Hello Friends!
Well, there is weather we are having! One day it's a blistering mini heatwave and we melt, the next day the temperature nose dives and we're thinking about putting the heating on during the evening. It poured during the night and is now a beautiful blue sky morning, but it could be another hot one, despite the stiff breezes that blow bouncily across the land.
Oh! The irony of hosepipe bans in effect across certain regions only to be finding themselves on the receiving end of torrential downpours delivering a month's worth of rain in a day. Mind, it will take more, much more, than a week's worth of torrential rainstorms to top up some of the reservoirs, and we are told that the hosepipe bans will be in place for up to a year, or even longer.
I am very tired of late, the tweaks to my medications have not resulted in any of the hoped for changes, so I have been through the mill for the last few months in vain. Still, it could have worked out that things could have improved. As it happened, they didn't and I can honestly say that I have not felt well for months, not myself at all. I miss being me. Consequently, today I slept until midday and the I began sorting out photos on the laptop. Here are a handful of courgette flowers I photographed using my macro lens some several years ago when I was still gardening and able to hold the camera, pre Pandemic and pre Parkinsons.
Courgette flowers are simply beautiful to look at, as well as making a casing for delicious stuffing mixes to make a light lunch with a twist!
My late neighbour, Maggie, and I used to have a friendly rivalry over our courgettes. She would sow her seeds in April or May in pots in her greenhouse, potting on and nurturing the seedlings for weeks, before planting out in June, whereas I would sow mine directly in the soil in late May. Within a few weeks, mine had germinated and grown well, caught up with hers, and come harvest time we were both starting our harvest in the same week! I suppose the growth of Maggies plants was slowed down every time she potted them on, which was two or three times before they actually arrived in the garden, whereas mine just had to focus on growing without adjusting to root disturbance and new pots ever couple of weeks.
Do take your time with these, look at the incredibly detailed lines, the fine hairs, the subtle changes of colours in the bright yellow petals, the tiny spikes that do not deter slugs as one might expect! These flowers are miniature works of art, and most of the time go unnoticed as they tend to bloom half hidden under the much larger leaves of the courgette plant.
