Wet and Wild

What a difference a week makes. We have had torrential rain and the temperature has dropped dramatically. I have not done much gardening this week instead I have been restoring and creating artwork.

I am continuing to harvest fruit. I am still picking strawberries and have now started to pick gooseberries.

It takes a long time to 'top and tail' but the effort is worth it

The thistles are now in flower.

Thistles come in many shapes and sizes

The roses in the Artful Garden have come into bloom.

Roses and pottery houses

The cardoon is massive.

I'm dooned

The gentle perfume of meadowsweet is in the hedgerows.

You can use meadowsweet in recipes. It is similar to elderflower

The farmers are sheering their sheep.

Herdwick sheep

These dandelion seed heads are wonderful.

Each seed head is like a tiny upturned umbrella

I have been busy making wreaths.

Alchemillia mollis and scabious

Alchemillia mollis and Sweet Williams

I have decoupaged some tin cans.

Cantastic

I bought a potting bench and have decorated it and a set of steps with plants in cans, tins, jelly moulds and plant pots.

With all the rain there is no need to water

Crazy Maisie has returned from the health farm.

Love the hair extensions

Looby Loo loves her new clothes.

Do you like my slippers?

Charlie Barley is feeling cool.

Charlie's added a bit of sparkle

A misty view.

Looking towards Busk

Reflections in the river Eden which we walk along each evening with our dog.

Mirror image

Sand martin nest holes. In the evening the birds dash and dart over the water.

The sandy bank

Hot,, Hot, Hot

This last week we have had a heatwave, almost too hot to garden. The gardens have thrived on the sunshine, both plants and weeds. I am up to date with weeding all my gardens and just have a few more flowers to plant out. I have lost most of the flower seedlings and some veg seedlings in the Artful Garden. Something has twice been eating them as I replanted some veg. I have put jam jars and plastic bottles on top of some seedlings. They have now reached the top of the container so I am looking for other solutions.

The runner beans are growing very slowly.

No giant to be seen

The blue campanulas are swaying in the flower borders. They flower for a long time.

Ring the bells

I love delphiniums and have a variety of colours.

Powder blue

This week I picked my first strawberries and made some into jam in the microwave. This is a very good technique if you have a small quantity of fruit.

Delicious

Last week in torrential rain and a howling gale we walked from Mungrisdale to Bowscale Tarn.

Stunning views

Suddenly the gradient changed

The ascent was very steep and the driving rain felt like needles on your skin. The wind was so strong you felt you could be blown over. The views should have been stunning and the tarn itself was very dramatic hemmed in by crags.

The tarn is 17 metes deep

An old sign.

Is there a hobbit about?

The wild roses in the hedgerows have a fragile beauty that matches their perfume.

Paper thin petals

I saw this willow chicken in Glasgow.

You alright, hen? 

Street art in Glasgow.

Padering to the tourists

This mosaic in Silloth commemorates the millennium.

Tiles of buildings and places of interest

I made these flowers with class 1 at Kirkoswald school. Each child had a petal preference colour and each design was individual including a cactus.

Petal power

Crazy Maisie has left the Artful Garden to go to a health farm to detox.

Feeling slightly under the weather

Wet and Windy

A very wet and windy week has been good for watering the gardens but the wind has bent over quite a lot of my perennials. Also the weeds have prospered with the rain.

I had a trip to Whinlatter Forest on Wednesday. We stopped for coffee at Cocklakes farm shop where they breed turkeys.

Gobble, gobble at the cafe please

We walked the Seat How Summit Trail. This eagle was near the Visitor Centre.

The eagle has landed

Pine cones are appearing as flowers on the trees.

Segmented 'flowers'

Golden 'flowers'

The new growth on the larch tree looks like witch's fingernails.

Fir nails

Pine cones are forming on the larch.

They have yet to turn brown

The bell heather is just coming into flower.

Can you see the bumble bee?

From the summit were some stunning views of the Lakeland hills.

Looking  across at the hills

Looking onto Keswick and Derwentwater

The paths stand out in the landscape

The rhododendrons are in full flower.

Purple power

The gates at the Lakes Distillery.

They reflect the brewing process

These flowers were in Fitzwilliam Park in Keswick.

Rhododendron, azalea and mock orange

I made this embroidered picture for my friends ruby wedding anniversary.

I take inspiration form the flowers in my gardens

The three French hens are ready to fly to the Artful Garden.

Cluck

v

Toulouse Travels

A week ago we went on holiday to Toulouse. It is a large city with some lovely churches and official buildings. The weather was very hot.
The Convent des Jacobins a wonderful building with superb frescoes.

Check out the tower

A graffiti near the Toulouse Lautrec Museum in Albi.

Madame and Monsieur

An impressive wall mural in Toulouse. 

An industrial scene

A traditional colour to paint buildings is pastel. Pastel is derived from woad. I am growing woad in my garden. If I have time I will dye some fabric.

In the artist village of Carla Bayle

Formal gardens in Albi.

Very precise

An old advert.

Something to crow about

We visited Matres where they have a pottery design unique to the village. There are not many potters left who still practice this style of painting.

The traditional pattern incorporates a lyre bird

Carla Bayle is a small artist village overlooking the Pyrenees. It is very picturesque.

The village was on a hill

A monster greets you outside the Natural History Museum in Toulouse.

Woah

This cactus was over 3.5 metres high and was growing in a 18cm pot!

Tall or what?

Anyone fancy a macaroon?

Choose a colour

On our return the gardens have grown like mad. I have spent all week weeding and planting my bedding plants both annuals and perennials. I have a thrush who stays close to me in the Artful Garden and keeps gathering beakfulls of worms.

The aquilegia in the Artful Garden looks very pretty.

Bonny purples and blues

The foxgloves in many colours are loved by the bumble bees who disappear into the trumpets.

Nectar filled trumpets

Plums are appearing on the Victoria plum tree.

Hopefully a good plum harvest

I made this wreath from Sweet Williams and achimelia mollis.

Sweet Williams are one of my favourite flowers