Three hours of sunshine and time to myself!

perfect day and lovely photos, your garden looks so lovely.

I second that a real pleasure to walk with you in your garden.

What a lovely peaceful day you have had. Those pictures are gorgeous. Oh, heaven to be able to sit outside with a book and my feet up.......I can but dream!!! Thank you for brightening up my day :))

My arbor seat which I put in the garden earlier in the year has never been sat on yet, my new table and chairs have been left in the box since I bought them 2 months ago.

We just have to make the most of any bit of sun, we had some today but much too windy to sit out.....But No Rain!!!

We have had sunshine most of today but its been very breezy, however tonight its very,very cold but so good to see a bit of blue sky still....

lovely tour round your garden wildrose and glad you enjoyed your day of peace and sunshine.
my uncle has bee hives and i enjoyed getting the suit on and helping when i visited a couple of years ago, enjoyed blog ;o))

Many thanks to all of you. It has been the strangest few months hasn't it and we just have to make the most of small glimpses of the sun?

John is back, he caught 3 trout and has given two away so far - just the one to go then!!! They taste too earthy for me!

Your garden is so beautiful, your 'bobbies James' rose is beautiful..:))

Beautiful garden W/rose another bee keeper, we are getting a little swarm of you guy on GoY.

i love trout yummy lol :o)

I love your garden, Wildrose! Great plants - and is that a Hydrangea with the purple leaves and pink flowers??

Yes Sheila it is a hydrangea and this is its best year yet.

My husband is the bee-keeper not me but I love watching their comings and goings.

Lovely garden Rose. For all the weather's been so wet, all the gardens have been so colourful and I've never before seen so many foxgloves in my garden!!!

Its all been said Wildrose so I will echo it - lovely garden.

Lovely garden - hope your had a relaxing day in or out whatever, we had sunshine most of the day and it was absolutely lovely to get out in the garden. :o) it seems like weeks since we had so much sunshine it lifts the spirits. :O)

It is looking really pretty,and I love that Cosmos..mine are all plain colours..but a nice splash of colour..I love them..glad you enjoyed your leisure time,,and hope it was a good book..I'm with you about the trout,I don't like it either,,much prefer Salmon..:o)

Love that rambling rose! I shall be on the look-out for that on my trips to Britain - just what I want to cover the south-east end of our boilerhouse! :o)

Very nice. I'm glad you had some time to enjoy in your garden. It's beautiful :o)

Lovely garden Rose, just so pretty and secluded. You do the same as me rescuing the roses from the rain. I have a vase full in my hall right now and the scent is better than any 'plug-in' or 'diffuser'!

I hope that your pretty garden is enjoying the sun today too

Loving the colours of your garden. It all looks soft & flowing, wonderful :-)

Back to reality today I'm afraid. It has poured and poured and poured down here!!

Many thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Oh what a gorgeous garden you have... hope the sun comes out again so you can enjoy it some more!

Thank you - so do I!!!!

What was the book, Wildrose? I was so lucky yesterday - had 4 hours of sunshine and was on my own so sat in the garden with a newly arrived book that had to be finished by the evening - did it! ("House of Silk" by Anthony Horowitz; v. good).

You had a very pleasant time too!!

I was reading 'Country Living' magazine and the book [ which I finished last night] was by Victoria Holt. It was called 'Menfreya' and was set in Cornwall. Mum and I share her books which can only be purcashed 2nd hand now!

I am about to start another! So must you!!
x

Thanks . . . I now have 'Psychologies' mag from the library, and (I'm usually reading 3 books at once!) am in the middle of Diana Athill's 'Instead of a Letter' which is beautifully written. A wonderful book set in Cornwall - based on fact (Lamorna artists) - is "Summer in February" by Jonathan Smith. A film is currently being made of it :)

Lovely visit to your garden in Devon Wildrose. Seems you are first in line for the rain storms in the west. In Essex we have had longish sunny days but lots more rain than I can ever remember here. Most plants love it, but we are not happy with these grey dreary days. I have a Kindle and have never read so many books in the last months, in my whole life. Old classics, new scary ones, history, biographies...Even the whole of Bleak House in the winter.

I'm way behind again, Chris. I just seem to catch up with everyone when something happens , one of which you know and then I'm behind again. Absolutely loved your blog and your garden is beautiful. I love the little summerhouse I can just see poking out. I lost a lot of my cosmos to the rain, they went brown and just died. In fact, I'm pleased I've got so many roses otherwise my garden would be dull. So thats Robbie, Oops I mean Bobbie James is it! Lol. Beautiful.

Now, now Miss Marple the summerhouse you spotted is John's rather untidy garden shed!!! However you were correct on the rose - yes it is Robbie, whoops I mean Bobbie !!!

I thought it was a summerhouse or some such exotic building too lol, clever camera work there. I love your garden and Bobby james looks amazing...how long is he in flower?

The white rambling rose lasts for about a month - it is just going over now! It is very hard work to tame it so I leave that to John - the one with the untidy shed!!!

