It's been another beautiful day today. Although slightly hazy the sun brought the temp up to 21C. 20C -22C is just perfect for me, warm but not roasting. Devon summer temps can be well below and very occasionally higher. Out came the battered old straw hat and I slopped on a good layer of factor 25. I like getting a tan but my face is already a good outdoor colour. In fact after finishing grubbing about in the dirt and having a shower I put on shorts and flip-flops for the first time this year. Naturally Peter's thoughts have been turning to barbecues and aided by the boys we had one last night and another again today. Yesterday they kindly(?) grilled a steak for me and after enjoying my barbecued courgettes I fell at the last hurdle and scoffed the steak as well. Tonight I managed to stick to just courgettes, very tasty grilled even without any marinade or oil. Peter takes his barbecues seriously, wood and charcoal only (no gas) and he is a master of the marinades so the food is always delicious.
With all this dry weather the grass has been needing a good cut and finally today I got
Romas to whizz over most of it. There was much dark muttering about mole hills and stones brought up in said mole hills. (I think the
perpetrator is now deceased.) All my earlier weeding has paid off and it only took a quick going over to give the flower beds a final tidy. That was until I discovered some of the dreaded bindweed. An hour later I had grubby arms, a large hole dug into the hillside and half a bucket of enormously thick horrible roots. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. From a distance the garden looks fairly tidy. All I have to do now is wait for the flowers to appear.
Yesterday I saw the first butterfly of the year. It was a cabbage white and I didn't catch it on camera but today a peacock butterfly was flying around in the sunshine and enjoying the warmth of the stones. The bees are out and about, some on the heather but if you stand near the willow trees that have their catkins open (see yesterday's picture), the air is positively buzzing.
It's been another beautiful day today. Although slightly hazy the sun brought the temp up to 21C. 20C -22C is just perfect for me, warm but not roasting. Devon summer temps can be well below and very occasionally higher. Out came the battered old straw hat and I slopped on a good layer of factor 25. I like getting a tan but my face is already a good outdoor colour. In fact after finishing grubbing about in the dirt and having a shower I put on shorts and flip-flops for the first time this year. Naturally Peter's thoughts have been turning to barbecues and aided by the boys we had one last night and another again today. Yesterday they kindly(?) grilled a steak for me and after enjoying my barbecued courgettes I fell at the last hurdle and scoffed the steak as well. Tonight I managed to stick to just courgettes, very tasty grilled even without any marinade or oil. Peter takes his barbecues seriously, wood and charcoal only (no gas) and he is a master of the marinades so the food is always delicious.
With all this dry weather the grass has been needing a good cut and finally today I got Romas to whizz over most of it. There was much dark muttering about mole hills and stones brought up in said mole hills. (I think the perpetrator is now deceased.) All my earlier weeding has paid off and it only took a quick going over to give the flower beds a final tidy. That was until I discovered some of the dreaded bindweed. An hour later I had grubby arms, a large hole dug into the hillside and half a bucket of enormously thick horrible roots. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. From a distance the garden looks fairly tidy. All I have to do now is wait for the flowers to appear.
Yesterday I saw the first butterfly of the year. It was a cabbage white and I didn't catch it on camera but today a peacock butterfly was flying around in the sunshine and enjoying the warmth of the stones. The bees are out and about, some on the heather but if you stand near the willow trees that have their catkins open (see yesterday's picture), the air is positively buzzing.
