Stringed Instrument

A largely dull day with some flashes of sun. After yesterday's sunrise the eve of the solstice was close with a promise of rain later. I neglected my Blipping duties until it arrived and ended up taking this shot of our runner bean poles.

The beans have been slow to germinate and the climbing French beans secretly left the country by the Channel Tunnel and are growing somewhere in the Charentes.

I picked fallen Holly leaves from the seedbeds and swept up Holm (an old word for Holly) Oak leaves (they are 'holly-shaped' when young) from the lane. The Holm oaks (from the Spanish Mediterranean)  love the chalk and grow like billy-o round here being tolerant of the salt. The dead leaves hang around forever. The wood is massively heavy and burns well when seasoned.