Sunshine o'clock

Well the sun finally came and boy did it shine! What a wonderful weekend - sunshine, lazy days and blue skies. On Saturday morning we visited a local plant sale which is held at the end of the festival and filled our bags and baskets with flowers and veg. By late morning we knew it was going to be a scorcher and made plans to lie low in the garden.



Even with the beach on our doorstep, the garden seemed the perfect place to be. Our new plants sat for a while on the garden table as we waited until early evening to plant them. Cushions, blankets, newspapers, books and games were scattered across the garden and all we had to do was sit and turn the pages, throw a dice and stagger in for a drink or two.



I found a recipe in the paper for a cake that sounded so tempting and, surprisingly for one that I found I had all the ingredients. I mustered enough energy to slink into the cool of the kitchen and make this very tasty cake, which was very easy to make, even on a sweltering day. Perfect for eating under the apple tree.



We took it turns to lie on the hammock. I looked up at the sky and marvelled at its colour next to the slowly returning leaves of the ash tree at the bottom of the garden.



At times it was just too hot and we all took shelter, the sky being even bluer than the parasol.



Little Sister reclaimed her favourite spot for reading, up in the apple tree. Big Sister managed to perfect her tan and revise (oh how I hated having to revise when I was younger, it was always on the hottest days, when all I really wanted to be doing was swimming or lying in the sun doing nothing at all).



And the sun brought out the Dr Dolittle in Mr Roses. Using the bird calls that I bought him for his birthday, he decided to "talk" to all the birds in the neighbourhood and it worked! Within minutes we had a semi circle of birds in the trees around us all chirping away, one very happy Mr Roses and two very bemused cats...
But what was best of all about Saturday was that it was a day that passed at its own pace - no rushing around, no shopping or crowds, no noise apart from the birds and Mr Roses and a sense that the day had been truly savoured and yet nothing much had been really "done".