After telling us that we were due for a hot summer the met office now says that August will be WET. Surprise, surprise. When I woke this morning there was a bright blue sky quickly followed by grey clouds. The forecast was for sunny spells and showers so I decided that I would try and have a gardening day in between the showers. During the wet spells I got on with the housework and painted a piece of wood to go across the microwave niche to match the kitchen tiling. From lunchtime there has been no rain though there have been cooler spells. I managed to do as much weeding as my knee would allow and also fitted in an hour of reading at the end of the day.
While I was deadheading the hanging baskets I found this Silver Y moth sheltering from the rain.
Up in the scree garden the cabbage white butterflies are about. They only seem to like the nasturtiums which are self seeded escapees from the time when I planted lots of them to provide colour in the scree garden while the planned plants were very small.
This is the first view of the garden as you approach through my neighbour's fields.
Some more of the different varieties of crocosmia are coming into flower. One clump has disappeared altogether, one more of last winter's casualties. The solanum crispum on the end of the house is definitely dead and so is the phlomis italaica which admittedly was a tender shrub.
It was so good to see blue skies again.
I suddenly noticed that the rowan tree behind the outbuildings is full of berries. Is that a sign of a hard winter to come ? Plenty of food for the birds anyway. It is so peaceful at home with none of the youngsters around. Scout camp week has always been my 'holiday' when I can relax in peace and quiet. It's my reward for the years when I went to camp and spent the whole time working in the 'kitchen'. I did use to enjoy the evening camp fire with lots of singing. Because Lithuanians, besides drinking and talking and eating like to sing, it's in our blood.
While I was deadheading the hanging baskets I found this Silver Y moth sheltering from the rain.
Up in the scree garden the cabbage white butterflies are about. They only seem to like the nasturtiums which are self seeded escapees from the time when I planted lots of them to provide colour in the scree garden while the planned plants were very small.
This is the first view of the garden as you approach through my neighbour's fields.
Some more of the different varieties of crocosmia are coming into flower. One clump has disappeared altogether, one more of last winter's casualties. The solanum crispum on the end of the house is definitely dead and so is the phlomis italaica which admittedly was a tender shrub.
It was so good to see blue skies again.
I suddenly noticed that the rowan tree behind the outbuildings is full of berries. Is that a sign of a hard winter to come ? Plenty of food for the birds anyway. It is so peaceful at home with none of the youngsters around. Scout camp week has always been my 'holiday' when I can relax in peace and quiet. It's my reward for the years when I went to camp and spent the whole time working in the 'kitchen'. I did use to enjoy the evening camp fire with lots of singing. Because Lithuanians, besides drinking and talking and eating like to sing, it's in our blood. 
