June in the garden (and book 2 news)

In the absence of any gardening posts because of my broken ankle, I thought I’d bring one back from a couple of years ago. I miss my ridiculously huge 100ft garden enormously, although writing and working full time now would make it pretty hard to look after – a garden that size is a full time job, really.

The garden, and others from our old village, are inspiration for the book I’m working on now which is set in an English village, so I’ve begun the process of setting the scene over at my Pinterest page if you’d like to have a look. As it’s pouring with rain I’m going to spend the day looking at photographs of cottage gardens in the sunshine and wondering if the week of sunshine we had there was our summer (I hope not).

So here’s my post from back then: still talking about the weather now. We can’t help it, it’s in our blood…

It’s a very British thing, weather. A drought was announced, causing huge problems for farmers across the south of England, and it then proceeded to pour with rain for ages, so the garden has gone all jungly but it’s too wet to cut the grass. And the whole of yesterday was so winter-ish that I spent it in bed, writing and drinking tea. Mainly drinking tea, actually, but don’t tell.

We had a little moment of summer this morning after the rain. There’s a recipe for redcurrant jelly here if yours are getting ripe too.

Not much chance of making jam with the strawberry harvest. That’s it, so far. The red one was delicious.

Not as delicious as the tiny little wild strawberries we have in a pot, though.

Borage flowers. How something so pretty can grow from such a thuggish plant amazes me. One of them has elbowed its way into the border, shoving my demure little chives out of the way, and telling a rose bush to budge up.

Jungle path. If I was a child, I’d love this. I love it anyway.

The garden in June. You can compare it with the garden at Easter. Funny how things grow when you’re not looking. Like children.

self portrait

Over on Tara’s blog it’s week 140 of The Gallery and the theme is ‘Self Portrait’.

I’m mostly behind the camera, partly because I like taking photographs and also because as soon as anyone points a camera at me I tend to pull a ridiculous face, like a five year old.

I took this one myself. I turned 40 this January and decided this was the year I was going to do things – to publish the book, to take up roller derby. It’s the first of May today, five months into my year of being brave. I suppose some people would consider putting an untouched photograph of myself with no make up to be brave, but I happen to like being 40. My mum went on a gap year at 46 and maintains her 40s were her favourite decade. I’m inclined to agree with her. This article about turning 60 says it all for me. I like getting older. I actually like myself more now than I ever have. I don’t take any crap, I’m brave enough to do things that scare me, and I know when to walk away (even if that does mean disappearing to bed halfway through a night out because I’m exhausted by midnight).

This week I’m madly decluttering the house. This is an annual thing for me and always seems to be quite therapeutic, because it reminds me that we don’t need all the mountains of stuff we carry around. With four children living here, and another two some of the time, there’s a lot of stuff which accumulates in corners. I’m recycling, giving things to charity, and clearing my head at the same time.

My tips for getting organised: read these. My friend Alison’s gorgeous blog Brocante Home, and Flylady and Space Clearing. And try and avoid shaving the yak!

a new look

I’ve been fiddling around with the blog this week and giving it a spring makeover. I’ve decided that it’s time to make a few changes – I realised the other day when I was out in the garden taking flower photographs that I’ve been so busy working that I’ve forgotten to take the time to get out with my camera.

One of the things I always enjoyed best about writing Tales from the Village was that it provided an escape from day to day life, and work, and all the rest of that stuff.

It’s been almost three years since I started the blog. Having had a chat with a blogging friend, Nickie, and after taking some advice from writerly friends like Liz, I’ve decided to move the books and writing over to my author blog which is still a work in progress right now. I’m going to keep the roller derby stuff over at my roller derby blog.

So this one’s going back to basics.

 

there. I feel better already.

spring in the garden

I think this weekend I’m going to get outside.

But look, look. Sunshine and shoots and tiny baby clematis and spring. This is a post brought to you from the Department of Cheering Upping.

and a daisy – the first one in the garden, waiting for some sunshine. That’s just how I feel.

No words today. Just pictures.

Together

Joining in, as part of my post-every-day April theme, with The Gallery at Sticky Fingers, Tara’s blog for the first time in aaaaages. It’s a sign of how long we’ve all been blogging that I remember week six and she’s now on week 136.

The theme this week is Together. My four children fight like demons, but they love each other fiercely, too.

Gathering these photos made me feel quite proud. They’re a lovely bunch of horrorchops – and time passes SO fast.