25 JUNE 2009

Happy sunny days. There has been much time spent at the beach, walking the dogs and paddling at low tide, or swimming out to where the sky and sea meet in a merging of limpid blues…. The evenings seem to stretch on for ever, and Mary and I often take a bike ride after supper, [...]

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18 JUNE 2009

It’s the valerian season again – or, rather, that of Centranthus ruber, otherwise known as jupiter’s beard and kiss me quick, and a great coloniser of beaches and dry ground.  In the golden evening sunlight the colours – all shades of pink through to deep crimson, rich red and the occasional patch of pure white [...]

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8 JUNE 2009

We’ve been making elderflower cordial here.  There’s such an abundance of the fragrant, creamy white flowers everywhere – both in the lanes and in our back garden – that it seems a waste not to make as much of it as we can.  After all, it freezes well, and if made with citric acid along [...]

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