Saturday 3 July 2010

High Summer

Summer days - very full and very busy. But these are special times to be savoured for when the wind is howling around the house.
There are sports days to cheer at and much picking of peas and digging potatoes to be done. And there are other people's glorious gardens to visit, to marvel at their planting skill, buy yet more plants and eat delicious cake in cool, bunting strewn barns.
Back home I set to; already it is time to cut back the geraniums and the catmint so it will flower again in late summer. Where is the year going? Later as the evening light mellows, there is time for sitting back and smelling the pinks, roses and peonies - and maybe munch a bit more cake!
Later still. although it's not fully dark, the sounds and sights of the summer night drift in through the bedroom window:
  • The hiss and drip, drip of next door's hose
  • A croaking frog in the border
  • The lowing of young bullocks in the field over the road to the dairy herd in the valley field, already laid down to sleep
  • Flittering, fluttering pipestrelle bats
  • The occasional sleepy twitter from the housemartin chicks in the nest in the eaves above our window
  • The rumble and clatter of lots of tractors and trailers and bright orange lights as the farmers bring the June hay home
  • A sliver of sparkling moon in the still blue-tinged sky
  • Chatter and laughter blown up of the breeze from the canal side pub down the lane
  • Beautiful twilight and the first stars peeping awake
But above everything is stillness. The year has turned and although we don't feel it quite yet, the slide through high summer has begun.

20 comments:

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Summer is just the best. All relaxation and fun

Kimberley said...

What a beautiful post.......thank you x

Peeriemoot said...

Ah lovely! Your garden is what mine aspires to :-D.

bellaboo said...

How poetic you are! Aint Summer great!
Have a happy weekend.

Bellaboo :0)

Jacquie said...

This is a special time of year indeed.I wish I could put it into words in the lovely way you did in this post .
Jacquie x

Emily said...

lovely post! you have a real talent with words!

Squam Hill Design said...

great list of summer evening sounds...nice reminder to slow down and just listen :)

KC'sCourt! said...

Lovely post and pretty flowers
Julie xxxxxxxxx

periwinkle said...

A lovely post - my geraniums haven't even begun to flower yet !

Pea Green Kitty said...

How beautiful and evocative....blissful! x

Anonymous said...

Steph
so beautifully written I can feel I'm standing in your garden!
Xxxxxxxxx

Anonymous said...

Such beautiful pictures, lovely post. I love watching the bats swooping down to catch the moths. I'm a real nature lover too xx

topchelseagirl said...

Lovely photos

jotatters said...

Such beautiful and evocative words and pictures. Thanks for sharing them.
Jo x

...Nina Nixon... said...

So beautifully put Steph - I feel we are all slowing winding down....before it's time for the harvest that is!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Nina x

Funkymonkey said...

I've nothing clever to say. Just wanted to let you know that this was a beautiful post.

Tracey

Katy Noelle said...

Steff, you really are quite wonderful! Do you know that? Right to the heart, you always go! I can't quite explain it but it's magic!

Love, katy xo

A Rose Without A Thorn said...

Your blog always makes me think of home, I love it. Thanks so much for the pure joy I get looking at the photo's and reading about your life, Maureen

melanie said...

A perfectly wonderful post :) xx

The Fairy Glade said...

What a lovely post Steph and what a hot weekend we have had here in my corner of the world. Too hot to be comfortable during the day, but I do love the balmy evenings, listening to the blackbirds and watching for the first star to appear. Dev x