Category: summer

garden stuff · summer · wildlife

Looking closely

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)36 Comments

We’ve had the perfect growing weather here recently – lots of rain and warm temperatures and everything in the garden and surrounding countryside is green and growing. In my little patch I’ve been planting some new fruit and herb plants. I’ve given up on growing veggies for now as they were lots of work for a rather meagre harvest – mostly thanks to cabbage white butterflies, aphids and a host of other chompers who set about nibbling my homegrown produce. Not that I really mind, planting herbs keeps things simple for me and I like to see creatures in my garden – chives, borage,  thyme and lavender are perfect plants for attracting bees and other wildlife.

I would much rather have a little corner of this Earth that is busy and brimming with life, unlike some of my neighbours it seems – two of them have recently had their ‘gardens’ worked on and carpeted with plastic fake grass – they are now sterile, dead squares surrounded by stark fences. And our immediate next door neighbour has just chopped down every tree and bush in their garden in favour of grass, including a really big and beautiful lilac that was a springtime magnet to so many butterflies and bees emerging from annual hibernation.

So, in an attempt to compensate the local wildlife, I’m happily letting things go a bit more wild in our garden and it lifts my spirits to see some of these tiny creatures that I’m sharing my garden with – lots of different bee species are happily buzzing from one chive head to another; many ladybird larvae are starting to cocoon up and transform into their adult form, and tiny yellow orb-weaver spiderlings that hatched on a hellebore are flinging out their silken strands, leaving their 300 or so siblings and heading out on their own.

Of course I’m very lucky to have larger visitors to my garden too. The fox is still calling in regularly and I’ve got some lovely pictures of her which I’ll share soon.

Hope you find some tiny delights in your own corner of our beautiful Earth – if you have time to, please share what plants or creatures you are co-inhabiting with. ‘Til next time x

 

general stuff · summer

what we did this summer…

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)27 Comments

Well hello again, long time no see! The school summer holidays finished on Tuesday of last week, when Toby went back to school but to be honest I was feeling a bit exhausted, so I took the rest of the week to curl up in a quiet corner and knit socks. The long school break over summer always requires a lot of energy but this year it has been especially challenging, both physically and emotionally. It sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m really not – it has been a good summer for us. It’s just that by the end of 7 weeks of full on Toby time I feel like a yo-yo and am looking forward to just being able to sit without needing to jump up and get a snack, run a bath, find a toy, swap a dvd or any of the countless little things that Toby constantly needs doing for him.

He has also kept me busy with lots of walks and our new favourite activity – cycling. We’ve found a special needs adapted cycle hire centre about 10 miles away and have had great fun cycling a side-by-side tandem around the sailing lake there. I do the steering and braking and Toby just helps with the pedalling – though it feels like he’s ‘glass cranking*’ going up the hills and only putting any really effort in on the downward slopes when he just wants to go madly fast!

*glass cranking – a cycling term meaning to rotate the pedals without actually applying power, but trying to hide this from those you are riding with.

On the emotional side Amy had her A level exam results, which were initially a bit of a nasty shock for her, as she fell quite a long way short of her predicted grade in one subject. After conferring with her teacher and putting in for a re-mark she now has the grades of A, B, B – not quite what she’d hoped for but good just the same. It’s a useful learning experience for her and hopefully she’ll put her disappointment to good use and resolve not to leave anything to chance as she embarks on her degree course in two weeks time.

Oh, it feels so odd writing that! It’s going to be a big change for us all at the end of September with Amy going off to Uni and living on campus (in a rather lovely en-suite bed study room with a kitchen shared with 6 others). She’s only an hour away by car so is able to come back for the odd weekend if she wants to. I’m not yet sure how to feel – cohabiting with a strong willed teenager who doesn’t want your advice thank you very much; leaves the new bathroom that her Dad spent weeks re-decorating in a soggy mess; helps herself to the last of the ice-cream and wakes the whole house up at crazy o’clock in the morning can sometimes make you feel like you won’t miss her a great deal, but I suspect that all of that will be forgotten once she’s left and I’ll be very much missing her wry sense of humour, her company on movie nights, her frequent hugs and the sound of her beautiful singing through the ceiling as I sit here typing at the computer.

When she was born I remember feeling completely inexperienced and unprepared as a parent, despite all of the preparation and classes, and I feel the same kind of bewilderment now she’s about to begin her independent life. The difference is that her future is now firmly in her hands and no longer in mine. We raise our children with the hope that they’ll grow into capable, independent individuals and will no longer need us, but I’m not yet sure how to dial down my impulse to protect, to educate and to shield her from the worst that the world can inflict. It will take some getting used to I think.

Change is all around here and the seasons are shifting into autumn. I’m so looking forward to some solitude in the woods over the coming weeks – they are at their most beautiful under a golden autumn sun. And being able to wander at my own pace; to sit and listen to the birds in the treetops; to stop and get down on my hands and knees to look for toadstools and maybe take a photo or two will be something I very much enjoy.

Well, thanks for popping in to visit. I’m looking forward to posting regularly here again very soon, hopefully see you again then.

 

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Pictures above were taken at Hatfield house, July 19th 2018

 

garden stuff · general stuff · summer · wildlife

Long hot summer

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)32 Comments

If you asked me when it last rained here I honestly wouldn’t be able to come up with an answer – certainly it’s been hot and dry for weeks. I’m old enough to remember the summer of 1976, in which the UK baked under endless blue skies and ended up with water shortages, drought and damage to crops and wildlife but being a small child at the time all that sticks in my mind was that we weren’t allowed to fill up the little padding pool in the back garden. We’re a way off from water shortages here at the moment but it has been so very hot and dry that crops, plants and wildlife are being affected.

Happily the robin family that have been nesting in our garage are OK and are enjoying regular deliveries of wax worms through the post (btw if you’re looking for fresh live food for wild birds then I’d not hesitate to recommend The live food warehouse – their service has been brilliant, always next day delivery and free postage on orders over £5 – and this is not a sponsored mention, I’m just so pleased with them, having tried some other suppliers previously and been disappointed). The third batch of chicks have hatched and should fledge sometime next weekend. We think there are at least 3 but I’ve not managed to get a good look yet and don’t want to disturb them. Mum and Dad robin are doing a great job though, having already fledged 9 chicks so far already this season.

Toby has been struggling with the heat – sleeping less well than usual, so we’re all feeling a bit tired and frazzled and hoping for some slightly cooler weather – around 23c would be perfect if the weather gods are reading, oh and a little overnight rain would be good too. Most of my plants are suffering but I’m managing to keep watering with the dregs from the water butt and whatever the chicken doesn’t drink each day. Not that I’m complaining about the weather, it’s been glorious especially early in the morning and during the evening and we’ve been eating all of our meals in the garden. After breakfast and getting Toby off to school I’ve been heading to my favourite spot for morning knitting in Toby’s swing chair. It’s a lovely shady spot until around 11ish when I have to find somewhere else to knit as it’s too hot in the full midday sun.

Talking of knitting, I’m making some progress with knitted things but don’t have much to show yet other than lots of scribblings. I think I’m ready though to knit up samples for photographing and then I should be able to start to put this new pattern I’m working on together.

Well, that’s all my news. I just wanted to pop in here and say hello because it had been so long since my previous post. Hope all is well in your corner of the world and you’re enjoying whatever the seasons are bringing your way. See you soon x