Busy Bees, Hummingbird Moths, Decorator, And Gardeners

Today Nick continued with his painting of our bedroom and upstairs sitting room walls;

Jackie continued weeding, alongside Martin

who heavily pruned a couple of New Zealand flax plants and an ornamental poplar before mowing the lawn carpeted with daisies which will return in a few days.

In the meantime I photographed two other breeds of hard workers also struggling with the heat – namely

hummingbird moths on pelargoniums,

and bees on yellow bottle brush and mauve verbena bonariensis.

While I was at it I photographed a few more flowers which bear titles in the gallery.

This evening we dined on slow roasted pork with crunchy crackling; crisp roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding; al dente cauliflower, carrots and broccoli, with meaty gravy. Jackie and Ian drank Hoegaarden, Becky finished the Portuguese Rosé, Flo drank elderflower cordial, and I drank more of the Côtes du Rhône.

79 comments

  1. As always, so many beautiful flowers, guys! Nick does fantastic work, I would certainly hire him for painting in my home!

  2. I think that it might be a year for hummingbird hawk moths. About ten days ago I was 90% sure that I saw one near our patio from inside the house, and there have been a few in Derbyshire.
    Martin has quite a beard there. He’s almost a Brian Blessed lookalike.

  3. What a great title! 🙂 And beautiful photos! 🙂
    And YAY for all the hard workers today…in the house and in the garden! All of you could be called busy bees…even you Human-Beans! 😉 ? 😀
    The hummingbird moths are so cool! I wonder what song they were humming today!? 😉 Maybe “All My Friends are Insects” or “Flight of the Bumblebee”. 😀
    (((HUGS))) 🙂
    PS…
    Q: What did Mick Jagger do when he found his cupboard was infested with moths?
    A: Nothing. A rolling stone gathers no moths.

  4. You and Jackie are so fortunate to have not one, but two skilled fellows to handle both interior and exterior jobs! And like Pleasant Street, we also were new to the moth. Enjoyed looking it up though, always fun to learn about another friend in Nature.

  5. Oh, great photos of the hummingbird moths, Derrick. They are fascinating. Yours look just like the ones we get, but i haven’t seen any this year yet. Your home and gardens are going to have the best year yet!

  6. Gosh how fortunate to have had a hummingbird moth visit, I had one visual sighting quite a few years ago, and have since planted lots to encourage them, sadly no recent sightings, if you see more please ask them to kindly pop over to the next village, if only for a brief visit…. a tasty meal is provided ? great photos

  7. Hi Derrick – I’ve never seen a hummingbird moth before. Had to look it up to know more! Looks like you’re interior work is progressing nicely!

  8. I can feel the warmth in the photos, Derrick. The hummingbird moth was a treat. What a lovely day! I am glad you have such good people to help you and Jackie.

      1. I went back to work yesterday, and made it through the day. 🙂 I took a long nap this morning, and will go for a short walk this afternoon..

  9. Great closeups, Derrick! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a hummingbird moth. If I did, I might have thought it was a hummingbird.

  10. I imagine it was the hassle of moving your personal stuff that decided you to leave your own bedroom to be the last decorated, but it is sure going to look fresh and bright when Nick is done. New floorcoverings on the way too?

  11. A more succinct title would have been AT WORK: your photographs illustrate an interesting variety of the interpretation of ‘work’ 🙂

  12. Beautiful photos. We had hummingbird moths at our house years ago. I remember looking it up to see what they were, but I haven’t seen them in a long time.
    I’m always fascinated by Nick’s bracelets. ?

  13. I enjoyed going to your gallery today, Derrick, and seeing the names of some of those unusual flowers. Loved the lanterns! And the “Absolutely Beautiful” roses! Your photography skills always delight me!! And yes, “Martin has quite a beard there!”

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