Dog days

June is the month when summer starts, but it has felt positively Mediterranean for quite a while now. The  countryside is looking lovely, the roadside verges are uncut and and the elderflower bushes are a froth of blossom.

A friend is recovering from an operation and I'm looking after her dog. We walk in the cool of the early morning and again in the evening, avoiding the heat of the day. 

It is wonderfully quiet, no aeroplane noise and little traffic, only the sound of birdsong.

I'd like to say, what a well-behaved dog, but we don't exactly see eye-to eye on good behaviour in the garden. We are getting quite a lot of terrier behaviour. Something very interesting is in the planting at the edge of the pond. The iris are now flattened!

Something else interesting, a mole, under a gooseberry bush and frantic digging and the scattering of much soil ensued. Most interesting of all is whatever is under the wooden shed where we keep the mower. "He's demolished half my shed!" said Himself. (He's not usually prone to exaggeration, but he isn't a dog lover.)

I'm enjoying being up in the early morning. Without a dog I'm a bit of a lie abed.

Chives and clematis colour matched.

We are starting to eat the new season crops, courgettes and mange tout and it looks as though its going to be a good year for artichokes.