Wednesday 18 June 2014

I know I said ~~~

Gentle Reader~~~I know I promised not to deliver more than two blog entries a week, but the photographs are starting to pile up, and being a person of minimal organisation skills they get lost in the ether of cyberspace {did I actually use that word here?} or the darkest recesses of my hard drive, along with the other few thousand pictures {yes, you read that correctly} that infest my computer where they remain unnamed and unsorted, catalogued only by the date they were taken.  I know this is very bad practice indeed and I really should sort myself, and the photographs, out.  Life was so much easier when all was on 35mm film and the temptation to shoot everything that poses or stands still long enough did not exist, or was simply too expensive.  Imagine taking over 200 images a day on 35mm film!  My bank manager would never understand or give me an overdraft facility for that!  I would have to lie and tell him the money was for new tyres for my car ~~~ which as I do not own a car would be a bit of a stretch! {giggles}

The weather is simply perfect and glorious now.  I could throw all manner of descriptions out, from simple adjectives to flourishing sentence fragments, but comfortably warm to sit out, too hot to dig and weed, big blue skies, bright sunshine, contra trails not clouds, deck chairs, and Pimms {or home made lemonade} on the lawn just about sums it up.  In other words, it just feels good.  After the Winter we had it feels like a miracle!

I did dig a bit this morning, because yesterday I removed the big weed smothering covers from the veggie patch {that took forever!} and this morning I started to turn the soil over, breaking it up, ready to receive several of the courgette plants that are coming on very well now.  I went into Spider Town {aka garden shed} and brought out several of the home made cloches which will give the plants extra protection from everything that threatens them once they are in the soil, so all is ready.  These home made cloches are 5 litre water bottles that I cut the bottoms off and they make great cloches, the tops come off and on to regulate the heat inside the little mini greenhouses and I am recycling instead of adding the bottles to landfill.

So, I did say that I'm bursting at the seams with photographs to share with you ~~~ would you mind waiting just a moment, it is getting very hot here in the living room, the sun is streaming in through the French doors and I must draw the curtains ~~~ ah! that is better ~~~ ironic too!  We spend all Winter trying to keep warm, if only we could harness some of today's starting~to~be~searing heat to use in January and February!

Gentle Reader ~~~ are you still with me? ~~~ here is the reason for my digging and preparing ~~~ do you recall, a few short weeks ago when I planted my courgette seeds here and then this happened ~~~


Then this ~~~ 


and a few days ago this ~~~


Well, today they are even bigger and are rocketing ever up in size with the increasing Summer warm days and lots of watering on my part, so I think they are now ready to plant up.   It really is one of the best feelings in the world, to see the tiny seeds you sow germinate and grow into healthy little plants ~~~hence the digging and clearing, but only in little bits and often as it is very hot and uncomfortable working out there today, with the sun beating down on my back and almost no breeze {well, there's a change, isn't it, no breeze?}

There are runner beans too, but they are quite behind, in total I have six plants, three in the big bin and three in the tray that I planted as my 'insurance'.  However, I am confident that they will come on and give some cropping, even if it isn't huge.  Anything fresh from the garden is a treat, even if it is small ~~~

  

Across The Shire drifts a lonesome drone~~~the farmers are busy making hay while the sun shines! 

 

While back in the Garden busy bees drone as they go about harvesting the bounty of pollen from the poppies ~~~

  

Do you notice the wings are beating so fast they look as if the bee is wingless! Oh My! ~~~
 
  

 But here, you can see the blurry wings whizzing to keep the bumble bee in the air!  A miracle ~~~

  

I was thrilled yesterday to be watching, off and on, all day long two darling little wrens and here is one for you to see ~~~ 


Then, late last evening, one of them came flying straight at me, why! I thought he would fly straight in to me, but no, he sat on a nearby wall, close to where I fill my watering cans, and just looked at me, you know "that look" that says, well, look at me, here I am, aren't I just so cute? ~~~ Magic, and made me so happy too ~~~ that momentary connection with nature at it's best ~~~

The light was amazing too ~~~ every corner of the Garden bathed in a glorious golden rose glow as I have seen often, of late, in the Shire evenings ~~~ here are some photographs, which by no means capture it, for it is so hard to do, so it is a poor imitation of what was really there ~~~

 
 


This morning, the native Mullein are opening too ~~~ one of my favourites which I will allow to freely self~seed across the garden, as I feel privileged it has chosen my garden in which to grow ~~~ but see how badly eaten are the leaves? ~~~ Do you recall the Mullein Moth I showed you here?  Well, this is what the do {sad face icon here} ~~~


