Wednesday 27 June 2012

Miscellaneous June

Here is an odds and sods collection of photos I like from June. Some have sunshine in them, just to prove it hasn't rained all month. In fact, looking at these photos makes me realise that June hasn't been bad at all. It's a busy month though, two birthdays, concert, gala day, agricultural show, sports day, garden party, end of term, etc. Speaking of which, the school holidays start at 1pm today, happy days...

 During the month N and I have been able to have many lunches outside (no need to clean up the dropped crumbs and spills!). One lunchtime we were joined by a little mouse who kept darting out from the bushes beside the steps to try and nibble N's melon slice.

 The grass in the field across the road has been cut...

 ...and collected.

 Black on black. Jackdaws against the slates.

A butterfly from a friends garden. We've yet to see any real butterflies here the summer, soon though, I hope.

MollyTheCat checks out some snails. Going on a snail hunt every second or third evening has become a regular activity for me.

This is a fairly typical haul. I'm now putting them in the field across the road. If they want to cross the road to get back to my hostas then that's up to them. If they make it I'll just be after them again. I have to say they're winning the battle at the moment. Some hostas are practically non-existant and there just seem to be more and more snails.

 On clearing some dead looking "everlasting" cornflowers I discovered where all the pretty spiral shelled snails were residing. They're now across the road too.

At least the snails don't eat roses. I planted this one in a pot last year and forgot all about it so didn't prune it earlier in the year, but it doesn't seem to have done it any harm. The blooms are beautiful, I love the streaky colours, and they also have a lovely perfume, though it would be better if it were stonger and not quite so "delicate".

 An osteospermum flower from earlier in the month, they're looking a little tired now.

Garden view. It's looking overgrown already, usually it doesn't look this way till July. I think all the recent rain after the warm spell at the end of May has just made the greenery go mad.

 This year's lupins.

 Honeysuckle, smelling wonderful just now.

 The "sand" pit. It's permanently full of water. The slabs around it are dry though!


Fantastic cloud formation spotted while hanging out the washing, I rushed in to get the camera.

During this little spell of nice weather the school had their third attempt at holding the annual sports day...

...A looked like she was going to win her egg and spoon race for the second year running...

...then disaster struck, she dropped her egg and was caught by her classmates, so joint second place this year.

N had a little go once all the school children had headed back to their classrooms.

Back to the garden, a geranium flower with bee.

Beautiful pale pink paeony.

Rusting bird and lantern.

Some village views, heading down the main street to visit a friend after school.

Blue skies!

Alleyway peek.



Back in the garden for another look at the paeonies. the pale pinks ones are at their peak at the moment. The dark cerise ones are long gone, and the white ones are still tightly budded.

Drippy hawthorn leaf.

I've not got round to making any elderflower champagne this year. Instead I've bought this and have been drinking it mixed with sparkling water. It's lovely! It also takes up a lot less room and is easy to buy all year round. You don't get that smug "I made this" feeling on drinking it though.

A has a flipping good time when we try out another pankcake (drop scone) recipe. Still looking for "the one".

The mixed water colour paint puddle left in the tin lid reminded me of a map of the world.

Helicopter hovering.

I finally got round to putting some flowers from the garden in a vase and bringing them into the house.

This is how it look with us this morning. Even the jackdaws on the chimneys are looking fed up with the weather. However, it's warmer than it has been and it's not actually raining, at the moment...

18 comments:

Jacquie said...

Hi Anne , what a great selection of photos....I love the one with the mouse especially.
Those snails look a bit scary to me ...do you get slugs as well ? I couldn't pick up slugs ...eek.
Oh and thanks for the template info...I checked and mine are wonky too........good job I'm not making a full size quilt or I would have been really fed up !
Jacquie x

topchelseagirl said...

Yes it is a great selection of photos, love your living room windows.

June said...

Beautiful photos! I love the one with the mouse too! Your lupins are spectacular! The snails are a problem here too - thousands of the little blighters - they have demolished the marigolds I had in a few pots and are slowly making munching their way through other plants too and my roses have greenfly!
June

Anonymous said...

Blimey, that is one huge haul of snails. I have planted some marginal plants round the edge of the pond here and the slugs stuffed their slimey faces until not a leaf remains. I'm a bit boo hoo about it! Lovely photos and your garden looks beautiful.

Mereknits said...

What a wonderful June you had!!! Lovely pictures and those snails are so abundant! Hope they are not that determined to cross the road.
Meredith

* said...

Great photos, see how annoyed everyone becomes about the snails, it's obviously a problem the world over! It's soul destroying to see all your hard work eaten in one night.

My boys have another three weeks until the hols, and both the big boys' sports days have been cancelled....such a shame.

Your garden looks very lovely, so the weather obviously is agreeable for the flowers, but it would be nice to see our weather a little cheerier for the kids.

Have a brilliant hols!

Beth of The Linen Cat said...

Some really beautiful photos there, the mouse especially stands out (and the butterfly and the geranium and bee) your June looks rather nice, shame the weather has gone by the end but here's hoping for some nice summer days over the holidays. Beth (the linen cat)x

Simone said...

It looks like June has been wonderful so far! Some fantastic images too!

driftwood said...

your garden is looking lovely! I go on snail (and slug) hunts and feed them to the hens. which makes them very happy indeed!

Gillian Roe said...

What an absolutely lovely collection of photos. You have so many flowers in your garden - your lupins in particular are stunning. I love lupins, and anything that says "country garden". But those snails, my word! I though we had it bad...

rockinloubylou said...

What a lovely look back at June. I remember it as a month of rain rain rain so it is good to see evidence that the sun did appear, and that there were flowers, and that they were beautiful until the rain bashed them to pieces!

Claire said...

A great selection of photos Anne........love the view from your window. How wonderful to watch the field change through the seasons... Stunning Lupins and I must plant a Honeysuckle somewhere in my garden.
Amazing cloud formation and how sweet is N running down the field?
The last photo I juts love, but shame about the weather....hope it picks up soon.

CLaire x

Kate said...

You took some beautiful photos this month! Thank you for sharing. I love the ones with the snails (although not the snails themselves; yuk!)
Blessings,
Kate

Habbie tot said...

Love your garden pics

Found a wee article about making the perfect pancake, Enjoy!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jun/28/how-to-cook-perfect-american-pancakes

sue said...

Wow what a gorgeous selection of June loveliness Anne, your garden is stunning such gorgeous flowers and you're right about the lush growth, I'm constantly having to hack things back at the moment. I think the weather is perfect for snails because we have loads in our garden too, what we need are some friendly hedgehogs to visit, we had some a few years ago and hey presto, NO SNAILS OR SLUGS!
And hey how come you've finished school and I've got three weeks left! Enjoy your holidays. ♥

Mrs. Micawber said...

Wow, N is getting big. Love the mouse photo, the peonies, the glimpse of your village street (I like to see where people live too), and the "map of the world".

What gorgeous flowers you have, and how your snails do thrive! Ever thought of putting them in butter with a little garlic and parsley? :)

Rattling On said...

Great set of photos! Your garden is so far ahead of mine, the honeysuckle here is nowhere near ready to flower. Raining again today, as it has been for so long with just a few bright spells when I rush to take photos!!

Annie Cholewa said...

Lovely pictures. Your honeysuckle is looking glorious :D

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