Magical Mystery Garden

We only moved into this house in November last year. The garden at that time was looking pretty bare, except for one "perpetual" primrose.










The fun began when spring arrived. Every day there was something new to discover. A few early crocuses (very welcome), some hyacinths, a couple of snazzy red tulips under the cherry tree, daffodils and narcissus everywhere and, best of all, a carpet of sweet-scented violets over by the herb garden.

Things settled down come summer but it was still nice to have a succession of shrubs come into bloom.

I haven't done much with the herb garden this year - early days yet - I just tidied up the established plants and cleared out the rubbish (like the huge mound of mint that turned out to be lemon scented, ick!). If something interesting came up in the bare patches I just left it.

I was quite surprised when one such specimen, which I suspected was probably just a weed with fancy leaves, turned out to be this chrysanthemum. Well chuffed I was! The magenta flower behind it belongs to a blackcurrant sage - so named because the leaves smell of, you guessed it, blackcurrant. Actually, that was another semi-surprise. The plant itself was a housewarming gift from my friend's mother so I knew it was there (!) but I had no idea it would have such vibrant flowers. And so long-lasting - it started blooming in late May, put on a great show even through the month-long heat wave we had in July and is still going strong.

Sorry I'm late

We had company yesterday and today - friends from my old meeting in Tottenham - so no computer action. And I forgot to take an "official" Saturday Sky so here's yesterday's holiday snap with the greatest proportion of sky - DH and friend sorting out their seaweed before slinging it at each other. Nice. We're at the West End beach at Dovercourt Bay, just a 2-minute drive/20-minute walk from our house (yippee!), and that's Walton-on-the-Naze in the distance.

What Flower Are You?

I am a Petunia What Flower Are You?

You are a tried and trusted friend who will be there for your friends when they need you. But you have a tendency to be nervous about doing things that go against the norm. (That would be my norm, not normal people's norm.)

Today's sky

Today's Saturday Sky comes to you from Lavenham, Suffolk - looking down the hill in Prentice Street towards the patchwork of fields beyond. It had been raining heavily only a few minutes earlier.

Lavenham is a lovely medieval town famous for its half-timbered buildings and beautiful "wool church", built thanks to the prosperity of local wool merchants.

We enjoyed our visit, and the wonderful lunch we had at Sweetmeats Tea Room, and plan to go back (to both!) again.

Saturday Sky with Workshop

Threatening clouds and wind whipped trees - and a brooding shot of DH's new workshop (16'x10'. At last! A home for all his toys tools).















It's been a dreadful day weather-wise. To use the vernacular, it's been chucking it down and blowing a hooli all day! I do feel sorry for the two fellas who spent five hours out in it putting up the workshop. DH did cook them a lovely fry-up before they left, though (...to go do another, albeit smaller, job).

Finished something

A pair of Flip Flop Socks... and they're for meeeeeeee! That's rare - it's usually only the stuff for other people that actually gets finished. But these were small and I was determined. Especially after spending ages splitting a skein of Anchor Magic cotton from 8-ply into 2 balls of 4-ply 'coz I loved the colour but wanted thinner yarn.

Broken record

Yeah, look, I know - I keep posting links to Preacher-Boy's blog and I imagine you're beginning to think I'm getting 10% or something, but his ability to see Christ/God/Love in action and then convey the beauty of these encounters to the rest of us is extraordinary and I just have to share them with you. In fact, forget "sharing" - READ THIS! - it will do your soul good. Imagine the possibilities if we all looked with our hearts open.

Visitors

Saturday Sky from my friends' back garden, where a number of us from Clacton Friends Meeting enjoyed a lovely tea and the chance to have a good natter. Quaker worship may be based on silence but we can sure make up for it the rest of the time!

And here's a visitor to *my* garden this afternoon - a big, green dragonfly. She was about 3"/75mm* long with a 4"/100mm wingspan but still difficult to see against the leaves. I say "she" because I believe it was a female Southern Hawker (Aeshna Cyanaea).

*8/8 Amended from centimeters (thanx PB) - now that would have been a big dragonfly!

Rain at last!

It started raining yesterday morning and has been raining on and off ever since. The temperature has dropped to a much more comfortable 21°C/ 69°F and I am sooooo happy. The girls, on the other hand, keep clambering up onto my lap for warmth, glowering at me like this ice age is all my fault.