Holidays that Heal

Now is the time of year when many people will be taking a holiday. Schools are closed and shops and businesses slowing down so their staff can enjoy a break. Holidays are hugely beneficial for putting you back on track. They are a chance for couples to restore their intimacy, for families to have fun and see each other in a happy relaxed light without the hectic time table of everyday life.
Everybody from Winnie-the-Pooh to Wordsworth knows the importance of taking time off, to recharge your batteries and put your mind and body back in balance and harmony.
Back in the sixties Cliff Richard made a film about travelling from Britain to Greece in a double decker bus and the theme song of the film I'm sure will make you want to plan a holiday immediately, even if it is a bit cheesy now.

Choose your holiday carefully, it should be an enriching experience. If you have a staycation, get to know your town or village and invite your neighbours round for a drink.
If you have small children there is nothing better than a 'Bucket and Spade' holiday. Dad lying down in the sand and being covered with mud pies, Mum being given a mermaid's tail, frolicking in the waves, getting down on your hands and knees with the kids, nothing is better than this. I've even read somewhere that playing with water, sand and mud is actually good for your soul, makes you a kinder person.
Today someone told me she was going to Las Vegas to repeat her wedding vows after twenty-five years of marriage. The whole family are going. We chatted about the way travel can enrich you, broaden your mind, open up your heart to other people, teach you about different customs. She is afraid she won't want to come home after seeing the amazing USA.

You might be able to tell that I haven't prepared this post at all, it's a lot of waffle isn't it?
What I really wanted to say is that holidays are important and make the best of the time you will have with your family, make precious memories to carry you through the winter. Find places that give you solace, that become places of tranquil restoration and have fun.

Here is a verse from William Wordsworth (1770-1850) which is an ode to the restorative powers of nature. He wrote it after visiting the Wye valley in Wales.

In darkness and amid the many shapes
Of joyless daylights; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart,
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee
O sylvan Wye1 Thou wanderer through the woods,
How often has my spirit turned to thee!

Stand on the shore and watch the golden path that the moon makes across the sea

enjoy the twilight on the beach, no risk of sunburn now

Mediterranean pines in the evening light

Firework displays are popular in the summer

Stay Safe in the Sea

For thousands of years the sea has been known to have healing powers.

Plato said ' the sea washes away the pains of human beings.'For him to have had such poetical thoughts about the sea is particularly surprising because by his own admission he didn't think highly of poets.

These days it is a scientific fact: sea water is good for you, as long as you don't drink it. 

There are beauty products for every part of the body from the Dead Sea, it's a wonder that there's any of it left.

It's a moody creature though and needs to be treated with respect.

Italian beaches have strategically placed life guards just like in 'Baywatch' and a red flag appears when it's not safe to swim.

No swimming when the red flag is flying

Songs that say it all

This lovely song by Paul Simon was at number one for about ten weeks when I was a teenager.
Whenever I listened to it I always imagined ME being the bridge, ME being the one to help a friend or loved one. I suppose because it's written in the first person singular. One of my boyfriends gave it to me as a present telling me it was his song to me.
That happens a lot with songs that have words that go straight to your heart, that say exactly what you would like to say.
 Some poems do that too. we can be thankful to all the talented poets and song writers who are able to express our feelings and we can pass it on to our loved ones.
 How many times did I ring up my Mum and sing Stevie Wonder 'I just called to say I love you?' She never got tired of hearing me sing it, never complained about how tuneless I was. How many times did I sing 'You are my sunshine ' to my children when they were small?. Some songs just say it all for you, don't they?

Sometimes in life you are the bridge and sometimes you need the bridge.

Strategically placed bridges. like people that care about you, make it easier to find your way

Following the sun

I hope you like listening to this happy Beatles song from the sixties.
I've always loved the idea of following the sun.
 My cousin always used to say that if there was enough blue in the sky to make a pair of sailor's trousers then it would turn out to be a nice day. On grey misty days my mother would search the sky for a 'patch of blue'.
'There's a little patch of blue,' she'd say and I would desperately scan the horizon. If we found one then hope would fill our hearts and we'd get all optimistic about the chance of having a cup of tea in the garden.

In the heat of a Mediterranean summer patches of blue abound, the sky is constantly a bright dazzling blue and people start to look for signs of rain.

