Rain at last!

At last we have had a couple of really good downpours. Hurray, the tyranny of the watering cans is over! I was very pleased with myself for having cleaned out the empty water butts before the rain came. We have had some lovely evening walks during this continental summer; bleached grasses, golden colours on the leaves, dry underfoot and no need to carry a mac. The local golf course looked like a desert but it was beautiful on the heath.

This rowan tree looked splendid, holding onto it's berries, although the top of the tree was bare and had obviously strugged with the lack of water.

Back at home we have tended to skulk in the gazebo or the conservatory. At least there I've been able to water freely with our soapy bath water and the flowers have so far not complained.

The conservatory has a number of plaster casts. The female face is a cast of the stone face that was built into the house that my father built in the 1930's.

The male figures are not altogether complete!

I have had some lovely swims at the beach. Sometimes I go down intending to swim and the waves are too strong. I have to be realistic as to what I can and cannot do and getting knocked over by a stong surf is something to avoid.

Garden party

This week I gave a garden party to raise funds for breast cancer research. I had breast cancer surgery last autumn and have received exellent ongoing care since then. Neighbours and friends that we have made since moving to Bournemouth came, ate cake, played games, bought plants from my plant stall and made up limericks for the limerick competition. I set out various small tables around the garden so that people could wander about and mingle. There is always plenty of shade in my garden, something I usually moan about but in the present weather an absolute godsend.

Food was on a table in the cool of the house so that people could wander in and out to refill their plates

and take a look at the plant stall as they walked past.

Thanks to everyone's generousity I raised £400 for breast cancer research!

Scarecrows

It is a sociable weekend at the allotment with a produce display and competition, a scarecrow competition and a barbeque. It was another hot day and the allotment site is large so we didn't walk round the whole area. You will see from the photos how parched the ground is.It is hand watering throughout the allotments but some plots are near to the water points. Unfortunately my plot is not! This gentleman standing by his rhubarb patch was my favourite scarecrow. he had been very carefully put together and the message was good humoured; holding his allotment growing for dummies book and a bucket with slug food. I went to have a closer look at him and saw that his head had been constructed from papier mâché.

Not everyone was too bothered about whether their scarecrow had a head! We are all having enough problems keeping plants alive to sacrifice a pumpkin for a head.

Scarecrows of all shapes and sizes, from little girl ones to this impressive large crow.

Then it was time to join this little girl, suitably dressed in a glittery sunflower design, here with her grandad, and eat a beefburger and salad - and a delicious slice of pineapple cake!

The golden hour

The drought-stricken conditions continue. Too hot to walk our thick coated pup in the heat of the day. She is far more comfortable inside resting on the cool kitchen tiles.

In the early evening when the temperature has dropped we have walked her onto the heath. It is a wonderful time of day. Everyone takes pleasure in being outside, admiring the dried grasses, finding cobwebs, dawdling along, Mabel sniffing at the undergrowth, discovering information that we shall never know. It isn;t really a walk, it's an amble, a wander, a contemplation. Three generations together, happy in each others company.

It really is the golden hour. It reminds me of so many similar oaccasions over the years with family and with friends long gone now. I'm growing old and can look back at a lifetime of times like this that are so simple but so joyful. As we returned through the fields the man on the tractor gave us a wave. He was clearly enjoying the golden hour as much as us!

The weekend

The weather has been hanging around the 34 degree mark for a couple of weeks now and is not conducive to cooking or anything much else for that matter. On Friday we ordered a Turkish takeaway from the local restaurant and sat outside wuth family in the cool of the evening. It had been a fraught week for Himself and us all with illness and a rush to hospital in the middle of the night the previous weekend. After most of the week in hospital he was delighted to be back home.

On Saturday we went to the allotment to do some much-needed watering. It was futile, and unbearably hot. We sat in the shade of the hut for a while and then went home

Saturday night was football night so I was very late to bed. I'd intended an early morning swim on Sunday but completely overslept. Good weather at the weekends means a busy beach, something I'm usually at pains to avoid. Nevertheless, the sea was calling. There was a lovely coastal breeze and people were enjoying flinging themselves into the breaking waves. I joined them for a while. We sat by the water's edge and it was lovely to see everyone enjoying themselves.

There is always a boy digging a hole!