summer Sunday evening randoms

How was your weekend? Ours went by far too quickly. It was a good one. It has been hot and sunny and we made the best of it. I feel almost embarrassed mentioning the glorious weather, I know it has been far less glorious in many parts of the UK and Europe. This has been the longest stretch of summer in all the time I can remember and we needed to water the garden and fruit trees, an occurrence so rare that it deserves mentioning.  The garden looks at its best, weeds and all.

One of many quincelets. I am hoping for a crop this year

I'll have this for dinner tomorrow

The peonies are past their best

The poppies are in full bloom

Not long now until these are ready to be harvested

The blue berries will be a little longer

These Californian poppies appeared in a dark corner

Richard went on an epic bike ride yesterday, 145 miles! He left at 7:30 in the morning and got back about 12 hours later. I am glad he texted to let me know he was running late because the group took plenty of breaks to cool down and sit in the shade. I don't know how he does it.

James, Alistair and I went on a Beaver/Cub Scout day out. We went to Heads of Ayr farm park, together with many other Beavers and Cubs. We were a group with twenty boys and girls and five adults. Each of the adults had four children to keep an eye on. We found two tables with benches, where we deposited lunches, water and all the other detritus that piles up the moment more than one child is present. The children were allowed to roam free and spent most of their time on the bouncy pillows. These were exactly what the name says, gigantic inflated pillows. We fed the animals: goat, donkeys and an absolutely ginormous camel with teeth the size of a child's hand. I would not for anything in the world feed this beast but the children were non plussed and thought it had a tickly tongue. We didn't loose any children.

Meanwhile Sam was doing nothing much at all and Annie was baking cupcakes for a children's birthday party. She also made marshmallow top hats. This is her second commission for baking, the first being a batch of 50 small scones for a funeral wake. I am proud of her and I am grateful to my friends who trust her to do a professional job. Annie is learning to cost her ingredients and work out how much to charge to make a little profit. She'll go far, this girl of mine.

Jack was mostly sleeping in the shade, unwilling to walk further than his water bowl.

Today, I went for a jog in the morning and then spent the rest of the day making toiles and pattern adjustments. I am quite pleased with my progress. I think I am now ready to sew two well fitting tops. If only I had planned ahead and bought some interfacing... I have a half written post about my recent sewing adventures so I'll leave it at this. Sewing is really a craft for the warmer months and I am in full swing.

Annie had her big ballet rehearsal in the afternoon. She looks tired, I am sure it was hard work now doubt it was boiling hot in the theatre. We'll go and see the show tomorrow evening. She has now been dancing for eight years, with no plans of stopping.

Sam emerged about lunch time declaring that he was now starting to get in shape for the summer. He asked Richard to setup up his bike on rollers in the back garden. Cycling on the roads is apparently uncool. He considered investing in a pair of shorts for the holidays and wondered if a tight t-shirt might be beneficial for the display of his six pack. Teenagers are just so weird.

Richard spent the day pottering in the garden.

James and Alistair ran around like drunk chickens for most of the day. Our neighbours had their paddling pool filled and they invited them over to splash, which was really nice. Our paddling pool has not survived winter storage. The boys were playing nicely with our neighbours kids, sometimes here and sometimes there. Summer is great for climbing over fences into each others gardens. It occurs to me that I have never seen a drunk chicken.

Now, we are all relaxing on various sofas or on a walk in the woods. The dog finally agreed to go out.  I am bracing myself for a mad week with not much time to relax until next Sunday. Wishing you all a happy week. xx