Tuesday 10th July

The verges are so pretty down the country lanes, the creamy colour of meadow sweet, like old lace runs down the hedges.  Occasionally interspersed with the pale blue of the wild cranes bill and then the yellow of ladies bed straw, how sometimes I wish I could stop and photo this summer's crop.  But not many butterflies, I have seen them in singular fashion go through their appointed time of the year but now as the buddleias start to flower hope for more.

The roses tumble to the ground, over-exuberant they flower with no shame. Shasta daisies are beginning to appear, taking over from the wild ox daisy, as are the white snapdragons.  Plenty of insects in the garden, little black beetles hide in the pollen, gangster wasps terrorise the greenfly, bumble bees and honey bees feast.  There are moths to be found in the watering can and the birds have quietened down after the rush of feeding their young.  

Efficient farmers rush by with great loads of grass for silage, and if you are out on the road, you will always be caught behind a tractor at some stage, but there again it is the farmer's land.

Yesterday we called into our local fruit place, here they grow soft fruits, sweet strawberries - delicious.  There are homemade jams, fluffy meringues and light scones to be bought as well. Plants that have seen better days loll around outside, I have given up buying the beds are full and we need rain.

The long fencing down the driveway, between 50-80 feet, is covered with ivy and Virginia creeper, it creeps over the bed in front and reaches out to cover the old roof of the pub next door.  Drastic action is called for, and rather than trim I have suggested a couple of the wisterias must be culled. Two minds over this of course this is where the majority of the nests are to be found.

But the garden has been a triumph this summer, fulfilling what I wanted, which was to encourage insects and birds. Very untidy at some stages, and in desperate need of weeding at the moment but still.....

I forgot ;) we are now living through the fairytale of the boy who said 'the emperor has no clothes'.  A simple truth echoed by Sir Kim over Trump, that also is delicious!

p.s. Eating my scone this morning and P said it looks like, well we had a bit of a struggle to find the word but eventually arrived at the word 'stottie', something you can buy in Whitby as an enormous round roll, but its history is interesting.