There are some life lessons here I'm sure. We all need balance and harmony, people as well as plants. We thrive when there is just the right amount of rain and sunshine.
When life gets tough for whatever reason we keep looking for a patch of blue, and when we have too much sunshine and heat we try and cool off.

Here are my tips for a heat wave.

As Baden Powell said 'There is no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing, so put away your polyester and only wear cotton or linen.

Don't expose your skin too much to the sun. We are always told it's so bad for us, so lots of high protection sun cream and make sure you don't get the sun on your head. As the Australians say 'Slop, slip, slap,' Slop on some cream, slip on a cotton shirt and slap
 on a hat. 

Make sure you drink small amounts of water regular. Gulping down large quantities of ice cold water is very bad for you, so just small glasses and often.
Limit sugary drinks or avoid them altogether. the very best drink is home made lemonade.  Boil some water and then stir in a spoonful of honey and let it cool. Add the juice of two lemons and put in the fridge, delicious.

Try and use the oven and cooker as little as possible. See my post of Angie's Summer recipes for ideas.

Don't rush around and go in and out of places with air conditioning. I worked in a place where the air conditioning was so cold that I felt as though I was going from a fridge to an oven all the time.
One of my fellow workers told me she had spring cleaned her house, in summer, and then lay down on the bed with her air conditioning turned low. She ended up rushed to hospital with something wrong with her kidneys, so be careful.
Keep a shawl or a man scarf in your bag to wrap round you if you go into a cold air conditioned place.

Last but not least.. keep your chocolate in the fridge, ha ha!

Have a wonderful summer wherever you are.

The Joy of an Open air pool

There is a heat wave in Italy.
July is always expected to be a hot month but this year it has broken all records.
We are told that there is a danger of a loss of power. While central heating is run mainly by gas and we can all happily warm our homes in the winter, the air-conditioning needs electricity and maybe we are consuming too much.
In winter we are advised to keep our central heating at a comfortable 19 - 22 degrees. Air conditioning is usually at 24, any lower and the contrast between the temperature outside could be bad for your health.
If you haven't got air conditioning you need to have a fan and a lot of water.

When the weather is as hot as this an open air pool is the equivalent of a roaring log fire in the winter.
On a cold winter day what great pleasure there can be found in the comfort of an open fire.
 On a hot summer day you can find the same pleasure in an open air pool. As you slide gently into the water you can feel your body relax in gratitude, as it reaches your neck you might sigh with relief and know you are safe as in your lover's arms.


The water is blue and sparkling
Twinkling in the sun
Calling me to  enter
And escape the boiling sun.

At last I can do exercise
And still remain so cool
Twenty lengths and then some more
In my favourite open air pool.

Up and down the pool I go
My arms are gathering strength
My legs are loose and free at last
I'll just do one more length.


I slide and glide around the pool
Thankful and serene
I dance and twirl and when refreshed
I'm ready for ice cream.

A pool is so inviting on a hot day

A word about Nightingales

What nicer way to be woken up is there than by the Dawn Chorus, Mother Nature's alarm clock. A veritable melody of joyous warbles and tweets. you can imagine what they're saying can't you?

'Look at that pretty little hen'.

'Who's coming with me to the bird bath?'

'I saw some juicy berries down the lane'.

'I need to collect some twigs to mend the nest.'

'Little Robin eats so much I need to look for worms.'

'Did you see what that cuckoo did? why can't they build their own nests?'

''Will you join on me in the cherry tree later?'


 Some bird song is easier to recognize than others, the cuckoo, wood pigeons, doves and blackbirds are well-known to most of us and provide a pleasant sound track to our day.

The Nightingale is a rather shy, retiring summer visitor yet is rightly famed for his amazing song.  His song is often loud and contains very deep full notes as well as low trills and warbles. His song is naturally noticed more at night but in fact he sings just as much in the daytime. Listen out for him on summer evenings, he makes a sound a bit like this, 'hweet' 'chrr'.

Both the male and the female or the cock and the hen in bird language are alike, no competition her for who is the fairest. Their plumage is inconspicuous, being a quiet brown with paler parts underneath.

Here is the first verse of  the poem by John Keats (1796 - 1821)

Ode to a Nightingale

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
  My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
   One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of my happy lot,
But being too happy in thy happiness, -
  That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
       In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
     Singest of summer in full-throated ease.



