Nourishing Sunlight

It has been a wonderful few days here weather wise, warm and sunny.  You might be thinking so what, it is August in the Northern Hemisphere so it should be! Our weather is anything but predictable, talking about it is a common British pastime.  Last week it was cool and wet, cool enough for jumpers and shoes and it rained pretty much all week which also meant cloudy grey skies too.  By next week, who knows, it might be cold again, the forecast is just that, a forecast and is rarely correct more than 24 hours in advance.  You can see why we always talk about the weather, it keeps us on our toes!

Fine weather means that washing can be hung outside once again.  I love it when washing dries outside it has a special smell doesn't it, particularly in the Spring when it starts to warm and it dries in a day.  No amount of synthetic chemicals can reproduce that wonderful scent of outdoor dried clothes.  Often my neighbour is hanging his out too and we stand and chat whilst we do so, putting the world to rights across the fence.

Near to my washing line is a Rowan tree, a tree that was bought to us by a bird most probably sat on the fence next to it and pooping the seeds on the ground. We know how much the birds love the berries from this tree so we let it grow for them.  It is currently covered in a fine crop of those berries, yesterday this tree was busy with birds feasting.  They are usually a sign of Autumn, a crop for the birds when other food is starting to run scarce, this year they are so early, having already been on the tree for some time.  I noticed that the birds were taking just a few at a time, perhaps their way of preserving them so they last longer as a food source.

The week of rain did not motivate me to spend time in the garden, as this has been followed by warm sun, weather much loved by the weeds, I couldn't put it off any longer.  I have only really touched the surface but at least the plants that I do want growing have a bit more space to do so.  The polytunnel in particular has turned into a jungle with cucumber and summer squashes taking over, somewhere at the back are the courgette plants which are not very easy to get to.  They have been producing many very small courgettes which we have been eating for weeks.  I was being most careful, so I thought, to make sure that I was always picking the biggest ones so you can imagine my surprise when I found two huge courgettes that had escaped my attention buried under the myriad of growth! I have now picked, grated and bagged them up for freezing, 13 cups worth.  I discovered a while ago that courgettes make a great alternative to avocados in smoothies which I make two or three times a week.  Avocados don't grow in my country so they have to be imported, added to that the huge amounts of water required to produce one fruit they are not something that we buy very often, if at all.  I sure will also be making this delicious bake too.

I wasn't full of motivation for much whilst it was raining, do you find that too, especially when it is cold.  I am looking forward to the Autumn but I am not ready for the summer to be over quite yet, a few more weeks would be lovely, please if you don't mind.  I mostly sat on the sofa knitting, hats and things for cold weather, probably making myself feel worse in the process.  When the sun comes out I don't want to be sitting around, then I want to be doing.

Sunday afternoon Alice and I had a great couple of hours in the village outdoor swimming pool it was really hot and the cool of the pool was perfect.  The rest of the afternoon was spent pottering in the kitchen, cooking tea and sorting a picnic for the following day.  The rest of the family were outside the back of the house, fettling with a whole heap of bits that they had found in the garage, every now and then laughter would waft in the house and envelop me in the happiness of it all.

We were blessed with a three day weekend here, this last weekend, an extra day as a family.  We were so happy it was sunny as we were invited to join some friends for a birthday bike ride on Monday, an activity that is not much fun in the rain.  Quiet lanes surrounded by beautiful countryside, great company and a bit of cloud to keep the temperatures down, perfect.  I do love the area where I live.

I now have the spring back in my step.  Yesterday I wrote myself a longish to do list, all the jobs that I really should have done the week before but my mojo was in hiding.  I got all those jobs done and some, yay.  So please Mr Sunshine can you stay around a while longer, I love the hibernating months of Autumn and Winter but I am not quite ready for them just yet.