Crocosmia

A weird sort of day. We'd been promised mist and I'd planned to get up early to make the most of it, but after a glimmer of early sun the mist turned out to be deep grey pall of cloud. The weather forecast said the sun would burn through - it did - eventually- at about 4pm!

This morning I took Pete and Chris out to near Holme Fen to do some water beetle surveying. As we passed the wood we saw a large number of policeman clearly searching for a body. A young Lithuanian woman went missing from Peterborough about a fortnight ago and they haven't found her or a body yet. Apparently her kidnappers have been arrested; a Lithuanian man and woman.

I had planned to take the dogs round Holme Fen, and nearly thought better of it. But the area they were searching was within 30m of the road, and at the other end of the site (about 1km away) so I decided to go ahead anyway. But the thought of the kidnapping and possible murder stayed with me, and the silence and gloomy atmosphere made the whole walk rather eerie and a little bit surreal. I didn't get my camera out once.

Once I was back home the tiredness from last week kicked in, and I struggled to focus on any of the jobs that need to be done before we go away. I managed to get through several loads of washing, make a chocolate and beetroot cake and mow part of the lawn, so I suppose it could have been worse. When the sun finally made its appearance I once again resorted to the garden for a blip, and found this beautiful spike of Crocosmia flowers.

I love Crocosmia and have several varieties, but they don't really like our clay soil, which remains wet in winter or the droughts we experience in eastern England. I often think I should give up with them, as they frequently sit and sulk and don't produce a flower. But when one finally does its thing, with an explosion of bright colour in the September sunshine, all is forgiven and they remain for another year...