Heatwave

Here in Sheffield, UK, we have had an unbroken spell of baking hot summer sun for the last 2 weeks. This is most unusual for this country and particularly for the northern regions. Temperatures have nudged 30 degrees, which is almost unheard of.

Friends have said it must be awful to have a leg in plaster in this heat. But actually it’s OK. I don’t have to worry about cold toes, slippery conditions or getting the plaster wet. Getting dressed is ever so simple as I don’t have to put lots of layers on. Most of my trousers are not wearable over my ‘pot’, so I am living in summer skirts.

I am signed off sick until I am more mobile, but I have been doing some work from home via my laptop. It’s mostly repetitive, data-entry-type work so I can happily sit in the garden, in the shade of the tall trees, and play some music as I go. My phone is beside me at all times in case the office needs to call me. I like to think that they are struggling without me.

At the weekend some friends kindly took me to their house which was lovely. We sat on the deck and had a go in the kids’ paddling pool. Then we went to the pub and I got signed, including ‘Get Well Soon’ in Chinese! It was wonderful to have a change of scene and to be surrounded by cheery people.

I had a lovely visitor yesterday who happens to be a trained homeopath, and she brought me some arnica tablets. This is meant to reduce swelling and bruising, and aid the healing process. I have never tried homeopathy before, and I am completely befuddled as to how it can possibly work, but I am willing to try it. My friend is very aware of the controversy surrounding homeopathy, so she discretely handed the tiny bottle of pills to me and I hid it away, in case we attracted attention and started a debate. It felt terribly risqué, like she was my drug dealer.

The cats are finding it far too hot to move. They are more sleepy and snuggly than ever.

 

Till next time,

L x

An Award!

An Award!

Jackie at Knittingwithheart has kindly nominated me for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. Thank you so much Jackie for following my blog and for thinking of me. It’s almost a year since I started this blog and not only is it great fun to be part of an online community, but it also keeps me motivated. I aim to post once a week and I like to be disciplined about that and make sure I have something new to share.

I am loving the beautiful copper sun symbol of this award, and amazingly enough we have had lots of sun here in Sheffield, UK. But this is northern UK sun. So it’s not ever so warm, not warm enough to make you uncomfortable, but pleasantly warm.  Warm enough to have the windows open and to go outside without a jacket or a cardigan. Our sun also hides behind clouds quite a lot and sends us the odd shower, so you don’t really need your sunglasses on because there’s no harsh glare, and the summer rain makes the garden grow, nice and lush.

Ha! I’m such a northern European, eh?

We have lots of trees in our garden so it’s nice and shady, perfect for maintaining my pasty-white northern European features. Sometimes I move my chair to sit in the sun, just for the sheer novelty of feeling its warmth. As for ‘getting a tan’, that’s more likely to happen whilst I’m out and about in the fields walking the dogs.

My shady garden

The round thing on the left is a copper sun garden ornament hanging on the climbing rose – how appropriate for this post!

The roses are just starting and their scent is wonderful.  The honeysuckle is well-established and rampant, covering the entire trellis from wall to wall, and because Spring was so late this year we have honeysuckle at the same time as the roses.

Competing with the honeysuckle on the trellis and just about holding its own, is my clematis, the gloriously-named Crystal Fountain Fairy Blue.

When the outer petals fade and drop off, the centres stay, leaving us with little puffballs of blue dotted around the trellis.

Also competing with the honeysuckle on the trellis is the rare species known as Little Herb.

View from the kitchen window – Herbie

He likes to hang out on the wall with the stone lion, overseeing the garden and plucking bees off the honeysuckle.

But back to the point – the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees. I am very happy to nominate these wonderful and inspirational blogs: Buzy Day, Stitch and Purl, All Kinds of Knitting, Lana Plantae, Agujas Blog, Skyscrapers and String, Measured and Slow, All She Wants to do is Knit, Montana Designs, Hollis Plample, A Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventure, Introverted Knitter, My Spare Moments, Pipknits.

Spread the sunshine, until next time!

L x

Sunny Sunday dog walk

There was a clear blue sky in Sheffield yesterday, bright sunshine and a cool breeze, perfect for taking the dogs out. No jumper needed, just took a bottle of water, dog treats, and a bit of money for the ice-cream van.

Harry and Dixie posing nicely

We walked to the Rivelin valley again, a favourite walk of mine with loads of variety and interest. There was one more route I hadn’t quite figured out so that’s the route we took. This route was less strenuous as it didn’t go all the way up the hill but cut through the woods mid-way up. Perfect for a hot day.

About half way round we stopped in a glorious meadow for a rest. Wild flowers were abundant and the air was scented. I kept the boys on their lead in case there were sheep around the corner. But it didn’t stop them from rolling around in the cool, long grasses.

It was such a beautiful spot that I took some more pictures.

They looked so happy and joyous that I felt it too. It’s great hanging out with these guys.

A little further on we were in the woods following the river. The boys did lots of paddling in the shallows and I played the game of swooshing water on them to keep them cool, which made them run away like nervous bathers!

Nearer home we stopped for another rest in the meadow next to the cemetery. There is a natural spring here where they like to have a drink. I sat down in the long grass and enjoyed the scent of the cow parsley and other flowers and blooms whose names I don’t know. Harry and Dixie had a good wander around in the cool grasses until it was time to go.

Time to go, boys!

I can’t think of a better way of escaping my computer and my desk than this.

Till next time,

L x

Garden Planting

Now that the weather is warmer, I thought it was high time to put some flowers in my garden. Usually I would do this around Easter, but this year Spring has come late. I went to a garden centre towards the end of April and there was almost nothing there: a few sad herbs and no bedding plants at all. So my garden has been looking quite empty.

Amazingly, this little primrose survived the big freeze and is giving me a perfect splash of colour.

I bought a cat mint plant, and to give it the best chance of survival, I planted it in my hanging basket.

“Cats adore this plant”

My garden is surrounded by tall trees so it doesn’t get much light. I love it because it’s cool and shady and private, but some plants struggle to flower here.  Last year there were no flowers at all on my rhododendron. But this year, wow! I have just one, single, perfect bloom.

On my Sunday dog-walks I have been checking out the many local footpaths which lead from suburbia into the allotments, woods, fields, and down to the river valley at Rivelin. Last week I noticed that there was going to be a plant sale at the allotment society HQ. That was surely the place to go for stocking my garden: locally-raised plants at good prices. I went along yesterday and did really well. They had a good range including herbs, fruit and veg. I was in the market for nasturtiums: they apparently thrive on poor soil (check) and grow like weeds (check) and give plenty of colour and ground cover (check, and check). Well, there were loads of them for sale at only 50p. I also got some petunia, nicotiana, and some geraniums with this glorious variegated red leaf.

Already pretty, even before the flowers come.

I bought a nice little plant with delicate white flowers called Woodruff. They said it was a perennial so I thought I would buy it and see if it manages to survive for more than one season. Well, as luck would have it, a quick check on Wiki tells me it could hardly be more perfect for my shady plot. ‘Prefers partial to full shade’, ‘ideal as ground cover in woody gardens’, ‘strongly scented’. It is also known as ‘sweet woodruff”, ‘wild baby’s breath’, or ‘master of the woods’. I have high hopes for this one!

Larry has taken over the plant box

As always, Larry and Monty were on hand to observe the planting and to give their advice.

Monty is supervising

Till next time,

L x