
Me and the parasol resolved our differences after a few hours of relocating the base and replacing some nuts and bolts. All a question of balance and diligence. I think last year the parasol base was not level which caused a slight imbalance and nuts and bolts do need attention at some point.
Balance was certainly on the mind of this snail who really had no need to take himself along the yard-long stalk of an Agapanthus. Snails do not eat Agapanthus blooms.
On balance all was well that ended well for the snail too.
The yard has started to produce a small handful of strawberries. Today’s haul gave us two bums.
This week has been all about gathering things, mostly lovely conversations with friends. And also some stray thoughts because my life is all about gathering virtually useless information.
Strawberries are not called strawberries because they are habitually grown on straw to protect from slugs. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon language when they had a descriptive name of Stray Berries because they throw off runners to create new plants.
I also learnt a new acronym. ‘ There we are then’ a really polite phrase that neatly responds to the news that someone has behaved in a particularly vile or unpleasant way.
Another offering from the yard for Friday is sharp evening shadows . White Agapanthas and my newly white painted wall.
Random thoughts for a Friday.
Ta da, normal blogging service resumes. What else has been happening during the four days of an art exhibition. Well, quite a lot of real world talking to new-to-me people. Still a little bit of giddiness at seeing my own art on such a large scale.
Some yardening.
Some tinkering with a new photo editing feature on my phone.
And an al fresco lunch that was sent indoors by rain.
In many respects an entirely normal British Bank Holiday.
I was in a slightly eccentric cafe today when this picture knocked on my memory. In the 1970’s this print hung on my parents dining room wall. It was a mass produced print. Possibly from a chain retailer like Woolworth. This would have been completely out of character, our home exuded mid century modern good taste long before it was retro-chic. I was possibly the only person who ever looked at this picture In a small family of three we all sat at the same place at the table every day. I know my dad hated it, my mum never expressed an opinion. I imagine it was a gift that had to be seen when the person who gifted it visited. I looked at this lightly wooded scene most days for ten years. Then when I left home and there were just two people left in my home my parents decided to build a new extension on the back of the house. The wall where this picture hung was fitted with shelf units and it was never seen again, until today.
Oh the difficult conversations that have been had while staring at this woodland stream. The awkward silences, the introduction of unsuitable boyfriends. The endurance of meals that did not suit my hungover, teenage self. There were celebrations and happy meals too, reunions, parties and special birthday gatherings.
I wonder where the picture went. My heart gave a little jump when I saw it today. There is a part of me that still wonders where the stream of life is taking me and another part that would be happy to still be in the dining room just looking at this, one more time with my parents.
We have had a busy weekend in some glorious weather. There was just an hour or so on Sunday when we could sit in the yard and enjoy looking at the results of our replanting and reorganising, of the pots and planters.
Apparently Hugo needed some time to consider if plants were in their correct locations. Some had been moved to save them from his wee, I’m not sure he appreciated that plan. But he did appreciate us getting out a sun lounger for him to gain a higher perspective of the yard.
He also appreciated the cup of tea that we made to rehydrate after gardening in full sun.
Unlike us his paws and fingernails were not grubby with hard work and soil. We jokingly call him the yard supervisor, I think these pictures suggest that that is exactly what he considers himself to be.
Just when the garden supervisor was on a break his mature good looks got him spotted, again, as a potential dog model. Let’s see how this unfolds,as a pup he modelled neckerchiefs. He retired after only one campaign.
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