Summertime

Oh July, the height of summer, don't you just love it? The warmth of the sun on your face, the long, light-filled days, airy blue skies....ahhhh yes, tis summertime. The above photo was taken last week (Weds 02 July, 07:39am) and it was oh-so-lovely to feel summery last week, to wear a strappy vest and flipflops, to go to the park and drink homemade lemonade and watch the Little People do roly-polys down the hill and get covered in dry grass clippings, to eat dinner outside with the geraniums and sweet peas. I wish that the above photo was of today, and that I could say the weather here was still light, warm and blue, but alas it is not. Not today. No, today we have more of the grey wet stuff. Yes, the wet ploppy rain is still with us here in Yorkshire.
I remember a little while ago I had a bit of a foot-stomping strop about the weather, do you remember that? I got all cross at having to abandon my flipflops and dig out my black  winter boots (with the wintery fur-lined trim). Well that was before I bought these ::

 

These are my New Wellies, aren't they super? Oh yes, its quite amazing what a pair of snazzy wellies can do for ones mood.  I've been wearing these this week to do the school run, as the school run for us consists of a picturesque but very puddly walk along the tow path of the canal. Little Man has some black wellies with spider webs on but he refuses to wear them for the school walk, prefers the jumping-over method of puddle negotiation instead. So it's been Me and Little Lady stomping and splashing our way through puddles and loving it quite honestly. True, wellies are not very July-ish but I am choosing to smile instead of strop. Bravo.

Yes, I have given up lamenting about the state of the weather. I look out of the Attic24 window at the stormy grey skies, but I also see the green lushness of the hills and think how lucky we are that our climate allows the grass to remain green all summer long. I remember the summer of '96 when J and I spent twelve weeks backpacking round the Greek Islands, how brown and dry and barren the landscape was, how I so missed the green hills of England.

The flowers in my little back yard are also loving the wet stuff. I took these couple of photos last week, the thyme now in full flower and my osteospurnum beginning it's second flush. Even my sweet peas are beginning to flower despite looking a little bedraggled, and the scent of them is wonderful (even though I have to bend right down and stick my nose right in as they aren't yet high enough for me to catch a whiff of it as I breeze past). Speaking of whiffing,  I have been around my neighbourhood sniffing the roses lately, oh there are so many many houses round and about here with the most beautiful roses! They are tumbling over walls and gates and begging to be sniffed. I don't grow any myself, but hope to remedy that sometime, especially after seeing these. I think I would quite fancy a rosebush or two rambling around my house, but in the meantime, look at these lovely summery napkins I bought last week ::

I have recently developed a bit of a Thing for paper napkins. Its on a par with my thing about teatowels. Sally my lovely, you started it when you sent me these wonderful flowery CK napkins, and now I cannot stop looking out for them. I think they're a great way to have colour and pattern at the table and it does successfully stop the mucky Little People wiping their hands and faces on their sleeves. I have them in a bowl (the napkins, not the Little People) and we love selecting which ones we are going to use each day at mealtimes. Currently Little Lady favours the roses, and Little Man chooses the CK flowers. The stripes are not so popular, so have been relegated to picnics.

You know how a napkin is folded into quarters, well I've been cutting them up into four squares with no folds so that they go further. Which means its not too much of an expensive retail addiction. And  as well being functional, decorative and recyclable, you can do also do this sort of thing with them. That's a good rainy-day activity if ever I saw one.

Comments

[claire]

I think your crochet is just gorgeous! I tried and failed miserably at it. I din't inherit my gran's genes for that one, got the green fingers instead. I'm in not so sunny Gower in Wales, it is raining but kids in school day to myself to get crafty so musn't grumble. Do you ever sell your crochet flowers as embellishments? I'd wanted to make some little girls necklaces as gifts, with felt beads, crochet flowers etc and found one lady in US but I'd prefer to give a Uk mum the business is poss. Would you be interested? I love the vibrant colours you use and so does my 7yr old daughter:D Hoping for sun though my veg will be happy in the rain Clairexx

[Funkymonkey]

Love the wellies

[Gill]

I love those wellies, its not something I wear over here, I do have some black ones in the garage that we brought with us from Britain.

We had rain here also today, but all the rain does with the heat is make it feel more like a sauna. Thank goodness for air conditioning especially when the temperature hits 40oC.

take care,

Gill from Canada

[Rachael Rabbit]

OMG - look at those wellies ... I wouldn't leave them out of your sight - someone with excellent taste might pinch them ....

[Fi]

FOLDING NAPKINS!!! Me thinks you've got far too much time on your hands!!! Get on with that gorgeouse hexagon blanket this instant! lol! Love the wellies!

[simone]

The wellies look really cheery! Our weather has been dreadful here too. Yesterday was the worst with no cloud breaks or sun coming through. I've just bought new garden furniture so bad weather was definitely on the cards! Something else you can do with paper napkins (serviettes)is serviette decoupage where you just use the top thin layer of the paper serviette and use a decoupage glue and sealant to stick your cut out motifs on to whatever you fancy!

[sally]

Glad I started a trend Luce! I'll have to look out for some more for you..... Did you get my F-mail?
P.S. Love the wellies, but I really do wish summer would come back....and stay :)
Sally xxxx