countryside · crafts & knitting · foxes in my garden · garden stuff · summer · wildlife

June: a month full of life

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)

 

There are so many things to love about summer:

  • The long, long days, with the mid summer sun rising at 4.30am and setting just after 10pm. These 16 ½ hours of daylight (roughly double what our day length is in midwinter) are energising and there seems to be more time to get things done. And being outside in the garden in the evening, watching the sky, sitting with a cool drink and knitting, or pottering around watering plants is such a great pleasure.
  • The lush and verdant greenery all across the countryside, underfoot across the meadows and overhead in the dense leaf canopy of the woods and lanes. Every imaginable shade of glorious green, and truly beautiful.
  • The unbelievable speed with which everything grows – early June brought a decent amount of rain and coupled with the more recent sunny days everything is growing fast. The ferns in the wood for instance were only knee high in May, stunted by a dry spring, but after a month of perfect conditions they’re now shoulder height. The grasses too have shot up, and many of our familiar paths are overgrown enough to be unrecognisable.
  • Butterflies, beetles, bees and all manner of insect life. You only have to walk slowly along a hedgerow or through a meadow and you will spot hundreds of small creatures if you look carefully enough, and you can hear hundreds more chirruping and droning and buzzing away. Every plant seems a haven for some form of life.
  • Birds. All through the wood there are small dartings within the canopy and thickets, and a chorus of song drifting along the pathways, and a great many fledglings finding their wings and learning how to survive.

All of these things and more make Summer wonderful, but there is one thing that is a deal breaker for me in naming it as a favourite season, and that is the heat.

Last week we had 5 straight days of unbearably hot weather (33-36c) which we are not at all used to, making it hard to sleep, and impossible to knit. We had to choose our walks very carefully too, avoiding open countryside and sticking to the woods where the canopy protected us from the fierce direct sunlight and the temperatures are 8-10 degrees cooler. Poor Toby doesn’t enjoy this level of heat either and has had a few meltdowns, all in all it was a bit of a challenging week.

Yesterday however slightly cooler weather arrived and I gratefully picked up my needles again in the evening. Toby is a little calmer too, so we’re hoping that this weather lingers a good long while or even, dare I say it, cools further and brings rain (wishful thinking I know). I’m looking forward to continuing with the new animal pattern that I’m now working on and in the evenings am knitting several pairs of socks, all blue it seems and all stripes, the obsession continues 🙂 and thankfully there was just enough yarn to finish the pair that I was working on in May.

Hope you’ve had a better time of things where you are, but if life is a little challenging for you too at the moment, then I hope that at least you have some small pleasures to brighten each day.

27 thoughts on “June: a month full of life”

  2. Dear Julie, thank you for yet another beautiful group of photos and sharing your thoughts. Hope it cools down for you as I along with all your knitting friends can’t wait to see the new animal you are working on.
    Best wishes
    Lyn

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Good morning from NYC and thank you so much for your beautiful tribute to the joys of summer.

    The photographs are all very beautiful and It’s wonderful to see sights that are not too available here in this city.

    I totally agree with you about the heat. I grew up in Virginia, where summers were very hot and humid and all sorts of measures were used to stay somewhat cool. Fans, iced tea, ice cream, visits to a swimming pool, enjoying the shade provided by mature oak trees. Decades later, I am one of only a few folks I know who do not have air conditioning in my apartment. It’s my choice, and I am fortunate to have cross ventilation that picks up any breezes very well. All the same, so far our summer days and nights zigzag between moderate warmth to really, really hot and even the breezes can sometimes be hot. This week’s forecast is for temperatures rising every day until by Thursday, we may be hovering around 100 degrees F. Hoping this weather pattern will wear itself out before it crosses the Atlantic.

