Shaking the Can

When there is nothing else in the can, it’s time to look for a blip closer to home, namely anything that doesn’t involve traipsing  about outside in the heat. 
These plants in the collage are almost the sum total of anything living in the confines of the patio or as I like to decry it- the ‘payshio’. They have been on the go now for 14 years and were planted in desperation having lost a garden when we downsized.

The little red seed body from the Japanese Maple was glinting in the sunshine and is so good to see because the parent bush is a bit of a tricky customer. The Hydrangea Petiolaris on the other hand is robust and has no boundaries and neither has the Cotoneaster which has to be trimmed back hard or it would soon envelope the area. The lovely blue Ceanothus is remarkable in its devotion  to survive in its matching blue pot under the hydrangea. It gets scant attention and seems to fulfill the quote from Gray’s Elegy- ‘Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air’. It’s a wee stunner, giving much needed colour to its little corner.

Today is the birthday of my two boys, 10years apart almost to the hour. Can you imagine the chances of that happening with no overt engineering. I blotted my copy book by waking up Alasdair with my phone call. I imagine David was already awake for his…….. or at least he didn’t berate me.

I had the usual Sunday Coven with the Merry Widows where we try and make sense of the world from the comfort of Table 1 in Söderberg.

And that, as they say, is that.  The sun has disappeared but it’s still very warm. It’s beginning to feel as though there could be a thunderstorm in the offing.