 

A Nightingale

A toast to happy healthy holidays

There's surely no happier and easier way of spreading goodwill and bringing an atmosphere of bonhomie and entente cordial to holiday gatherings than raising glasses and wishing good health in the language of your host country.
Along with I love you, knowing how to toast your holiday friends in their own language is essential holiday conversation. I love you only for a bit of fun of course. It's nice to think of men coming home in the evening and calling out things like Cherie, je suis ici, or Honey I'm home, or whatever.

Way back when I was a child I was aware of the joy of toasting.
 First of all it was Cheers, quickly followed by Bottoms up, which was always good for a laugh.
 Then we copied Scottish toasts, 'Here's tae us, them like us..' 'lang may your lum reek', which means' long may smoke come out of your chimney.'
Later we would smile at the Irish toast 'may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows your dead.'
Raising your glass and toasting your friends and relations was fun and entertaining.

On holiday in France we learned to say Votre Santè, to your health and things got more solemn.
What more important toast can there be but to your health, the health of the body, the mind and the country you're in.

Oh the joy for my father toasting German friends, Prost, prost, we all went. they told us that we should only say Prost when drinking beer otherwise we should say Zum Wohl which means 'your health.'
In Italy we all say Cin cin, salute, alla nostra.
In Belgrade Zivjeli pronounced zjee ve lee, meaning 'Let's live long' and in Greece Jamas.
In Japanese restaurants they will say 'Kampai'
In Hungary they say Egeszsegedre, which is pronounced Eggy shaggy dar, and means
'to your health'.

The only problem with all this raising of glasses and toasting is that it usually involves alcohol, wine or beer or cocktails at sundown.
 We all know that alcohol can alter our behaviour, take away our inhibitions, loosen our tongues and blur our judgements.
That is why we must never drink and drive and generally be very careful when drinking.
 Just a bit too much and you may find yourself dancing on a table in a Greek tavern or teaching the French how to kiss on New Year's Eve or saying things that can cause offence.
 So just a word of warning have a great Summer and raise your glasses to friends old and new but make sure the toast 'to your health, to our health' is the one that comes true.

A Votre Sante

Cheers

Cin Cin Salute

Here's tae us

Feeding the Wolves

 One hot day Mohe a small boy in an Indian Cherokee settlement came up to  his grandfather Salal the chief, in floods of tears. His grandfather took him on his knee and put his arms round him.

'What is the matter Mohe?' Salal smiled at his grandson and handed him a cloth to dry his tears.

' I hate Ahyoka she is horrible. I told her I want to marry her and she laughed and said I was too young for her, and my friend Kanuna won't play with me and took away the sticks that I had collected to make a fire, and then he called me names.'

The wise old chief took a breath.

'When I was your age my grandfather used to tell me stories and today I'd like to tell you my favourite story, I tell it to myself every day.'

The little boy sniffed loudly and then stared at his grandfather with enormous dark eyes.
'
'Go on grandfather I love stories.'

'Well a long time ago a young man came to a village and asked to speak to the wisest man there. He was taken to meet the chief of the village and they sat down together. The young man explained that a battle was going on his heart.  His brother-in-law had stolen his horses and also his wife and now he wanted revenge but was unsure what to do.'

The young man nodded vigorously and urged the chief to go on.

'The wise chief told him that in every man's heart there dwelled two wolves. One of the wolves was evil and full of anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, superiority, ego. This wolf was evil and very powerful.'

The young man nodded again and looked up at the chief.

' The other wolf was also powerful but had different weapons. These were joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

The chief paused and laid his hand on the young man's shoulder.

' Every day the two wolves fought, the battle long and hard.'

The young man interrupted, his voice was full of urgency.

' Tell me do, which wolf is the strongest? Which wolf wins the battle?'

The chief smiled again at the young man, his eyes were warm and full of kindness.

'The wolf that wins is the one that you feed.'


There was silence.  From the corner of his eye Salal could see Ahyoka and Kanuna peeping round the old hut. Mohe jumped off his grandfather's knee.

'Thank you grandfather. I like that story. It's always going to be my favourite too and I'll feed my good wolf every day.'

Ahyoka and Kanuna came towards them holding out bunches of sticks and pebbles, like peace offerings.

'Please come and play with us Mohe, we are going to build a dam in the small stream and we want you to come too.'

As the children skipped off Salal's wife Galilani appeared and put her arms round Salal. They watched the children. smiling at the sounds of their laughter.

