What a week

So.

My phone contract was up and I got a new one, with a much better camera.

We’re in our second period of ‘warm’ this summer, moving into hot this week. Am not complaining. Will walk early with the dog and then set him up with the fan for the day. He said, “at least I’m not a golden – it’s easier being a flat coat”.

There’s loads of fruit in the house and in the fridge, including this magnificent melon (see pic). Ice cream from the farm shop’s fancy artisanal counter is a staple (I’ve discovered that a scoop of coffee with something else – vanilla, milk [yes, they make milk ice cream], hazelnut, salted caramel, pistachio – works a treat).

A bbq might be necessary and I’ve seen this great watermelon, strawberry and rose pudding that I’m going to do (another pic). It’s basically watermelon, sugar, strawberry jam, rose water and heavy cream, etc. It wants regular flour but I wonder if it can be done with ground almonds…

I will stay away from the seaside, as some people here take this sort of weather as permission to disrobe almost completely – which can be … unsettling.

Basically, we’ll be indoors mostly for the next seven days. The garden will get attention early and late.

So, I expect many of you will have noticed our crisis this past week. I’m not going to say anything about that except that I think an early election would be a good thing.

And then there’s my lilies. I only have three. I got them in Amsterdam in 2017 at, I think, the tulip museum (if you go to Amsterdam, I highly recommend it – fascinating for both history and botany and a bit of economics). I had purchased tulip bulbs at the floating flower market but the squirrels ate them all.

These lilies did nothing for years. I don’t know what the deal was but I planted them, the foliage came up every year, but nothing else happened.

But this year … hurrah, a ha, etc. I’ve got flowers. Three huge, beautiful flowers.

The other thing that is going now (besides the roses, but this is England, after all, so the roses feel compelled to perform even if every one else says no go) is the jasmine. It was an all of a sudden thing. I noticed a flower mid last week and now things have exploded. Morning and evening it smells strongest: AM post night when it’s had some time in the cool it smells light but lush and soapy and then PM after the hot days it just opens up with everything it’s got.

I’m not a fan of lily in perfume. The ones I’ve tried all made me sneeze. I like the idea of cut lilies inside but again they make me sneeze so it doesn’t happen. They get admired outside. And they do smell good outside. Peppery but proper floral.

I don’t know why with the sneezing – my allergies have nothing to do with plants.

As to jasmine, well, that’s a different story. Love it in perfume and it’s such a shape-shifter, from soap through to serious pong. And lush. Love that lush feeling.

Any way … in the hot, I’m leaning towards the light stuff. Ninfeo Mio always gets a lot of love. And I’ve been using my Guerlain samples of Mandarine Basilic and Neroli Vetiver.

Hope your week was pleasant and your upcoming weather is good. Are you a lily lover, jasmine? Neither? Other summer things?

(This is an Anhinga drying its wings. I’ve only seen one once — at Sanibel Island in Florida.
It’s my favourite bird. Just thought I’d add it in. Tx, Wiki. And the featured image is an Anhinga as well, but from Pexels.)