Probably cover my whole garden lol, but it does look fantastic:-)

Well it looks a very posh shed to me Chris!

That's how the camera can sometimes 'lie!!!' So glad you can't see it properly!

What an amazing garden, WR- so very green and pretty, and so many flowers still in bloom. We have virtually no flowers left on our roses any more. I simply LOVE that hydrangea. Any chance of a name to go with it?
Another beekeeper, too! You must get enough honey from that lot to feed an army!
p.s. Weeds? What weeds?

The weeds are growing in amongst the flowers quite happily!!!

I shall try to find the label from the hydrangea and let you know its name.

Since taking the pics last week we have done NOTHING in the garden because it is too wet and soggy!
Apparently the position of the 'jet stream' that has caused all this rotten weather, is on the move at the weekend so summer may begin then!

I have been keeping an eye on our own weather forecast, and for weeks and weeks now, there has been nothing but hot, dry, and windy stuff on the horizon. Not very useful, comfortable or congenial after a few months. So a few days ago we organised a garden tea party for this Sunday, and have quite a few people descending for cucumber sandwiches and lemon drizzle cake, home-made lemonade and ice creams. So what happens? I've just had a look at the forecast for Sunday again, and the whole day is suddenly expected to be very wet and cold. It must be Sod's law. People should pay a lot for a talent like mine. I may well have saved the gardens and crops of Bologna. :o))

Your reference to home-made lemonade filled me with nostalgia1 I used to love all the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton and home-made lemonade was always part of their wonderful picnics!
Weather forecasts can be wrong so I shall keep my fingers crossed for Sunday!
I would love your delicious food no matter what the weather and you could always add home-made soup to the list!!!

And me,Chris..I loved The Famous Five books,and The Secret Seven too...which were the books where they had lashings of Ginger Beer? I thought that was the Famous Five,but probably wrong ..it has always stayed in my mine,as I used to think it was real beer ! how naive I was :o).

You're right, it WAS ginger beer wasn't it?
I also liked the Secret Seven - they used to meet in a garden shed and have secret passwords etc!!

Great memories,Chris,aren't they ? Did you also read 'What Katy did' and 'What Katy did next' when you got older.?.I would love to read those again too..:o).

I used to love Enid Blyton books, Wildrose, to the point that a couple of years ago I went down the "home made ginger beer" route. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite the way it should have, and we got a lot of highly explosive bottles, broken glass and a VERY sticky cellar. Sadly, even what we managed to salvage didn't taste "quite how it oughter."
Yes, Bloomer, I read both the Katy books, too. I see a pattern forming here..............

I don't remember the Katy books but I do remember one about a boarding school called 'Mallory Towers!'

The ginger beer story made me smile because I wasn't the one who had to clear it up and also, you did tell it in a humorous way!

I remember reading 'Mallory Towers' too ,but can't really remember much about it..I loved 'Heidi' too..in fact books were my favourite things,and jigsaws..very happy on Christmas morning if I got both ! :o)

I used to get a big compendium book of stories each Christmas - I'd usually read it from cover to cover by Boxing Day.

ah,those were nice times,Gattina..and I really appreciated whatever I got..expectations were much less,and treasured...I wish my mum hadn't got rid of a lot of my books as I got older,even if they did go to the local hospital..I still have a lot my daughter had,in the loft..and will enjoy reading most of them to Thomas soon,when he is old enough..starting with a lot of the Mr Men ones..:o)

Our Daughter had Ladybird books which eventually fell apart with much use. We did move on to Mr Men books, but by then she was unimpressed by the basic level (she's still a language anorak) and they went largely unappreciated. They went to her cousins who didn't get so far as opening them.She learned to read when she was three using the AA book of British birds!

We have lots of Ladybird books too..I was sick to death of reading 'the Enormous Turnip' ! Lol.

Oh Yes, and Beatrix Potter. D knew every single word of most of the books, and I ended up sick to death of "The Tailor of Gloucester" It was SO long. She made me start again if I edited it to get through it faster.

Lol,Gattina..just shows how much they remembered about the stories,didn't it? ..bedtimes seemed to drag on,when you tried to skip a bit ...or when it was ''you read a page,then I will '' ...but wouldn't have wanted it any other way..just loved reading together :o)..Thomas loves books too..we buy all of his from the Charity shops..almost like a library here now !

I have just enjoyed your literary chat Bloomer and Gattina very much!! I still like children's books and love looking at them. I have a beautifully illustrated copy of 'The Secret Garden' which one of my ex pupils gave to me - I borrowed it from her once or twice and when she left primary school she gave it to me, so it is very special.

I do love Peter Rabbit too and Benjamin Bunny!!!

Our boys loved Mr Bump I seem to remember!

Any more contributions you two to this fascinating debate?! Just about to go to bed and read my latest novel under the covers with a torch...........!