Galilani held her husband's hand.

'Mohe and Ahyoka remind me of the two of us. I do hope they are as lucky.'

The old chief turned to her and put his hand on her cheek.

'Some may call it luck, but I 've just told Mohe my favourite story, may it weave its' magic on him.'

Learning to Love

If you have seen the film 'Moulin Rouge' with Ewan Mcgregor and Nichole Kidman you will be familiar with this song and its' wonderful heart-warming inspirational message.

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and to be loved in return.'

It makes you think though, can you learn to love or is it just beyond your control?, full of love for everyone and then full of love for that special one that lasts forever. I can remember that feeling of just loving everyone, the whole world, from my family to Mrs.Ellis down the road and being totally amazed when a girl at school said she didn't like one of the other girls. How could you not like someone? of course there is the old poem about Matilda when the father says, we like you Matilda we just don't like what you've done.

Anyone lucky enough to have had babies that just ooze goodwill towards all men from day one, yes I'm one of those lucky ones! They smile up at you trustingly as soon as they can, gurgle in their cots as the dawn light streaks through the shutters, hold out their little arms to be picked up and then squeeze you with all their might, beaming all the time. Their little hearts give out love all the time, delighted to see you and unconditional love surrounding them like a golden cloud.

So some don't need to learn to love, they just do. But what about the cooler guys, the ones who seem unmoved by anothers' plight, who seem indifferent to you. If you're there fine, and if you're not there... fine. Can people be taught to love ?

Some of us are lucky to have big bottom less pits of a heart.

One thing none of us can do is see into another persons' heart, only into your own.

A friend of mine going through an extremely difficult time of her life read every self help book she could lay her hands on. One day she looked at me and said the only thing that matters is what's in people's hearts.

Shakespeare said in his sonnet 116 that
 'love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.'

So that even if someone betrays you or hurts you then you will carry on loving them, that is if you really love them.

That's enough musings for this hot day, any comments welcome.


Moulin Rouge

Romanian Apple Cake, recipe from a friend

Here is a wonderful recipe for Apple Cake from a dear friend. She is a great cook and very generous with her culinary masterpieces. At Christmas and on birthdays she will appear with trays of beautifully crafted biscuits and cakes, works of art that could grace any pasticcieria. So when she told me about the apple cake that she had made I immediately asked her to teach me.

Romanian Apple Cake

4 apples, peeled and cored.
5 eggs, separated
250g flour
250g sugar
100g butter, melted and cooled
1 small cup of milk
1 small packet of baking powder

Heat the oven to 200
Slice the prepared apples into three and line a rectangular cake tin.
Sprinkle them with sugar and dot with butter.
Bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes until the apples are slightly golden.
remove from the oven and let the apples cool.

In a large mixing bowl beat the egg whites until stiff and then add the sugar.
Beat the egg yolks together with the melted butter.
Mix the two egg mixtures together in the same bowl and then fold in the flour and the baking powder.
Stir in the milk.
Spoon the cake mixture evenly over the apples.
bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 190 and then turn the heat down to 160 and bake for another 20 minutes.
Check with a toothpick or skewer that the cake is cooked.
Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn it over onto a board.

It looks very attractive with the apple rings on the top.
This cake will now definitely be one of my favourite Apple Cake recipes.
Hope you like it.

Ready for a party

Line a rectangular tin with the apple slices

When cooked and golden let cool before spooning over the cake mixture

Everything at the ready

Sunset suppers that sizzle

Here I am again with alliteration, that you're not meant to do, but I like it!!! hope you do.
As I've said many times it's best not to switch the oven on in a Mediterranean supper so here is a recipe for stuffed peppers that requires little heat.

Stuffed Peppers

Serves 2 for a main meal or 4 as a side dish

I large red pepper and 1 large yellow pepper, washed thoroughly and dried.
200 g couscous
1 packet of pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 small jar of black olives
4 tomatoes, washed and peeled
turmeric, if liked
basil
salt and pepper.

