woodpecker lunchbar

one of our favourite garden visitors. This one looks like a juvenile, and there may well be a woodpecker nest in one of the larger trees in the garden. He was pecking away happily for some time at insects in the wood It is one reason why we like to keep dead wood in the garden. As I type (Spot's paws are too big for him to do his own typing) the sun is breaking through the clouds and we are set for another lovely sunny day ... apologies to all our faraway cousins for harping on about the good weather but it is very unusual down here in the South Wet.

river crossing

the Tamar, above Endsleigh, standing on a bar where the Inny comes out. The water levels are very low.

summer is here

Above ... A patch of slender St John's wort mixed in with foxgloves, and below a newly minted marbled white fuelling on some bramble juice.

more good things

it is that time of year again with Wimbledon, strawberries and Pimms. These wild strawberries may not be as big as their cultivated cousins, but they are incredibly intensely flavoured and sweet. As a general rule the beginning of Wimbledon, and the Glastonbury festival herald prolonged periods of dull wet weather. Just for once it is warm and sunny. We will have to install a hammock and chill out, watch the tennis (Spot would like to be a ball dog) and eat wild strawberries.

great pleasures in life

great pleasures in life, a little BBQ, hot dogs, very old armagnac (the oldest thing in the house) and vin rose. The armagnac has been decanted into a superior brandy bottle because the cork had given up the struggle. Spot has always wanted to post a letter from the place where the armagnac was bottled.

more from the meadowsweet

meadowsweet is coming out everywhere now, and with valerian and honeysuckle, fills the byways with the heavy scent of summer. Do you long for the times when the only air freshener was a stack of meadowsweet, and a hot dog?