Soccer ball

An old favourite.

Rain

A day of rain and sunshine.

Felt-tipped pens

Felt-tipped pens become an essential commodity for my kids when trapped inside by the rain.

Bank Holiday Monday

After an early start to Summer, Britain reverts to type - typical Bank Holiday Monday weather.

Fighter planes

To the Science Museum in London today. Interesting to see examples of the Hurricane and the Spitfire together - when I was a child, Second World War stories were all the rage among the boys, and being able to tell a Hurricane from a Spitfire was a necessary skill. These days the kids are all into sci fi stuff. I suppose we were so much nearer the war then, and still being raised by people who actually lived through it, so it seemed so much more real and relevant to us.

Saturday night in

Saturday night in, with nothing worth watching on the telly - time to curl up with a good book, an excellent glass of wine, and a soundtrack that makes me want to cry (in a good sort of way).

An unfortunate demise

Fortunate for the spider, but not so fortunate for the bee.

Love-in-a-mist

These self-seed in drifts through the gravel and around the pots near the back door.

Cranesbill

Cranesbills are among my most favourite garden plants - they are showy without being gaudy, rarely need cosseting, and flower for a long time. They're also delicate and beautifully coloured - real treasures.

Lupin

Our Lupins are coming into full flower, and (touch wood) no sign of the dreaded Lupin Aphid yet.

DD's flipflops

DD has been after a pair of flipflops for a long while now (no idea why, she just wanted them). When shopping last Saturday it became clear that the only thing that would do to complete her new outfit was a pair of flipflops. So that's what we bought, and now she's a happy girl :-)

Fowlmere

In need of some food for my soul, I took myself off to Fowlmere RSPB reserve for a couple of hours to look and listen to some birds.

Lily Beetle

Looks rather beautiful, doesn't it? But it's not. It's one of the less welcome insects in our garden - it decimates our lilies, stripping them of their leaves, and its larvae look like sticky lumps of bird droppings, very unlike their rather handsome parents. One we'd rather do without, in all honesty.

A good drying day

A good day for drying the washing.

Ladybird

A non-standard (i.e. not red) ladybird on one of the Oriental Poppies in our garden.

Mirror mirror on the wall...

We finally have lights in our new bathroom and shower room. I find the way the ring light around the shaving mirror reflects in the eyes strangely spooky...

Seedlings

For a while now every windowsill in our house has been covered in seed pots. At last the seedlings are been planted outside, and we're getting our windowsills back - all save a few little plants that still need that extra bit of warmth.

Early evening on the village green

So, this is really what it looks like out there right now, with the evening sun slanting low and golden, enriching the colours and making it all look so beautiful. How lucky am I to have this just outside my garden gate?

Let sleeping cats lie

Piffle isn't allowed in the living room any more unless she's supervised (she has an unfortunate tendency to 'scent mark' the curtains...). Of course this means she's as keen as mustard to get in there whenever possible. When she is allowed in, DS loves to tuck her up all cosy amongst the cushions and blankets, and she loves it when he does so. Satisfaction all round!

London Clay, Walton-on-the-Naze

Went on a Geology field trip today, to Walton-on-the-Naze, to look at Red Crag sands and this stuff, the London Clay. This wave-cut platform is a good place to find fossil wood, washed into the sea long ago, and sharks teeth also.

A Foxglove year

We have two biennials that self-seed around our garden, Foxgloves and Moth Mullein. Fortuitously they seem, in this garden as in the last, to take turns - one year will be a Foxglove year, and the next a Moth Mullein year. This year's a Foxglove year, spikes of all shades of pink coming up all over the place. I adore them.

The rain on the pane...

Some decent rain at last!

Running in the rain

DS ran 3 km round the Rec this evening... in the pouring rain and under 15 minutes. The boy is fast!

The last one

One of the ducks on our village pond had six ducklings. Now she's down to just this one. Sad, but that's the way of it, I guess.

Buttercup meadow

A meadow full of Buttercups. Beautiful.

Millstone leap

DD takes a running jump across a gap in the Millstone Grit.

Peak District sheep

A walk in the Derbyshire Dales, with sheep and lambs everywhere.

On the Great North Road

Off to Derbyshire, up the Great North Road.

Tayberry blossom

We have two berries planted against the fence in the vegetable garden: a blackberry and a tayberry. The tayberry flowers first, big beautiful white flowers that remind me of the York rose.

A corner of Cambridge

A small corner of Cambridge, just outside the Trinity College plodge. Beautiful stonework and immaculate grass.

A fresh breeze

Beautifully sunny out there, with a fresh breeze tumbling the new leaves around.