A beautiful opalescent sky this morning, a fresh breeze and now the sun breaking through in earnest – the week is due to get hotter as we go along. Out in my neighbour’s field, the flowers that escaped the thresher are popping out, including this formidable beast, the spear thistle. This one escaped the blade by being under an apple… Read more »
The last day of July and fortunately after several days of rain, the sun has returned. Everything is soaked and I put on wellies for our walk around the garden this morning. Down in the ‘Japanese’ garden our water lilies are having their best year ever. We have several kinds, but mainly white and these pink ones, which came from… Read more »
We woke up to grey skies and drizzle and now we have heavy, soft summer rain. It’s warm today but I needed a raincoat to walk down the lane, picking my way between the slugs and snails enticed out by the rain. Therefore I thought I’d end the July panel with this humble creature – an edible garden snail. This… Read more »
A grey, cool, windy morning due to the weather front that’s moved in. We had trouble surfacing this morning, it was so dark and it began to spit with rain as I walked the dog up the lane, which turned to a downpour just as I got back. The white buddleia on our west boundary look like an explosion of… Read more »
A serious drop in temperature this morning after last night’s rain. It’s 13 degrees, windy, glittering and bright. This morning, I was pleased to see a roe buck making his elegant way along the bottom of our neighbour’s field. The male goes about on his own, while the females normally travel in groups. We are on a deer and boar… Read more »
A pink and grey dawn, followed by a large bank of fog, which burned off to give us another beautiful day. Rain is due later and it would be very welcome. In the cool orchard this morning, I disturbed a Jersey Tiger Moth. They are common here, though I never saw one before we came to France – in the… Read more »
A warm breezy morning with high cirrus warning of the weather to come. It’s due to be our hottest day of the summer today and I’ll be battening down the hatches in a minute to keep it cool on the ground floor. Today I thought I’d stitch something that has rather amused us here – a sunflower, which is not… Read more »
A beautiful day with a lovely sunrise. Fresh and cool for the moment. The dog and I had a dew-soaked wander around the garden this morning and I noticed that the water mint is back in flower, having flowered in early summer. Since we wanted a wildlife garden, we knew we would have ponds but the first one cost so… Read more »
A gloomy start to the day, though the sun is breaking through now. Refreshingly cool – we’ve been very lucky this summer with the cool nights to offset the hot days. Right by the front door, the nandina has been in flower for weeks and is now going over, so I thought I’d better catch it quick. I don’t know… Read more »
A beautiful, crisp morning, with apricot sunbeams slanting through the tree mist – due to be hot later but for now, it’s refreshingly cool. Down by the pheasant coops, I felt enveloped in honey from the scent of the huge buddleia that the chasse planted to provide shade for the birds. I keep meaning to take a cutting, as it’s… Read more »