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Saturday 30 June 2018

Simple, Cool and FREE.

I like flowers in the house, bright and bold colours. I quite like them cheap. I really like them free.

It is too hot for bold flaming colours. 

I want Cool.

I want green.

I want to keep it simple.

I have the very things in my garden.

No, not the containers.

Although they were free.

Ladies Mantle, it grows like a weed all through my end of the village. Last year I potted up over 50 self seeded small plants and they went onto a plant stall to raise money for Alzheimer's research. They sold the lots for £1.50 each, not bad going.

Mint, I have a small forest of this, it grows beside the steps up my garden and wriggles out into the grass. When the SO cuts the grass it smells heavenly.

Melissa, aka Lemon Balm is in there as well. It is a garden thug, when we moved in there was a bed of it about the size of a bath. I now have 3 plants that I keep in check.







They look pretty, they scent the air and they provide a cool spot for the eyes to rest upon.
I can almost feel my temperature drop when I look at them.

I know that candles equate heat but these are cool white so I added them to the mix.

I kept myself busy inside for most of the day, it was searingly hot outside by 11:00. We did a trip to the recycling centre and dropped off about a third of the utility room debris as hard core, then did the shopping as we were half way there.
There will be another trip tomorrow with another third and the rest will go on Monday. One trip a day is enough, there are a few bags of green waste to go and we will fit them in along with the rest.

I spent some time cutting out another dress, and the lining, and 2 pairs of shorts for the SO. I will probably have a sewing session after my tea and the first dog walk.
We are not in dire need for the clothes, although who sneezes at a new dress or three, but I am sewing up the stash. I am waiting for my quilt backing fabric to arrive, should be here later, and then it will be all systems go.

I also managed a few rows of knitting so the socks are nearly off the needles. Then it will be the WIPs turn, only 2 but they need finishing, no more casting on till they are both done.

I am eating fresh strawberries, warm from the sun, every day. The SO does not like them, or rather, they do not like him. Luckily my neighbours are happy to eat them every day too. I am not going to make jam this year, the pantry shelves are still well stocked from last year. I will miss the strawberry jam but there's another year following and I can jam to my heart's content.

I have set a little potting station up under the garden parasols, it is far too hot in the sun, and will be potting on a few plants today. They have been waiting for a week now and so have I, I want the pots that they are in for something else and will wait no longer.
 I put the sprinkler on the garden last night for a couple of hours, I was weary and could not face being out there with the hose. It looks so much better this morning that I will probably do that every other night while this weather stays.

Unless we have a hosepipe ban, of course.

On that note I am going to say toodle pip and get another cuppa.

Enjoy your weekend.

                         TTFN                                Pam






16 comments:

  1. Beautiful, cool mantle piece and the white candles make it almost meditative. We have lemon thyme under the bedroom window and it really does take over-I love the clean smell of it nonetheless. I must motivate myself to do something today as there is no sign of let up in the weather.

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    1. It is scorching here, I have sewing to do. A quiche and a joint of gammon have been cooked, cooled and are in the fridge. There is lots of salad and that is what we will be eating. If I am desperate (as if) for something hot it will be poached egg on toast. This weather should be constant for the next 7 days.

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  2. Those two tops that you showed yesterday in your photographs are lovely. What pattern do you use?

    I comment a lot to your posts but my PC seems to send them off into the ether somewhere. I wish I could figure out the problem.

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    1. Pam29 Jun 2018, 08:11:00
      I used the bodice from McCall's M6711 (which I modified to a scoop neck) for the "dress shop" one with the skirt from New Look 6352 and used that pattern for the other dress. I line all my dresses, there are several tutorials on lining dresses out there, one on my blog somewhere.

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  3. Beautiful arrangements, I do so wish we could get the smell I am sure I would love it.

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    1. I sometimes just gently squeeze a leaf to release the oil.

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  4. Replies
    1. There are so many shades, it is amazing. I try to mix it up a bit. A bit of black bamboo makes the greens stand out.

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  5. Superb arrangement, I love the simplicity of the green/white

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    1. I did it by chance a few years ago and now it is a regular thing. Sometimes I add wild flowers (not the protected ones) and wild grasses.

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  6. You're right - the weather is to remain constant for the next 7 days, it could be much longer, we should be conserving the water not frittering it away! The more people like you use their hosepipes and sprinklers the sooner there will be a drought situation. It's quite easy to use grey water from the house to water plants. Lawns will recover even if you don't water them, they go into a hibernation state until it rains again. Look up the current aerial pictures of Hyde Park, not a bit of green grass to be seen it's so parched, yet when it rains it will recover.

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    1. what a shame that you are not brave enough to give your name. You might have noticed that I live in Wales. It rains a lot here, the rivers are still running full spate. The hosepipe ban was tongue in cheek. Most of my plants get rain water which I harvest in several water butts. My sprinkler was mainly to wash dust and deposits off the fruit trees.

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  7. Pam! it has never occurred to me to make a posy of mint... I have tons of it in various pots.. I also have loads of variegated shrubs that would really work well. I feel a posy or three coming on. It would be lovely on the bathroom windowsill.

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    1. Greenery really lifts a room and in this hot weather it is cooling.

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  8. What a lovely display of greenery. never thought of doing that.
    Carolx

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    1. I do this every year, mainly to keep the mint and Melissa in check, we could never use enough in cooking.

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