Seven Days

It’s been a really busy week since my grandchildren went home.It always feels a bit flat after family have been staying and it takes a couple of days to return to normal. Whatever that is. Anyway, here is a quick rundown of my last seven days.

We seem to be nearing the back end of Summer now. John always used to say when the rowan berries turned red, Autumn had arrived. I always disagreed with that, though. I prefer to hold on until September before finally turning in the flip flops.

And Summer is still here - the flowers are blooming in the garden and I am happily filling vases and jugs with tiny posies to place around the house. These scented lilies look perfect in the milk jug from my Mother’s wedding china.

I was involved in organising a community showcase event,this week, and it was such a fantastic evening. What an amazing array of local produce and creative work was on display, and some delicious food too.

Mind you, there have been some signs of a seasonal shift this week, as a boy had his first day at High School. It all went well, and he's glad to be there. It kind of loomed over the holidays a bit. 

One of my neighbours makes the most delicious sourdough bread, and was demonstrating this at our event. He was kind enough, afterwards to give me a bowl of starter dough and so we enjoyed some delicious home baked bread. I baked it in a cast iron pot and I was really pleased at how it turned out.

A simple summer breakfast of a handful of strawberries, rinsed with the hose, as I was watering the polycrub,one morning, and the remnants added straight to the compost heap afterwards.

And these darker nights mean that we suddenly become aware of the moon once more - and what a beauty it was.

Wishing you all a peaceful seven days ahead. xx

A week of Grandmothering

I’ve been busy since we got back from holiday. My two youngest grandchildren came to stay, and I had them all to myself. We didn’t do anything special or extraordinary, we just hung out, as they say. But it was so good to spend this time with them - that’s all you need to do, I guess. it was quite chaotic at times, relentless, even, but I loved every minute. Here are a few snapshots of our week.

All pretty normal, really - the kind of things I loved to do when I went to stay with my Grandmother. I indulged myself as much as the children - and that’s one of the secret joys of being a grand parent.

And now they have gone home - back to school beckons, and the house is quiet once more. It was a lovely week.

Summer Holiday Postcards

We’ve been away to the mainland for a couple of weeks holiday. It was such a lovely chilled time, staying with family, catching up with friends and doing a bit of sight seeing. It was very restful and I really felt as if I spent proper time with everyone.

I’ve already shared most of my pictures on my instagram account grid, or saved in the #summerweetspot highlight, but I kept a few for here.

Nowadays, I prefer visiting cities, when I’m on holiday. I love the buzz and vibrancy of an urban environment - a complete contrast from where we live. I hadn’t been to Glasgow for a long while, and we enjoyed strolling around the Merchant City area. There was a street food festival on at the time too, so a perfect day in the city.

We had a trip to St Andrews too - I worked out that I hadn’t been there for almost 20 years - far too long! It was delightful walking around, admiring the ancient university buildings, enjoying an excellent lunch and visiting the best bookshop I’ve been in for a while. I’m now trying to persuade James to study there when the time comes.

I also really wanted to see The Kelpies - and they didn’t disappoint. We arrived one evening, after the visitor centre had closed, so we could’t get inside. That didn’t matter, though. I was happy just to stand and gaze up in awe.

Then we spent a couple of days in Edinburgh, again - just wandering around. it’s always very busy at this time of year, but there are some quiet spots to be found, off the beaten track. This is Dean Village, one of my favourite parts of Edinburgh. (I may even have a Rightmove Property email alert for here…)

A visit to The Georgian House in Charlotte Square was also on my list. I can’t imagine why I haven’t been here before, but it was amazing. Such a fascinating story and the guides were so lovely and interesting.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend a visit if you are in the city. I think the Georgian proportions and symmetry appeal to me, and the understated elegance of the decor - very inspiring.

And there may have been more book shopping… There were certainly plenty of good times, sunny days, coffee shops and eating out,. Lazy mornings, long conversations and reminiscences - perhaps even a few “cocktails of an evening” …

But all good things come to an end, and now we are home - trying to hold on to those last few precious weeks of summer. Hope you are having a good season xxx

July Garden

I thought I would take you on a tour of the garden this morning. The sun is just coming out after a light shower so everything looks lush and green, and the newly mown grass smells amazing.

I’ve made a couple of improvements this year, one of which was to have the stone wall rebuilt. Part of it was bowing out alarmingly, and other parts were very tumble down. I’m so pleased with the work, and the care with which the builder placed each stone.

After the wall was finished, I cleared this bed, which had become a bit of a dumping ground and was full of weeds. It’s a tricky space to plant, being in dappled shade most of the day, and quite dry because of the trees. I envisage it as a spring garden - there are already daffodils planted, so I’ll add a lot more bulbs for next year. I’ve planted a few things - lupins ,roses,bergenia, hostas, moved a holly bush from the front and chucked a few packets of annual seeds around to give some colour while things assert themselves. I also put in lots of dahlias, but they’ve been a bit slow to get going. There’s still loads of couch grass, constantly poking up, so I’m pulling out handfuls every day. I guess it’s going to be trial and error for a few years with this bed - but gardening is a process and I’m looking forward to seeing what emerges.

Round the corner, though, the beds I made where the chickens used to live are becoming what I hoped they would be - a wild tangle of pinks, lilacs and purples. My main focus here is scented plants - roses, lavender, carnations and geraniums which now find themselves jostling for space with verbena, grasses and lupins. I am definitely not a minimalist gardener.

I love this space - every morning I go out to see the roses, which are fabulous this year, but right now, these daisies are jumping out like eager puppies as I pass.

As you can see, my gardening style is quite - well, let’s just say “relaxed”. I have a bit of a clear out in early spring which is when I do my main weeding, and before I plant anything new. Otherwise, its at the stage where i just leave it to do it’s thing. I pull out anything obvious that I don’t want to seed, and I deadhead the roses, but that’s about it. It seems to work.

I have adored fuschia since ever I can remember - those incredible flowers, like ballerinas en-pointe. I never cease to marvel at them.

I’ve got a few things growing in pots too. Herbs, more lavender (you can never have too much) and scented lilies, which have yet to flower. The original photo I was going to use here was quite blurry, so I’m using this one instead, which shows pots of rose scented geranium and sweet peas, and the glow of a patch of yellow loosestrife behind the trees.

Did I mention lavender?

The polycrub is producing well and we’ve been harvesting every day. There was a fantastic crop of broad beans and early peas; we’ve just finished the broccoli and are impatiently waiting on the next sowing to be ready. Still, there’s kale, beetroot and courgettes to tide us over until then. And tomatoes, of course. I’m delighted with these because they are grown from seed I saved from last year’s crop - and they taste delicious.

Sweet Marie de Bois strawberries - the taste of summer, and they do so well undercover. We get a small crop in mid June and a second flush later. I’ve tucked some salad leaves in the back here too.

And, hopefully, a taste of things to come - carrot seedlings poking through, chard, beets and Brussels sprouts growing nicely.

So, we’ve come to the end of my garden tour for July 2019. I hope you enjoyed it. Always a work in progress, as a gardening should be. Continuity and change, that’s the way it goes xx