Some joyful summer blooms for you today, in all colours.












Take care,
Sophie

A few snaps into our three minutes, 73 outfit picture endeavour C looked up from the viewfinder to ask me, uncharacteristically, what I hoped to show in these shots. Taken by surprise I blurted out that I wanted to look happy, smiley, like my tired face wasn't trying to implode or let the sun cause me to squint myself into one nose-centred ruffle. That I wanted to look like I was having fun and not trying to hold my bloat in. That my good hair day was evident.
Oh, he replied. I meant did you need to focus on your shoes?
Slightly crossed wires, though perceptive of C to think just because my shoes are new that they might be the pinnacle of today's outfit. I bought them as I've near enough trashed my others by wearing them for unbelievable hours on my corrosive feet and *ahem* haven't taken perhaps the care of them that they deserved.
So new boots it was. Super comfy.
I selected this spot as the massive rhododendron bush full of beautiful blooms behind provided a wonderful seasonal backdrop. What I also should have said to C is 'take a lot more steps back to actually fit some bush in the shots' as the purple flowers have scarcely made an appearance at all. Guys, I really try with the backdrops!

I have been wearing this thick casual shirt plenty this year, despite it not making much of an appearance here. Remember, I do wear clothes every day(!).
C did ask a couple of days ago I still post on the blog as he'd noticed a marked reduction in the frequency of photographs taken. I shrugged sadly and admitted not as often because I don't want to overwork myself just for the sake of it. Yes, I'd love to get back to five posts a week like clockwork if there's five worthy stories of content (and usually that wouldn't be a struggle) but you have to prioritise and sometimes you have to let things go or risk burnout.
There have been a number of times that I've considered calling it a day with blogging altogether but each time I feel glad to return after whatever hiatus. There's so much to say, share and store for the future. 1288 published posts currently still live on the blog - that's a lot of history!

Take care,
Sophie

Well, if I haven't fallen back into the habit of abstaining from the blog again....
I would apologise for my absence if I was sorry, but I'm not so I shan't. So there.

It's high time I recapped on how spring went and laid out plans for the rest of summer, better late than never!

Back in mid March my to do list went something like this:

Visit the bluebells. Here there and everywhere (or at least somewhere) - yes! It was Wayland wood, Foxley wood and scraps of places we spotted bluebells. And for the first time smelled them.

Scuff the wildflower patch and sow the seeds - Indeed, this was done. Another arduous process and I'll be writing about this again soon.

Forage elderflowers and make cordial and gin - Yes the cordial, C did much of the foraging very close by. As well as cordial we made elderflower jelly and champagne. More to come on this.

Harvest rhubarb and make copious crumble and gin - Harvesting went well. I can't recall whether I did make crumble or just ate the 'barb without. I knocked up a batch of rhubarb and ginger jam and a new recipe of rhubarb and vanilla jam as well as one other interesting make.

Sow all the seeds and tend the flower plot, main allotment and the garden - Of course and this has taken up all my 'spare' time. But it's mostly been worth it.

Uncover the bench, eat outside - Bench is used for bbq nights and the odd hot afternoon. I envisaged getting the table out to facilitate dining al fresco but keep forgetting.

Take a holiday - Taken

Get a haircut and ideally embark on a treatment regime - Dream on Soph, this was never going to happen.

Swap my wardrobe around and get rid of things which don't fit and search out things that do - Well I had a go.

Not buy any more books and instead just read plenty I own, thus making some space on the bookshelf  - When your to-read list is a bookshelf, stack under, on top of and a pile beside it too it's going to take a lot of reading to 'make space'. I've been reading some fantastic books lately though.

Visit spring gardens and get envious - Yes and it's been fantastic although it seems photography is frowned upon so I didn't take my camera.

Start journaling my growing this year. I need notes to reference! - Another fail. I simply cannot be bothered which is an awful thing to say but it's true.

Foraging - we picked wild garlic and made a garlicky mashed potato and just wilted it as spinach. Much foraging has been happening and I want to write more about this soon.

Spy what goes on in the natural world - Always

 There are so many flowers in bloom, of course it's fantastic.

