Late Summer Sunday

Hot bright colours are creeping back into the garden at long last; echinaceas, dahlias, cosmos, and rudbekia steal the show on my weedy patio at this time of year so I spent the morning pottering with the feathered girls, enjoying it all, dead heading and pegging out the washing.

 

Not especially warm or sunny so far this Bank Holiday weekend but dry after an all night soaking and for that we were all very grateful.

Across the valley the trees are looking tired and raggedy and the crop in the maize field has been harvested already. I can feel the "summer" beginning to roll up and gather in; autumn is just around the corner.

So before the rain returns we decided to explore a footpath in the village we'd never ventured along before although we drive past it lots. Not that it was everyone's first choice - small boys and the magnetic pull of Lego as ever!

 

I try and remmeber how much I resented having to "go for a boring walk" when I was young, but we always had fun. In the end so did we today and we got an amazing view of a stoat popping out of a dry stone wall to see what we were up to.

 

It was a great afternoon; Lego forgotten for a few hours and lots of imagining and adventuring done instead. Smashing.x

Time Away

Its official. I am smitten with Catalonia and the little bays and enormous hills around Tamariu especially. Our week in Spain was everything we hoped for; relaxing, peaceful, restful and lots of fun.

Everyday the turquoise sea glittered, all sorts of boats bobbed about in the bay and we swam and snorkeled in the clearest waters I've ever seen. In the mornings we bought freshly baked croissants and warm baguettes to eat with thin mild cheese, smokey ham and fragrant tomatoes for breakfast.

When the heat of the day faded and night began to fall, we ate in super family run restaurants and feasted on baked squid, grilled sardines and astounding paella. Tamariu was such a bustling but relaxing place to be, full of Spanish families on their holidays, all ages together enjoying company, good food and wine.

If my numbers ever come up on the lottery I'm going to make the owner of this beautiful villa an offer they can't refuse. There's even a pool overlooking the bay.

We stayed somewhere much more modest but perfect and right on the sea front where we watched the word go by, read books, admired the view and played a lot.

We explored the twisty turny coastline and discovered bays and coves perfect for relaxing that made you wish you could sail.

Mostly though we ate ice lollies, lolled around in the shade and dipped into the sea when it all got rather hot. Thankfully there's the most lovely sea breeze that stopped us all from frying.

We definitely re-discovered a little slice of heaven...think we'll be returning very soon.