Summertime Moments

A random collection

We have had stunning evenings of late. Summer evenings where we sit outside until it becomes dark. Dogs zoom around, chasing each other, occasionally taking a corner too tight on a lap around the garden, knocking the buds of poppies about to flower. I am not best pleased by this. The days seem to be a mix of warmth, then rain and then warmth again. It seems to work with the raspberries ready to eat and the plums starting to turn and colour. I suspect they will be ready to eat before Christmas.

I find a photo of the garden from a year or so ago. It looks so different. I take another to compare, ignoring the dirty windows that needs cleaning and just observe how much it has changed.

Spring flowers are now becoming seed heads as I find new things beginning to flower in the garden. Echnichea have started and I spy a dahlia bud starting to form. I swear that the dahlias are doubling in size over night. My beds that were bare a month or so ago are now filling with growth from plants and also the weeds. The weeds mean the green waste recycling bin is easily filled each week. Poppy buds appear, emerge and then are gone the next day. The ever changing garden is always that delicate reminder to be present and be in the moment. The garden, like life, changes in a moment.

Evenings and heat mean the smell of the honey permanents the garden as it drifts from the hive. The roses too release scent as the heat hits them. Bumbles rumble in the remains of foxgloves. I take photos. Lots of photos. In the early morning and the evening. I quickly look at them and then take more. I will edit them later. I will find the stories of the garden in more detail later. I am collecting my moments for returning to in the winter. After years of trying to understand my creative year I realise summer is the time of harvest and I am collecting all that I can. Winter is the time of reflection I will do that then. For now it is just about being in the garden.