 However....!
One area has been completely dominated by grass, It started last year and hasn't cared to stop. It's breaching it's pleasant patch and is threatening to spread everywhere. Yellow rattle is supposed to be good for suppressing grass as it's parasitic.
Next issues in quick succession were the thistles and nettles which cropped up everywhere taller than all the flowers we were trying to grow. We spent hours and hours manually pulling out thistles and some nettles on the topmost areas. Even with a decent pair of gloves I wouldn't recommend an afternoon of thistle tugging to anyone; it was a grim couple of hours of self flagellation topped off with gratuitous nettle stings to complement the scratches and stabs of the spikes. Our arms looked a picture.
I know that thistles and nettles are essentials for some wildlife and believe me there are still loads left very nearby but they will not be permitted to run riot through the dedicated wildflower patch. It did look severely depleted after the mass exodus of thistles an I had doubts about whether the trampling may have put pay to anything desirable growing. (See below, one of our thistle heaps)
I needn't have worried. Things grew.
Including things we didn't want.
Cue mugwort. Heard of it? Nope, nor me but I had seen it often enough. It was hard to identify as it doesn't really have flowers to look at. They all blend in with the plant.
About a million of these suddenly shot up and once again, the wildflowers were completely obliterated by these tall beasts. Taller than me, with whopping woody stems. These were unforeseen as there just weren't any last year. Another deflation in my hopes. What to do?! We gloved up and set about yanking them out. I wouldn't recommend it, they don't want to come up and you're probably doing more harm than good it the roots (or rhizomes) stay put.
C put forward the theory that the fact that the patch is in far more daylight now has meant a whole different lot of things want to grow, which I hadn't considered.


In the meantime though there are some utterly divine sights to see. This is one hell of a colour fade.
 C suggested mowing paths. I was reluctant as it would mean losing some flowers but he was right (of course) as it not only means we can stroll around inside to enjoy the flowers but also can reach more weeds without trampling more than necessary.
 The hum is incredible and there have been huge numbers of bees and wildlife drawn to the blooms.
Check out the caterpillers. Actually groundsel was threatening to take over another area but we didn't manage to do much about that.
The future of the flower patch is uncertain at present. The threat of unwanted tyrant weeds coming back with a vengeance next year throws the whole project into doubt as my 'plan' stretched as far as mowing in autumn, raking off the matter minus the seeds then sitting back to enjoy a whole patch of beautiful flowers emerge next spring.

In the meantime though, we'll enjoy what this year brings.

Take care,
Sophie

In the summer when the sun shines all day you can be sure to see the butterflies out in force, on the flowers, sunbathing on leaves and fluttering through the skies. At least that's how it used to be. Worryingly, I often expect to see an abundance yet there are few to be found. On this particular occasion I was happy to see a good few and snapped away. Painted ladies everywhere.



 A red admiral. A couple of years ago I'm sure I saw a white admiral but can't be sure as it was in flight and disappeared double quick.
Numerous meadow browns.


 A tortoiseshell. The blue dots to it's frilly perimeter make it such a standout butterfly.
 I think the rest are all small skippers.
 The black line on the wing indicates it's a male. The females won't have them.


Mum recalls owning a butterfly net as a child and spent time catching butterflies in it to look at and release. Simpler times. I'm lucky enough to have a digital camera so can admire the butterflies long after they have flown off.

Take care,
Sophie

I had a meeting arranged for this evening. Since the England win on Thursday night I knew there was only one place I was going to be: sitting on my sofa cheering on the Lionesses.
The last few weeks have been crammed full of everything and nothing. Yes, I have lots to do but no, there's no way I'm missing a match. Yes, there's lots to do but in Saturday's scorching sunshine I spent a couple of hours on a chair in the shade reading my book. I'll compromise but on my own terms.

We took trips out to open gardens two weeks on the trot. If you haven't indulged in a circuit of someone's gorgeous landscape when they not only open it but serve tea and cake then you really are missing out. Perfect way to spend an hour. C and I both thoroughly enjoyed them.

It did mean that time was short for jobs, walking and just generally but never mind - you can only spend time once so might as well spend it wisely. Our own garden is a veritable joy this summer, we've made sure to head outside to admire our hard work. I sniff the roses each time I pass and fuss over the greenhouse twice a day.

If I fashion a day or half day to knock out some posts about all the things I still have to share (and off the top of my head that would total around 5 or 6) then I'd love to but at present they are not surfacing as  priority. And my 90 minutes are spoken for this evening. I'd like to write about that too. Seven then.

Take care,
Sophie