Monday 29 July 2019

Summer @ Home, Work & Elsewhere

June and July were proper summer months - some days were a little too hot, some a little too cold, there was not quite enough rain to make fields, gardens and woodland happy, but some days were just perfect with wall-to-wall sunshine, long, warm evenings, beautiful sunsets and nights cool enough to allow fresh air into the flat and make sleeping possible.

You already know some of the things I've been up to this summer so far; there is more, enough material for several posts. This one is just a more or less random collection of what summer was and is like for me at home, at work and elsewhere.

About two or three years after its original flowers, finally my yellow orchid (a gift from my parents when I swapped my bedroom and living room and had them redecorated) is in bloom again:

One particularly hot day at the office (without AC!), chilled coffee was sold at the canteen. I gladly bought one and took it to my desk, where it helped make the hot, hot, hot afternoon a little more bearable.



Both cushion covers were suprise finds in Ripon, the yellow one a few years ago and the one with the foxes this year in March, at the Spring Food Home & Garden Show  at the cathedral.


The bedsheets with their yellow and blue stripes are just perfect for my bedroom, and give it a fresh summery look.



A kind neighbour brought me these cherries - they were delicious! - and the chopping board and key fob, both made by him, to say thank you for a small favour I had done him some weeks ago:



A weekend spent with O.K. at my place; a little chillier than the days before, we were in town for a few things when I met this llama:





Some days were rather hot but cooling down enough by sunset to make a leisurely run feasible. I took up my oldest route again, the one I started training on when I first participated in my home town's city run ten years ago. It leads along a small wooded area between my town and the next, and the bridge spanning the motorway is my turning point. 

The evening light was beautiful, and although I am not a car person, there are moments when even the motorway has particular beauty, as seen in the second picture, taken just before 9:00 pm on the 28th of June:



The second heatwave of this summer broke last Saturday with thunderstorms and rain. It is grey and rather chilly today, but a sunny week is forecast with temperatures no hotter than a very nice 27C (as oppósed to the almost 40 we had last week).

14 comments:

  1. I love your yellow orchid. That's not a color I've seen available here. I'm happy it is reblooming. And that llama! How fun is that! You are having a good summer even if some of it is too hot.

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    1. My parents chose this orchid and the pot specifically because of the colour scheme in my new living room - yellow and grey.
      The llama was irresistible!

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  2. Your summer in photographs - nice idea.

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  3. Love that orchid! You should put that photo of you with the llama on the side of your blog, I like it that much!
    And the wooden key fob and cutting board that your friend made for you? I think they are great!

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  4. Thank you, Kay, I like the llama picture, too :-)
    My neighbour (not exactly a friend - I don't know him that well) is a retired headmaster, he was at the elementary school where I went as a kid (he was there much later). Working with wood in his free time has kept him balanced all those years and still does, he says. O.K. and I used the board as a cheese board immediately!

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  5. We have taken to making our own iced coffee and generally have a pitcher in the fridge. We sweeten it with a little maple syrup and it is both delicious and refreshing on a hot summer's day.

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    1. Hello David, and welcome to my blog - I believe this is your first comment here. Thank you for taking the time to pop over!
      I have never tasted coffee with maple syrup; at O.K.'s, but it sounds good. We use vanilla ice cream, which makes it more a refreshing snack than a drink.

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  6. The orchid is lovely. I don't think I've ever seen a yellow one before - at least I've never had one! I have a white one in bloom in my kitchen window at the moment.

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    1. My other orchid is white, too, but it has not had any blossoms in a long, long time - years!

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  7. Very much beautiful and admirable interior designs and arrangements within these portions which you have shared in this post along with the images. Thanks a lot. Affordable Student Accommodation at Murdoch | Luxury Serviced Apartments In Perth

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    1. Thank you; but please do not use comments on my blog to promote student accomodation and luxury apartments in Perth.

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  8. Just catching up. I never used to like orchids because of their 'formality' but I've changed my opinion and have been amazed by how long they can live.

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  9. I am not an orchid person as such, but I have two that were given to me as birthday presents, and I try to keep them going. More often than not, house plants do not live all that long with me, but orchids seem to be more forgiving than others.

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