FLOWERS ARE LOVELY, BUT...

...sometimes it’s good to have a photograph of something different!

Although I had a wander around the garden this morning and took quite a lot of shots of our flowers, I felt I wanted something different for today.   It was so hot in the garden, which is in full sun, that I decided that underneath our solid carport at the front was a much more favourable spot and it was beautifully cool and shady.  

As our kitchen doors face one another, Lynn, our lovely next door neighbour, brought me some water melon, which I enjoyed for my lunch and then Mike, Lynn’s husband came out, all kitted up and about to go off on his motorbike, so I quickly snapped him and then had a little fartnarkle with my PhotoRoom app and here he is, for his 15 minutes of fame on Blip.  

Mr. HCB has gone off to cricket again today, so after sitting for sometime, I decided to  make some soup.  I know it’s not really the weather for soup, but I had some odds and ends that needed using up, so made some cabbage, broccoli and blue cheese soup, with a dash of horseradish sauce mixed in afterwards- so that should do us for a few days with some crusty rolls.

I’ve come indoors to do my Blip, but as it’s so warm, think I might go back outside under the carport where it is still quite cool.

I was looking for a phobia connected to the weather, and remembered from the other evening how scared my Mum was about thunder and lightning - whenever a storm started, we had to draw all the curtains and if we couldn’t do that then we had to cover all mirrors.  She really was frightened.  I’m not really scared, but I must admit that when the thunder and lightning started on Sunday, I did ask Mr. HCB to go up and draw our bedroom curtains because we have a whole wall of mirrors on our wardrobes.  Strange how phobias and superstitions can be passed down and if not completely, then parts of them.  I still laugh and think of her whenever two knives are crossed and as for putting new shoes on a table - well don’t even think about it!

ASTRAPHOBIA
The extreme fear of thunder and lightning. It's most common in children. 
Many people outgrow the fear of thunderstorms as they get older, but astraphobia is still among the most common specific phobias.