Prepare the couscous according to the packet and set aside in a large salad bowl.
Lightly char or blanche the peppers, or put in a microwave for 5 minutes. This makes them more digestible.
Chop the tomatoes and cook gently for a few minutes in a small amount of olive oil, then add the pine nuts.
Stir gently and remove from the heat.
Add the turmeric if using, salt and pepper and basil and stir in the olives.
Add to the bowl of couscous and check seasonings, fluff it up with a fork.
Spoon the couscous mixture into the peppers just enough to fill them comfortably. The rest of the couscous can be served separately or kept in the fridge for lunch the next day, maybe adding feta or cooked chicken.
Drizzle with olive oil and top with grated cheese.
Bake for ten minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes and serve with a green salad.

Enjoy at sundown.

Sunny supper

Everything ready

Enjoy

Sizzling hot colours

It's hot, just as you would expect and hope it to be in July. we're told it's going to get even hotter. We are almost bang in the middle of the Summer. In Australia they are in the middle of Winter and have had snow, a rare event for Australians.

Some flowers do well in the heat, they thrive in the direct sunlight and don't need much watering. They have beautiful bright colours and dazzle and shimmer though the day.
. Look at flowers today and read this verse by William Blake (1757 - 1827), he seems to be telling us that eternity expands from the centre of a flower.


Thou perceives the flowers put forth their precious
                                                           odours!
And none can tell how from so small a centre comes
                                                            such sweets.
                                                           
             
Forgetting that within that centre eternity expands
Its ever during doors.....

First e'er the morning breaks, joy opens in the flowery
                                                                          bosoms,
Joy even to tears, which the sun rising dries; first the
                                                                          wild thyme
And meadowsweet, downy and soft waving among
                                                                          the reeds,
Light springing on the air lead the sweet dance. they
                                                                             wake
The honeysuckle sleeping on the oak; the flaunting
                      beauty revels along upon the wind.

Look for a Rainbow

It must happen to us all at times, we wake up in the morning and we've dreamed about someone we love who is no longer here, but the dream is so real that for a moment you think they're near you, you can almost touch them and you want to tell them one more time how much you love them and miss them and how every moment you spent away from them seems wasted, and you feel so happy that you loved them and so sad at the same time then you wipe away the tears and come back to the present but the dream lingers.

Here is a poem by George Matheson (1842 1906) about that feeling.


O Joy, that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee,
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not in vain
That morn shall tearless be.

Saturday Morning Summer Sounds

The Italian writer Umberto Eco, famous world wide for his book ' The name of the Rose', gave some advice for aspiring writers and one of them was not to aliterate but I couldn't resist Saturday Summer Sounds..

When you drive from England to the South of Europe sometime after Paris you will be aware of the constant chatter of the cigale, grasshoppers in English. It is a happy sound, a busy sound a Summer sound. Once you hear that sweet music of the insect world you know you are heading to the land of sunshine and twinkling blue sea.
In Italy from the moment you wake up in the morning you are accompanied through the day by their lively joyful soundtrack. Amazingly for me this July the cuckoo is joining in with them, what a pleasure to sip your coffee listening to such a talented band of musicians, Nature's Summer Soundtrack.

In the tale 'The Ant and the Grasshopper', we learn that who spend his time making music won't have much to eat in the Winter whereas the industrious ant will have a wonderful store of delights to see him through to Spring.

When I told my little granddaughter this story she looked at me in astonishment,

'Why doesn't the ant give him some of his food'' she asked.

I felt so proud of her.

A Peach of a Cake for Breakfast on a balcony

When I was a child peaches came out of a tin.
They were a Sunday treat served with evaporated milk also from a tin and sometimes fresh cream.
 I had to wait awhile to taste a fresh peach, to be able to caress the soft downy skin and bite into the sweet yellow flesh and marvel at this wonderful gift from Mother nature.

So much in awe of the beauty of a peach are we that in English we use the word to describe something that is just perfect, lovely and appealing.

A peach of a dress, a peach of a girl, a peach of a doll.

For a long time it felt wrong to do anything other than eat a peach just like it is, fresh and juicy.
It is only living in a country where peaches grow abundantly in your own garden, just like apples do in England that I could bring myself to cook with peaches and  even then it's only the not- so- perfect ones that I can part with in such a way.

Along with many other exciting culinary habits, Italians like to eat cake for breakfast. Not for them bowls of muesli and fried eggs and bacon.
Cake is perfect for anyone in a hurry to get to work.
A slice of cake and a milky coffee and Ciao amore, buona giornata, so often I'll make a cake and try and make it as nutritious as possible.
 Just right for the Summer is a Torta all Pesca, Peach cake, here it is, hope you like it.