One final image for today ~~~ this magnificent view {after all, I only capture what God gives me} across the Shire ~~~ where the sky is blue and big, the fields are green, and hay is being made ~~~ I just had to share with you today! ~~~






 ~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~




14 comments:

  1. Dear Deb, just lovely. I keep recycling that word because I'm brain dead, for which reason I hope soon to tell before the weekend! But the word suits. The amazing light you have in the northern reaches -- I loved that in Canada, too; and the magnificent view across the Shire. Is it any wonder Lewis and Tolkien were such wordsmiths! And your homey descriptions of gentle gardening and pulling the curtains to keep out the heat. It all is such a treat and respite from the ordinariness of the daily routine. So glad you are finding time to write it all down. It whisks me away to that side of the Pond. Thank you, thank you.

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    1. We do have lovely light. There was wonderful light in Iceland and on the Faroe Islands too. Inspirational indeed. Don't worry about recycling 'lovely' I'm all for recycling! Thanks for dropping in for a chat!

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  2. Beautiful! I'm so glad you got to play in the dirt for a bit! We have had rain here, but the sun is out this afternoon and I plan on getting my hands dirty. :-)

    And how I would love to harness this heat to use in the Winter...if only we could!

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    1. I've been watching your forecast. You have had quite some rain, I think? Is anything better than hands dirty from digging? Hope you get some good growing out of your veggie beds soon my friend! Waving :)

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    2. Lovely photographs! Beautiful flowers and scenery. I hope you were able to get all of your courgettes planted. I do my gardening a little bit at a time. It just gets too hot for me, as it is about 95 degrees here in the Midwest, USA for the past few days and very humid. I planted patty pan squash this year for the first time. They grow very quickly, like your courgettes have.

      Happy gardening and picture taking!

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    3. Hello Susie from the prettily named Persimmon Moon Cottage ~ thank you for your kind comments. I cannot work when it gets too hot, but hot for me is in the high 70's and I don't want to make myself unwell. Little bits and often when it is too hot. I've never grown patty pans, but would like to some day. You have a lovely blog too. Thank you for visiting and I hope you drop by again very soon!

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  3. I know what you mean about pictures piling up on the computer, that is my summer project, to get them all organized, and onto backup discs, and hopefully even printed out. :) I have my work cut out for me! Love your garden pictures, that little wren is darling! I love watching the bees buzz through my flowers as well. :) Happy first day of summer!

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    1. Oh, good luck with your picture sorting! We both need it, I think. Yes, the wren is a sweetie. One of the UK's smallest birds. I think it is third {in weight} after the Goldcrest and the Long Tailed Tit. It is a windy day today but Summer is here!

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  4. Hi Debs! Wishing you a happy Summer Solstice across The Pond! It sounds like you had a gorgeous, fun day! We've had some sunny hours and a huge rainstorm late in the afternoon. The garden is happy… and the gardener is, too! ♡

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    1. Good Morning Dawn ~~~ oh, a summer rainstorm is so refreshing, and always welcome to save all that watering! Happy garden~happy gardener as you say ~~

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  5. Debs, I'm fascinated by the beautiful scenes of The Shire! It must be so peaceful and quiet there ~ with only birdsong and the buzzing of bees. Do keep sharing photos of The Shire with us! Wishing you a lovely afternoon in the garden! ♡

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    1. Ah, yes Dawn, it is peaceful and quiet for the most part. I do so love it here, there is an ancient spirituality that is all pervading in the wilds that surround the village. I will do my best to keep sharing!

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  6. Dear Debs! I love reading your narrative about your daily life. Is that last photo taken from your house? Such a lovely view. Your photo count got me curious about my own. I really don't pay attention to the number, but I'm afraid I have beat you.....12, 839. And there are many that are not labeled which is the only way you can search for them if you haven't put them in a folder or have an idea of when you took it. Every once and a while I will go back and label and sort....but I really should do it as soon as I upload them to my computer! I agree, when I took film pictures each picture had to be worth it before I even snapped it. Now I can't seem to dispose of the ones that aren't that spectacular or are unnecessary. Oh well. Your bee photo is really excellent--a keeper!

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    1. Good Morning Cathy! Yes, it is taken from the bottom of my drive. I have looked on my backup system and I have over 35,000 photographs. Some are duplicates as they got switched between computers, some are on cds and some are resized and both copies saved. Sadly many are not that good but I guess the almost limitless storage has meant I've become lazy in throwing out the bad ones. I shudder at the very thought of starting! My whole attitude to photography has changed since going digital. I must discipline myself more rigourously! Thank you for your kind words, and I'm really happy to see you here ~~~ Deb :)

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