    As always, best wishes to you and Toby, Frances xo

    >

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. So lovely to hear from your part of the world. I’m glad you’ve had some cool nice weather. I look forward to fall as we’re surrounded by wildfires and Smokey haze. But the tomatoes are growing so there are still small pleasures to look forward to. Awaiting the “new animal” pattern with much anticipation.
    xxx Bonnie

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I am looking for a pattern of a baby’s comfort blanket with a little rabbit at the centre and I am sure it was one of yours, but i can’t find my copy . can you help please?   Kathleen Lynn.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Wonderful nature pics Julie .. and I agree you just have to stop and watch for a little while, there is so much going on!
    Hopefully this will be be a cooler, calmer week for you and Toby and that you can have some knitting time.
    V x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I love your blog – and your photos are just gorgeous. Would you ever think making them into note cards? I would certainly love to send them too friends!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Hi Julie, yes we experienced very high temps here in Norfolk though not so much as you.
    I love things greening up but this heat has just burnt the ends of the new growth on so many of my plants including my raspberry growth and roses 🥲
    I live for the time spent in my garden I cannot do so much now with the heat but I do love to potter and see things going through their cycle. 🍃
    Sorry it has hit your poor son – I wish for cooler weather for him too.
    I have had two lots of wood pidgeons nesting in the Christmas tree that is in our back garden and just now I have seen one fluffy chick which I am keeping an eye on as the weather is so hot. Fingers crossed all will be well.
    Love to see and hear from you and your pictures
    BW
    Tracy

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. OH, all the beautiful creatures and Katsue! I did hear re your heat and se are in cool rain mode for how long I don’t know. at least it is helping keep fires down here. Thank you for the wonderful pictures.
    Me
    Thistle be a beautiful day!
    While there is tea there is hope!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Your photography is absolutely stunning. Thank you for sharing with us. I eagerly await your posts! I’m in NE Arizona among beautiful pines. I love summer but for about 3 weeks each year the heat is overwhelming. I am trying to be careful about not always wishing for the next thing, but to enjoy each season for its own beauty and charm. Wish me luck 💕

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Weer mooie foto’s, ook hier was de hitte bijna niet te verdragen. Alleen hebben wij geen bos om te wandelen, en met een botkanker patient waren wij gedoemd om binnen te blijven, Gelukkig hier ook wat koeler. lieve groetjes

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  19. Julie you have my sympathy about hot weather. Living in Sydney we get hot summers. I don’t enjoy them at all.
    We are having nice cool weather at the moment, but summer is not far away.
    Thank you for your wonderful photos.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. Dear Julie..lovely to catch up with your news…too hot for us here also…and our new neighbours moved in on the hottest day of the year…2 children under three hrs old… a dog and a cat that ran away….we shared milk and baked blueberry buns for them…..the cat came back yesterday!

    Busy!

    Love Jenni xx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. Such beautiful photos Julie, it was way too hot last week, I am not far from you in Hoddesdon and the nights were so warm, so much better today, hope you are all enjoying the break till the next heatwave hits 😁x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  24. I so enjoy your monthly posts. The pictures always make me happy. I hope the cooler weather holds. Not being able to knit, even a few stitches is tragic;)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  25. I am not a fan of the heat either but like you, I love sitting and strolling in the shade of the trees. Two of our coniferous trees had to go just recently ( the light difference is dramatic and not so welcome) I am already planning their replacements, (garden shade and dappled light is taking even greater preference in my mind) Once the soil is improved and has had some autumn and winter rainfall I’ll be eagerly replanting with deciduous delights. More trees… yes please .

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  26. Hi Julie, I too have been pottering and watering (a lot) in my garden.
    We seem to have more butterflies this year which is lovely.
    My Christmas tree at the end of our garden has held two lots of pigeon families and I think there maybe more as the nest is so substantial (unusual for a pigeon).
    Here in Norfolk the weather has got cooler in the evenings and mornings which is good and due to me taking so many meds,unfortunately, me and the 3 dogs hunker down inside with the fans at full blast.
    It’s a great excuse for crafting though.
    I can’t wait to see this new animal my knitting fingers are itching and I think I shall pick them up soon.
    All the best to you, your family and katsu that gorgeous fox 🦊

    Like

    Reply

If you'd like to comment, please do so here