Hope you didn't get caught reading last night,Chris :o)..I remember those freezing nights with no heating,huddled under the piles of blankets..remember the weight of those? :o)....and some books were a bit cumbersome too ..not always an easy task !...I think you will be too young to remember some of my Annuals...I used to get two weekly magazines delivered called 'Schoolfriend' and 'Girl's Crystal'..and loved the hardbacks which were published for Christmas....and do you remember another children's series out about the same time as Mr Men,called 'The Garden Gang'? ..I can only remember Sally Strawberry....might get them down from the loft,to rekindle some memories...I can recall the types of fruit and veg,but not their names :o) ....mind you,I am going back about 30 years !

We always had a Rupert book for Christmas. Arthur Ransom books like Swallows and Amazons. All that going on boats without a life jacket.....tut tut. Going out of sight of your non helicopter parents, never hovering. Captain Hornblower and Biggles....bit masculine, as shared with my brother. We used to have some Enid Blyton strip 'cartoon books', a bit like the old savings stamp books that children used to stick stamps. My brother used to have some boys mags Hotspur. We bought American comics in the market, full of scary cartoons. After I had nightmares, mum censored them, only time she ever hovered!!!Ladies try reading Isabella Birds travels in Japan/Malaysia/wild west/ Tibet amazingly 'on her own'. Fleas, floods, torrential rivers, high mountain passes, riding on Yaks, living in yurts. Wonder what she would be up to if alive now?

My Auntie Phyllis (Long dead, bless her) gave me piles of old comics that she had when SHE was a girl (so we're going back to the twenties and thirties now) - Angela Brazil stories (girls with long ringlets and frilly underpinnings) and my Dad's (who would have been 99 tomorrow if he were still alive) comics - Magnet and things with Billy Bunter and Desperate Dan, and Lord Snooty in them. I devoured them every Christmas when we went to stay with my Grandparents in West Hartlepool, and it was too cold to go out, and there was no television and not much on the radio, either. I remember sitting in this huge, overstuffed pink armchair, with a jar full of celery, and a plate with salt on it, working my way through that and a pile of brazil nuts my Granddad cracked for me, reading comic after comic.
Later, I remember I used to get "Girl", and my little brother had "Eagle". Nothing like the overtly sexy rags for pre-adolescents they dish up these days.
Does this make me sound old?

Only as old as you feel,Gattina...and it's called nostalgia..I'm sure we all have special times we remember from childhood,and nice to recall most of them..did you ever have cocoa and sugar in a paper bag ? just the best thing..and that yellow sugar crystal muck from Woolworths..fingers to match :o))

I remember everything you mentioned Bloomer so I'm older than you thought!!! I remember getting Bunty and Girl and other comics that I now forget the names of!

Our boys loved Thomas the Tank Engine books as I am sure your Thomas will when he is a bit bigger.

Dorjac, my husband loved 'Swallows and Amazons' but I don't remember reading the whole of it!

As for sweets I LOVED Palma Violets and dolly mixtures [ when they had a much better selection than they do today!] and oh yes those two coloured lollipops with the chalky texture - do you know the ones I mean?

This is fun isn't it?!
xx

I do remember those Lollipops Chris..:o) ..I didn't like parma violets..do you remember chewing those Liquorice roots that looked like twigs ? they were really horrid when they went soggy .ugh!
Thomas already likes 'Thomas' books etc..He has a sit and ride Thomas,a cushion and bedding set..but still prefers Fireman Sam at the moment.:o).

My Dad used to bring home liquorice misshapes every Friday night for a treat. I still can't bring myself to eat Pontefract cakes. I think Dolly mixtures used to be SO much nicer than they are now. Does anyone remember slabs of pink and white coconut ice?
Yes, I remember sugar in blue paper bags, and hundreds and thousands wrapped in conical twists of the same blue paper. That's where MY fingers got their colour, Bloomer!

Does anyone remember pear drops, as they were then? They packed a punch, they tickled your infant taste buds. The ones that my Gran sold had a powerful taste. Cough candy.....very bad for the teeth. Cough mixtures loaded with now banned substances. I used to go for one called Glempec. Mum had to hide it from me! I remember the Woolies lemonade powder and buying broken biscuits. No wonder the school dentist had a busy time. Probably a good job sugar was rationed.

Strange isn't it? I HATED cough candy and acid drops. I remember Fisherman's Friends - they made my satchel smell awful in wintertime.

Cadburys used to do mis-shapes didn't they? My grandad used to come home with cough candy or pontefract cakes and I didn't care for either of them! I used to go for the really cheap and nasty sweets that came in tiny packets! I now love chocolate raisins and jelly babies!

Love your garden Rose, so pretty and natural, my kind of garden really. That hydrangea has pretty coloured leaves, most unusual.

Just catching up on sweetie ramblings, our local Home Bargains has sherbert dib dabs and sherbert fountains 5 for a pound ...I'm becoming addicted ...maybe try snorting it next:-) My favourite sweets when little (apart from chocolate and ice cream) were called rose buds, they were boiled sweets round and pink with a rose? flavour. I'm the only person who remembers them ...hope I didn't dream them:-) Chris ...did you see what I did with your pics?:-)