Day 180 - June 29th

Today started off dry but overcast. During the morning the skies gradually got greyer and at lunch time the rain showers started. BUT, when 2 o'clock came it had dried up enough for the Church Fete (postponed from yesterday) to go ahead.

Lara and the Guides ran the children's sweet tombola.

There were several classic cars on display.

This Morris Minor brought back a few memories. 

Lara had been looking forward to the plate smashing stall - an annual favourite.....

... and the skittles were a hit too.

Day 179 - June 28th

Rain, rain go away!

This afternoon Lara and her fellow Guides were supposed to be manning a stall at the Church Fete. Unfortunately it has been an afternoon of almost constant rain so the fete was postponed until tomorrow. We took the opportunity to pop out to do a spot of shopping instead.

Day 178 - June 27th

The weather has changed and we've had a day of rain showers. This evening Christopher and I dodged the showers to take Millie for a quick walk but we also had to dodge the numerous slugs that were dotted along the paths!! Ewwww!!

Day 177 - June 26th

It is really surprising how quickly, with the recent hot sunny weather, the barley in the fields is changing colour.

Day 176 - June 25th

Wayne and Steven came back from walking Millie this evening eager to show me a photograph they had taken.

In the middle of one of the fields they had noticed one single Pyramidal Orchid. The first one we've seen. We're getting quite good at the wild Orchid spotting!

Day 175 - June 24th

I did a double take when I walked past some hanging baskets at my Mum & Dad's house today. 

Black Petunias! That's a new one to me. They are very unusual and quite striking.

The other newly flowering plants in the garden are rather more traditional in colour.

Day 174 - June 23rd

At the weekend Lara bought a 99p boat making kit from The Works. At only 99p I wasn't very optimistic that the kit would be up to much but the boat is actually very good.

Lara's been working on it over the weekend with minimal help from Wayne. The only bit causing her some problems is attaching the sails but I'm sure with a little patience she'll get them sorted.

Day 173 - June 22nd

This year we have seen different birds flying over the garden.

There have been Red Kites at the nearby Pegsdon Hills Nature Reserve for some years but never before have we seen any flying over our house but over the last months or so we've seen them almost daily. On one occasion there were three birds circling around on the thermals.

This morning Wayne called me to look out of the window and there was a huge Red Kite circling over head and then swooping down into the trees in a neighbouring garden. At one stage the Kite seemed to be chased away by a crow but it kept returning.

Today it was so close and so clear to see but as usual the camera hasn't done it justice and the photos aren't very good but you can just make out the distrinctive markings and forked tail.

Day 172 - June 21st

We popped into town this afternoon to do a spot of shopping. It was very warm - 27° when we got back to the car!

Day 171 - June 20th

Steven had his last GCSE exam this morning. I was quite pleased that it would be the last time for a while that Mum's Taxi would have to park outside the school reception waiting for him to come out of an exam! 

Day 170 - June 19th

Mum & Dad have several pots of Lilies at growing at the back of their house. They are just starting to flower so I took a couple of photos when I saw them today.

Day 169 - June 18th

Whilst out for a walk we realised that the oilseed rape field is no longer in flower. The flowers probably died off quite a while ago but it only occured to us today.

The bright yellow flowers have been replaced with green seed pods.

Interested to see what was inside the seed pods, we naughtily broke one open to find the row of green seed. I think these need to turn black before they can be harvested.

Day 168 - June 17th

I did some crafting today. I finished a card for the Scrapology blog that I started yesterday, but as usual I can only show a sneak peek of the card. We work several months ahead so this card won't appear on the Scrapology blog for quite a while yet.

Day 167 - June 16th

Tonight Lara was presented with her Platinum Award at her gym club for Beamwork.

Day 166 - June 15th (Father's Day)

Today was Father's Day. We had a nice relaxing day and finished it off with a walk. Millie rarely wanders far from Wayne's side when we're out. She's a really Daddy's Girl!

Day 165 - June 14th

We went for our usual Salturday morning walk over the fields this morning. The hair that Millie lost a couple of months ago when she was unwell is now thankfully regrowing. The bald patch on her right side is barely noticeable and the left is looking much better too.

It was good to see that the council had been out this past week cutting the footpaths which made for a more pleasant walk.

Last week we were horified to see that the footpath where we saw the Wild Orchids (over the border in Hertfordshire) had been also been cut but as the Orchids we spotted were growing right in the middle of the footpath they had obviously been cut too.

On closer inspection however of the rough area of grass between the footpath and the crops we noticed lots more Bee Orchids growing and this week we noticed even more. Unfortunately we got caught in quite a downpour whilst out so some of the photos are of slightly soggy flowers!

Day 164 - June 13th

The hot weather continues.

This afternoon I discovered Tux stretched out on Mum & Dad's drive enjoying the coolness of the concrete paves and the shade the house offers.

Day 163 - June 12th

Today was day 2 of Lara's school Sport Day and and meant another afternoon stood in the blistering heat waiting for her event which turned out to the penultimate event of the afternoon! As it was the 75m relay I couldn't get any photos of Lara on her own so today's photos are instead of the garden.

Lots more plants and trees now in bloom.

I'm not sure what this white tree is. I don't think I've ever noticed the flowers on it before but it it beautiful. I must remember to ask Mum and Dad what it is.

Beautiful orange Lilies are flowering and loving the sunshine.

More varieties of Clematis are flowering.

Lots and lots of Pinks (Dianthus) all grown from shoots collected by my Mum from Pinks she's received or bought as cut flowers.

There are a few Alstroeamerias. There used to be lots when I was a child but now only a few remain.

The Hypericum bushes grow really well here and always produce an abundance of flowers.