Glorious Summer has arrived! Much of the United Kingdom has basked in, or suffered {depending on your view} a heatwave of record proportions. Here in the west, the high, often stifling temperatures have been tempered by the soft Summer breezes that billow in from the ocean that surrounds the land I call home.
Warm days, often accompanied by warm nights, have kept us happy for days, and the odd sudden and sharp Summer downpours have been greeted as they cool us down and refresh the land.
I have been busy in work, so I have not been out and about enjoying the languid days as much as the people I serve in the information centre and shop, but I am happy meeting and greeting, and doing what I can to ensure others enjoy their visit to my home.
The garden pots have needed regular watering. As much as possible I use grey water. The lawn is more yellow now than green, and I do not water it, but grass is tenacious and it will recover once the heatwave passes, as it surely will. Laundry dries quickly, and bedding is strewn on airers in the garden to freshen and puff up in the bleaching sunlight and fresh breezes that blow. Those same breezes make the Verbena Bonariensis and Wind Anemones sway and dance delightfully, bringing soft rhythm and colour to the borders as the earlier blooming flowers fade and turn to next year's seed.
Yesterday was the birthday anniversary of Beatrix Potter, a particular heroine of mine. To me, she is so much more than the authoress of Peter Rabbit and other children's books, the tales of which many of us grew up with. She was a born countrywoman, with an unsurpassed natural love of the land, the countryside and it's ways; she was an illustrator whose work leaves me in awe; above all, she understood the importance of land management and her bequest to the National Trust left a legacy from which strong foundations were built, making the National Trust the respected organisation it is today. Her legacy was so important to the Trust that they have named their Central Offices in Swindon Heelis {her married surname} in honour of her.
A few years ago I painted this little water colour, copied from one of her own, in her honour.
A parish fundraiser caught my eye, so off I went for a Strawberry Cream Tea treat. I arrived in good time for I wished to beat the crowds that would later pour in. It was a delightful afternoon, and a perfectly lovely spot to sit and enjoy some refreshment.
On my way home, I stopped a while amongst the old and ancient stones that mark the silent resting places of the sleeping people of the parish gone long before, and glancing through the shady trees I saw the old part of the new cemetery and the former Cathedral caretaker's house, Sunny Bank.
The sudden Summer burst of colour in the garden is slowly winding down, but here's some of what is still doing well in my cottage garden.
The blackberry vines are in full flower and already many sprigs of berries are formed, so if we have a good and heavy rainfall soon then the crop should be a bumper one this Autumn.
On Thursday next the calendar turns to August 1st ~ how, my friends, has this come around so quickly? Soon we will be hurtling into Autumn, my most favourite season of them all. Fruits to be foraged and harvested, Winter stores to prepare and put up! A busy time in the kitchen coming soon.
Until next time
Deborah xoxo
