Sunshine and sadness

Phew - what a warm afternoon! It was overcast to begin with but soon began to improve. I drove down to Pets at Home to buy another bag of bird seed - the birds are getting through it rather quickly, and oddly enough, most of them are sparrows. I thought they were supposed to be declining. I also went along to Poppies Garden Centre to buy more compost and some extra bedding plants. My Blip today is the view from the marina just along from the Garden Centre.
 
I had my lunch outside and then did more gardening jobs. I have a couple of fairly unusual climbers which I should really try to plant out somewhere, but so far they've stayed in their large pots. One is Apios americana, the American groundnut, otherwise known as American groundnut, potato bean, hopniss, Indian potato, hodoimo, America-hodoimo, cinnamon vine, or groundnut. Take your pick! The flowers are pink or purple, though mine hasn't flowered yet. It's native to southern Canada and USA.
 
The other is Bomarea  edulis, the salsilla, which is native to tropical USA and Mexico. The flowers are pink and yellow and mine flowers every year. To my surprise it's survived in a pot out on the deck for the last eight years. Both plants are deciduous, dying down every year, and have edible tubers. I've been making frames of canes for them to grow up until I can plant them out.
 
Later on we sat out in the sun under an almost cloudless sky. Wonderful! Some light rain showers tomorrow apparently.
 
The bad news of the day is that one of my favourite singers, Françoise Hardy, died yesterday. She was 80, but I remember seeing her in the film 'Grand Prix' back in 1966!
 
Quote of the Day: 'I feel happy and secure when I'm on my bed with a good book. I forget everything which is terrible in our world.' - Françoise Hardy.