Peach Cake, Torta alla Pesca

175g butter, softened
150g golden caster sugar,
juice of half a lemon
3 eggs
175g self raising flour
3 - 4 peaches, washed stoned and cut in chunks

Heat the oven to 180
Line a 23 cms baking tin with greaseproof paper
Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until light and fluffy
Gradually beat in the eggs
Add the lemon juice and beat again
Fold in the sifted flour
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and place the peaches over the top.
Bake for about 45-50 minutes, check that it's cooked by putting a knife in the centre, if it comes out clean then it's ready.
Let the cake cool in the tin for ten minutes and then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Dust with extra sugar and serve with cream or yoghurt if liked.

Buona Giornata a tutti

Ready for the oven

Everything at hand

Magical Days that soothe your soul

Sometimes when you really need it something will happen that is like balm to your soul, like a bandage on your wounds.

 Last week I had one of these days, a walk in the woods and then an invitation to have an ice cream.

 It was a hot day, a lovely summer day.

 Just as we were getting out of the car this piece of music by Edward  Elgar (1857 - 1934) started playing.

 Edgar wrote it specially for his fiancée Caroline Alice Roberts in 1888, who was to become his wife.
We stopped and listened, letting the sweet melody wash over us. Then we sat at the bottom of the garden with an ice cream.

Let this piece of music wash  over you today, let it cool you and soothe you. It was surely written with love and also with the hope for a happy life together for Edgar and his future wife, and why not eat an ice cream while you're listening.

A cool place to be on a hot day

Sitting in a garden can calm your mind

A bench waiting for someone to relax on it,

Horses need to be looked after specially on a hot day

Thinking about Festivals and the Isle of Wight

It's a wonderful time of year for anyone that likes listening to live music or going to Festivals.

Glastonbury has just finished and even if you couldn't go there it was widely televised.
A friend of mine took my son to Glastonbury about sixteen years ago with his son. The boys were about twelve at the time. My son came back unwashed and scruffy with a
radiance about him that lingered for days. He had had his first ever Pot Noodles and learned quite a lot of swear words and colloquial expressions in English that caused a lot of hilarity, but most of all he was thrilled by all the live music.

The sound of a guitarist playing a few chords or an orchestra tuning up never ceases to fill my heart with gleeful anticipation, there's just something about live music that goes straight to the soul.

Here I have given you a song from an Italian band called 'Dik Dik' who sang this song inspired by the Isle of Wight Festival from the sixties.

The Isle of Wight Festival ran from 1968 to 1973 then folded up and was re-started in 2002.

Now would you believe that in spite of bands like Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and the Who the festival was a financial failure? It cost £3 for five days of music but hardly anyone bothered buying a ticket so it flopped.

I hope you like listening to the song and the images of the Isle of Wight. A tribute to all musicians who give so much pleasure with their music. thank you.

In Praise of July

In Praise of July

I love the sounds that Summer brings
The mower hums in the evening light.
The crickets singing with their wings
The fountain bubbling with delight.

I love the scents that Summer brings
Roses trailing from terracotta pots
Frogs in the ponds play violins
Among water lilies and forget-me-nots.


I love July and its golden light
Idly watching a dragonfly
The bee from the foxglove taking flight
Followed by a butterfly.

Ragged Robins grace the banks
Flower of Lime or Linden tree
Willow Herb and Yellow Toad flax
Wild liquorice by the sea.

Wheat fields sway in the summer breeze
Full of promise for  harvest time,
A shady spot under the trees,
Mother Nature spreads her cloak so fine.




Angie x



Just a short poem inspired by a warm golden summer day in July.
It's a beautiful month. It's a bit like a teenage month. All the promise of a full blown summer is round the corner.
We have planted and sowed and now have to water and tend our plants and crops to have an optimum yield in Autumn.

Life's a bit like that, reap what you sow and all that. Of course it's not that simple is it?
A violent thunderstorm can destroy a carefully looked after vine yard. Hail can reduce a crop to nothing. Flowers can bend in fierce summer gales and branches be torn from trees. Flash floods can have tragic consequences.

So I am wishing you all a happy safe summer with my poem that I hope brings you all memories of lazy hazy happy days.

Apricots for breakfast

Summer fields

farmers that let wild flowers grow are given subsidies

Foxgloves are a haven for bees

Flowers from a wedding bouquet