August, Part I...

August began with the annual regatta - and, of course, the sun shone, the water sparkled, and the commentators got the giggles when anyone ended up 'in the drink'. Jolly good show, what?!

The garden did its usual delightful thing - looking particularly lovely as the sun was going down.

A day in Bury St Edmunds with Mr Drookit, and the Girl, wondering what the houses were like behind these doors.

I started training for a new job, which involved doing a bit of travelling - no hardship in summer, spending an hour on the top deck of the bus, looking out for miles and miles over fields of gold and green.

The garden was filled with goldfinches, and paintbrushes gathered dust for another summer.

A vintage fair in the local church hall drew a good crowd. Much lipstick was applied.

In the middle of August we had our annual Olympicnic - an institution now. We didn't bother trying to find a Commonwealth themed title, in honour of the games in Glasgow, but instead stuck to variations on the theme. Misanthropicnic, myopicnic, and so on. Don't mess with a winning formula, I'd say.

Games, grub, guitars, oh, okay, banjos... good times!

Overtaking myself...

If I don't get a move on I'm in danger of being overtaken by myself, and will be posting things a year after they happened. There seems to be no time to catch up on everything, so I think a quick run through the last few months is in order. What do you think?

July found me back once again accompanying an old friend to her mother's house to continue the task of clearing it out. Still lots to look at, and to photograph.

The month seemed to melt away in a haze of heat, filled with bees buzzing, flowers blooming and what looked like tropical sunsets. I popped into London and visited an old neighbour, and we sat for an hour or so in her garden eating choc ices. Lovely as it all was, no regrets about leaving London...

Jill's cat, hiding from the sun.

The 'village', looking prettier than ever - and yet, not more than 5 minutes stroll away...

...this part of London just gets busier and busier.

 

Back home, the meadows were the backdrop for ambling, and the garden was the playground for bees and butterflies, birds, snails and miniscule frogs...

 

Pink and purple...

Full bloom in June, with a stolen poppy stealing the show. First up, tho', the lavender looking utterly lovely... The bees agreed.

 

We pinched a seed pod from a garden, and tho' we only managed to get a couple of flowers this year, I'm hoping for more next time. Isn't this gorgeous?

The pink roses are ours, I think, but the pink flowers at bottom left are definitely escapees from the garden next door, while the poppy is courtesy of the birds...

Poor little thing. Looks quite shame-faced.  No wonder...

Pink lolling tongue. Perhaps he'd spotted the little lady from the picture before....

Food Festival Fun...

The food festival came to town again in the summer - our town plus free food is always a winning combination. Some interesting food and some interesting folk.