Is This Summer?

I have been eating lunch in the garden and having a little sleep in the afternoons sometimes.   It's nice to walk on grass barefoot too.  I'm not 100% at the mo to be honest so nurturing myself a little.  Being outside is great therapy and being amongst colour is very important to me, am I alone? do you feel drawn to a colour one day, maybe another day another colour, having that colour close by makes you feel better, nourished?

 I was very pleased with myself for growing lots of flowers from seed this year, devastating then to see my nasturtium population take a beating from the heavy rain and started to seed,  but there were still lots of flowers left for a spot of painting.

I signed up for a local art group starting in October, I was with them years ago but work got in the way.  With my revised shift pattern I can now join them once a month and am really looking forward to some guidance and inspiration.  I will tell you more when I get started.

Summer is full on, yet it feels like Autumn is just waiting impatiently to come in...  The rowan tree has berries already.  We were momentarily distracted by the recent heat wave but normality is restored.  Blackberry picking should be starting at the end of the month, although I have seen ripe berries already.   I love picking, fingers all stained purple, basket full, avoiding the odd wasp that was there first... that signifies to me that Summer is sliding away, maybe a few weeks of heat before the cool in the mornings creep in.   Elderberries are very sparse, I had a few spots earmarked but it looks it will be a hedgerow mix for the gin this year!

My youngest son took me on a lovely 5 1/2 mile field/wood walk ending with a pint of lemonade at the local pub, hubby picked us up so we didn't have to walk all the way back.  I love thistles, we found virtually a whole field full of them and the hum from the bees was incredible, there were so many gathering for honey.

In fact I love any wild flowers, by the field full, I just have to lie down in them, soak up the beauty of it all....

nope, not coming out, not for anyone

we came upon a field of what I thought was cows, but I wouldn't lie in a field with these ...  they had broken out into the woodland and were having a wonderful time soaking up some shade and eating new leafy things, then I realised they were all young bulls, not one udder in sight - I didn't know you could keep more than one bull in a field, there was a whole herd! they were fairly interested in us too!  I admire the person who is brave enough to get this big lad back in the field!

This is the little church at Burstow we like to visit, it has a very special atmosphere and we sit in here for quite some time.  I have blogged about it before, it's very old and has always been open when we turn up.  It has bells, a beautiful wooden pulip, two altars, a lovely old stone font for baptisms and lots of very old gravestones dating back to the 16th century.  Looks like we missed a wedding...

I made a quorn veggie bolognaise last night, using chilli and basil from the garden.  We also have lots of little container grown tomatos.  I regret not planting potatos - next year maybe, I never plan ..must plan...

 My wobbly bench seat is ideal for holding my herb pots off the ground - away from cats and slugs.We still manage to squeeze in if a sit down is needed  believe it or not - mint and basil smell great at nose height!

My youngest brother has an allotment that is heaving with goodies, he is feeding his family from his allotment - whole meals - courgettes, beans, potatos; my other brother is a landscape gardener, where did I go wrong? why didn't the genes stretch to me just a little more!!  Everyone always says they need more space, container gardening is popular, but everything dries out so quickly I find - it is a really big time commitment watering twice a day!

There have been very few butterflies in my garden this year despite having wild lilac in the woods (red admiral would visit I hoped).  Only cabbage whites have been here (I think they were born in my nasturtium beds!), red admiral and more exotic species flutter over but keep on going.   Lots of moths visit and on a few early evenings when sitting outside I saw bats fly over my fence.

It has been hot enough to wear some of my preloved finds here, they are going into the suitcase for India now.  This is a preloved find:  an Ankohi tee shirt with a lovely sequin azalea flower on the front, ideal for short waisted me as it's a crop.

and here's my Anokhi hand block printed top found for under a fiver ... The label says 16 and I usually wear a 12 or 14 depending on brand.. sizing on labels really is irrelevant. It is important when buying preloved to forget the sizing and if it bothers you then cut the label out - I recommend this, it's all in the mind.  I don't look at labels, they can be depressing for some people.  The bigger the better is my motto - I can take things in on my sewing machine but I think things hang a lot better if you go up a size and stop kidding yourself to be honest.

More fields ... I do love being surrounded.  I am deaf so miss a lot of sounds, especially high notes...  my son told me this field was humming with crickets... couldn't hear a thing!