The rain continues though there have been brighter moments where the sun has shone, albeit without the intensity or conviction one expects from summer. Such moments have been grabbed as a chance to send little ones racing around the garden before bedtime - why is it generally late afternoon before the skies clear a little? No matter, sun slanting through tree tops provides shafts of light through which Isabella spins round and round and round, the camera struggling to capture her hazy halo and tiredness sending her spiralling ever-faster before she finally drops to the dewy grass.
The Spartan apple fanned alongside the pathway is almost, almost ready to eat. It is an early ripener, deliciously sweet and juicy with such a gorgeous red skin. I have a thing about red-skinned apples, the scarlet globes reminding me of a child's drawing in much the same way as the brightly coloured dahlias flourishing in the borders. My ultimate is the deep scarlet of crab apples, but as we were sold an ornamental one despite being told it is a 'real' one, my dream will have to wait a little longer.
My holiday jar has been called into play on a couple of occasions. Lovely to hear so many of you think it a good idea; I have even thought of making one for myself filled with the myriad jobs I need to do around the place, yet never make time for. You know the sort of thing... trim the hedges, paint the path wall, remake the campfire area. All those things that make me feel so much better once they are done and which for some perverse reason I put off doing in favour of things that are unimportant. Maybe turning them into a game will help? Well, the campfire was sorted because Lucy pulled this out of the jar:
The girls helped me remove so much - truly, so very much - rubbish which Lucy and I then took to the dump. Such a great feeling to finally tackle this part of the garden and though there is still more to do I feel we can see the wood for the trees now, so to speak.
The sun shining yesterday made me grab the moment to make mint jelly before the mint patch was sopping wet once more. I have never made this before, but love the jewel colours of jellies so much, the biggest surprise being that it is golden not green. I hadn't even thought about the fact that commercial mint jelly has colouring added, hence the green colour. Why though when it is so pretty just as it is?
Our allotment continues to provide delicious food for us and though it is not as much as we had hoped due to the weather which has stopped us going as often as we would have liked, we have had sweet, sweet carrots, salad leaves of all colours, rhubarb, currants, broccoli leaves, cabbages and potatoes so far with a few onions thrown in for good measure. Many more to come too.
My trip to Trebah Gardens to see a display of my work - this will be the last time I mention it...promise! - was not only very exciting/nerve-wracking, but such a boost as well. It looked so lovely with scatterings of shells inter-mingled with the Ship, Ship Sailing Games and beach bags, and other appropriate things highlighting the door hangings, tea cosies, etc. It was so beautifully displayed and I really felt whoever had done it really 'got' what my work is about and what inspries it.
Not good photos, but I was so conscious of not getting people perusing the shelves into the shot. I am very, very proud!
And today's task? This one will be fun (phew, still no camping as yet!). I have jars full of shells and pebbles to use for this, particularly all the ones with holes in. Hopefully some pictures of the finished chimes next time.
Happy Monday x
