Lush

 Lush is the only way to describe the area I live in at the moment. Everything is growing like mad, the trees, hedgerows, gardens and vistas are every shade of green imaginable and there are buds and flowers and early fruits (strawbs!!) popping up all over the place. The weather this week has been magnificent, and we have been taking advantage of Dad's new patio when we can. The cat is particularly impressed (although he wouldn't show it) as the patio stones heat up during the day and that little spot above is the last place to catch the sun before it drops behind the neighborhood houses.

Ziggy is never happier than when the sun is shining, the sky is blue and all of the doors and windows are open in the house so he can come and go as he pleases. It is incredibly tiring to be sleeping so much during the day though and the poor thing has to drag himself from one resting place to another, only to collapse in a heap of exhaustion at the other end, barely able to move another inch-- for at least an hour, and then it's on to new pastures and the next arduous trek across the lawn.

The best part about summer evenings is the smell. All of the scents of the flowers, the freshly cut lawns and the impromptu barbecues mingling together to create that definite 'summer smell'. The light drags on into the evening, and the sky fades to gentle tones of pink and purple, like the background washes of a watercolour painting.

We have been popping up to visit my Grandmother in the evenings- to check on her progress with her new hip. Things have been going well and she's pootling around in her greenhouses (once we've filled the big watering cans for her to decant into smaller watering cans) and gaily threatening her vegetable patch with dire things if they don't produce an abundant crop this year. Her garden is quite spectacular as we are still reaping the benefits of a previous owner who seemed to buy lots of statement plants and bung them in together. Since she's owned the house, she's had quite a few of the many trees removed from the flowerbeds and spaced the shrubs and bushes out which has created light where there was none and all sorts of things are starting to grow now that they have breathing room to do so. These Lupins are just the absolute bees knees- the colour is quite incredible, as I think you will agree!

Evening light is a lovely thing also (you can tell I love the summer can't you?). It tinges everything with that lovely golden glow that sparkles and makes even the ugliest of things suddenly have interest and appeal.

There have been the most amazing sunset skies. On the night these photos were taken during the week, it was like someone was laying a wisp of organza silk over the landscape as there were smudges of cloud catching the light and moving in a kind of ripple. Almost like a Northern Lights (or Southern in this case) display. You can kind of see it in the below images although the photos don't really do it justice- I promise you it wasn't because my camera lens needed cleaning!

So this weekend I am off on holiday! My friend Amy and I are travelling to Sorrento in Italy and I am beyond excited! We are flying to Naples airport and getting a shuttle bus around the bay to our hotel which we hope will be as beautiful as the images on the website. Sorrento itself seems to be very picturesque so no doubt my camera will be working overtime- especially as we are planning to visit Pompeii which is my absolute dream place to visit!! I will probably be putting photos of my travels on my Instagram page and on the Dotty Textiles facebook page if you would like to follow along (the Travel Hamsters are coming along for the ride!), but you know me- as soon as I'm back there will be endless photos of my travels cluttering up the blog so you won't miss out, it's like you will be there with me! Speak to you soon dear readers. x