It was yet another unseasonably hot day.
I cleared up after last night’s fire. It had become dark before I was able to finish the exercise. I gathered up the unburnt branches, chopped them up small, and piled them beside the incinerator which has taken the place of the two old wheelbarrows. The rusty metal one suffered enormously from being the pyre container until recently. The green one had been a pond in the Weeping Birch Bed, to which Jackie applied the finishing touches this morning.
She also completed her work on training the Wedding Day rose on the Agriframes Gothic Arch.
The rose garden, where most roses, like Love Knot, are blooming,
encourages a reflective mood.
We continue to enjoy an entomologist’s delight. Actually, I could do with a student of insects to identify what I think might be a baby spider contemplating wrapping up a bumble bee which might be a bit more than it could chew.
The cosmos gives an idea of scale.
This evening we drove over to Emsworth to visit Becky and Ian. Becky had some items for sale in the monthly Emsworth auction, which was very crowded. Our daughter sold an old wind-up gramophone and some Beatles records, among other things, but the prices were disappointing. Afterwards we dined on excellent fish, chips, and gherkins from a shop across the road, with Tesco’s mushy peas. Becky drank chianti and the rest of us enjoyed the Italian Birra Moretti.
I love the bee and the spider! Awesome photo, Derrick!
Thank you, Jill. Had I not seen the bee I would have missed the spider.
I enjoyed seeing the baby spider….it’s always fun to see the smaller animal that seems unafraid to take on a much larger one, out of its league. That often happens with small dogs who yip and yap at my big dog when we go for walks. My dog looks at them non-chalantly as if to say “what’s your problem, you little twit?”
Thanks, Cynthia. Love your dog’s attitude.
That would be my little dog, the twit, who stands up on his short hind legs and goes for a Rottweiler’s nose. Surely he has a death wish.
The spiders have no fear whatever – I guess it is similar to funnel-web spiders here: while not much bigger than a £2 coin will readily rear up to a human without so much as a second thought!
Thanks. Is that what it is, Matt?
Is it a baby or just a green little one? Nice of it to grace your photos. (Your dinners always make me hungry.)
Thank you, Cynthia. I’ve no idea about the spider. I’ve never seen one before.
And, I’d run a kilometer or two if a funnel web reared up at me, mattb325! Bleh.
That Jackie is like a human dynamo!
Thank you, Yvonne
The Love Knot rose is perfection!
Thank you, Bruce
It’s unseasonably hot here too. It must be nice to have so many flowers blooming at this time of year. Guess you are enjoying an extended summer when ours is just beginning. I try to get indoors before 10 am then venture out again in the late afternoon.
Cutest spider 🙂
Thank you, Mary. What a strange colour the spider is.
I think it may be a baby ?
Me too
I am all taken with the mirror reflecting the beautiful garden scene – that Jackie is a wonder!! I am going to take inspiration from this little piece of beauty and run with it into my tiny courtyard and see if I can miraculously grow it into a medium sized courtyard! [Which is where I’ve been working all day and why I am visiting so late Derrick.]
Thank you, Pauline. Well done. I’m sure it will work. I didn’t post this until 11.50 p.m. anyway 🙂
All the mirrors have been purchased at our local municipal recycle centre, approx. £2 a piece, can’t wait to take the old wheel barrows to the dump today and see what other treasures there might be. Years ago, I used to have a small back garden that was very shady too, I started to use mirrors there to bounce the light around and to ‘enlarge’ the space.
It’s such a good idea and one I have never had!! I’ll be scouring the second hand stores for mirrors for a few days to come I imagine……….
Adore the rose “love knot” picture perfect. I agree with Pauline, that Jackie is a wonder. Fantastic idea with the mirror and had splendidly it works.
Thank you, Danella
👹 Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee,
how do you do?
🐝 Hello little baby,
what you up to?
👹 I’m searching this cosmos
for morning dew.
🐝 Well that’s quite a jocose
guise for the truth.
👹 Bet you won’t sing that score
once I eat you!
🐝 You’ll find that I’m far more
than you can chew.
👹 Oh silly Bumble Bee,
I’ll drink you whole!
🐝 Now that’s one thing you’ll see
you’ll never know.
Many thanks, Oscar. Especially for the story
More great photos – you’re really hitting a run of form here. Love the Love Knot roase – fantastic colour.
Many thanks Quercus
Oh you have full hands…
Humble Cosmos are my favorites.
Thank you, Inese
I’m going to steal the idea of a mirror in the garden. We have a tiny backyard and I can see how a well-placed mirror would make things “expand”. Your red rose is magnificent!
Thank you, Sue
I am a new visitor but really want to give Pauline credit for my noticing your conversation. I enjoyed your comments in the past and I am sometimes creative but usually bask in someone else’s garden, draw pen and ink children and baby’s “name pictures” and have for over 2 1/2 years written essays, not using photos. I just started now 3 weeks ago. You see I once was a language arts middle school teacher and thought words were my method of creativity. So, that being said. . . 🙂
I enjoy art fully and appreciate lovely gardens, enjoyed yours and Jackie’s beautiful one with arches and framed shots. I am entranced! ♡
I read a book a person who loves bugs and entomology may enjoy. It is called, “Flight Behavior.” Barbara Kingsolver knows science and wrote about if global warming happened to bring monarchs into a whole new landing area, the Appalachian mountain foothills of Tennessee what effect of would have on a family of farmrrs. Her characters and descriptions are really deep. I just joined a book club which meets on a nature preserve farm, Gallant Woods. Enough about my thoughts and why your post “drew” me in. I enjoyed my visit and now, must find the follow button. 🙂
Thank you Reo. I’ve had a look at your blog now, and will be following.
Such a beautiful little spider who lives on a flower. A life I almost envy.
Thank you, Crystal
Hi Derrick, Your pictures of the garden are so beautiful….like that love knot rose. It is perfection.
Thank you, Carol
You have a fabulous garden! The bumble bee and baby spider pic is spectacular. Thanks for sharing your garden with us.
Thank you, Christine