Tuesday 7 September 2021

Extra-large-mostly-August photo dump 🐢

This post begins at the end of July and spans until early September, so it's just over a month packed full of little joys. This is probably the most photos I've ever crammed into a post so get comfy before you embark on a big scroll through 😆 My ambition is still to make smaller, more regular posts, like I used to in lockdown 1 (a lifetime ago!) but for now here we are again!

This is Juniper with her boyfriend Gordon the dragon, she loves to snuggle up next to him on the windowsill and rub her face against his rough, stony exterior. An unlikely pairing but I'm sure you'll agree they make a very sweet couple:



She has recently been enjoying my knitted blanket and has snoozed away many afternoons on it:


A sunsetting sky from the end of July, watching our friends play a gig in a local park:



I very rarely take flash photos but I like this, the colours are nice. Right there in the centre is my first hoya bloom before the flowers opened:


It was so exciting watching the peduncle grow and buds form, I documented the process here:



Aren't they the prettiest flowers ever?!! They look like sweets, and they smell amazing too! At first I didn't like the scent but it grew on me, it's floral but also like cocoa, very unusual. Each of the 3 blooms so far has been a different shade of pink, and there is one more growing now so I wonder how that one will turn out...stay tuned! 😍

 

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I'm halfway through the last Harry Potter book now (not pictured), so close to the end! I've thoroughly enjoyed escaping into that world on my breaks at work hehe. Also Ed and I just finished watching all of Lost and may or may not have started The Office again for the third time this year...in my defence I do get a lot of knitting done at the same time!

 

The last time we baked sourdough...so long ago! We made two loaves so that we could take one with us when we went to meet up with Ed's family for a day in Bath. Since then I've been struggling to revive my starter, it's looking a bit lacklustre and lacking the oomph required for a nice airy loaf (sad) 🍞 Might have to start my starter again, again.


I befriended this tortoise in Bath and fed it dandelion leaves and a grape:


We had a lovely, sunny walk in the Botanical Gardens...


Idyllic

...and had a bit of a tour around some of the iconic sights such as The Royal Crescent:


Many propagations on the go, and a beautiful moth that we rescued from Juniper's clutches:


Our hollyhock has been popular with the bees 🐝 and isn't this tigridia pavonia (tiger flower) AMAZING? I got a free bag of bulbs at work because they were old and it was too late to plant them, but plant them I did and whilst they all had leaves, only one of them actually flowered. Each flower only lasts for a day which is a shame but also makes them feel extra special. Hopefully a few more might pop up next year if we're lucky! 🐅


A peacock on a compost throne, and a common blue butterfly:


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A self portrait doodle from a slow day on the tills:


Exactly 4 weeks ago a big drama unfolded in our house...for the first time in the 2 years I've had my big snails I forgot to check for eggs! Imagine my surprise when I looked at their tank and saw loads of tiny snails all climbing up the glass. It took me over an hour to find them all and relocate them into their own mini tank, I kept bursting out laughing and saying "I can't believe this has happened!" 😅 I didn't count them but I'm sure there was more than 100:


I knew I could never keep them but didn't want to *destroy* them, so I put out a post on our town facebook group and had some friends and family ask around too 🐌🐌 I managed to rehome 36 baby snails before reluctantly handing the rest over to a local lady with chickens......it's the circle of life 😬 

Anyway, my big snails are now living out the rest of their lives in solitary confinement (they are quite happy on their own) because I don't want it to happen again! It was fun though, the noise that a hundred tiny snails make as they crawl over each other and their shells knock together is something not many people have experienced, honestly it's like the "snap, crackle, pop" sound when you pour the milk on your rice crispies 😂 #funfact


In other animal news, Ed found a frog out in our front garden! So we decided to stop procrastinating and make a tiny pond like we'd been talking about for ages 🐸 we used an old washing up bowl: 



We've had a bountiful harvest from our raised beds so far, a few Sundays ago we dug up the rest of our potatoes, carrots, and parsnips:


Whilst Juniper sat with her head in the bush watching the birds:


Very satisfying indeed 😌💪


The very next day I finished knitting these socks and realised that they perfectly matched our freshly harvested rainbow carrots! A happy accident 💛


They were a birthday present for our lovely friend Elli and I picked the wool especially thinking that it would match with some peachy pyjamas that she has...I was right! 😄


Two weeks ago we had a mini holiday to Cornwall and managed to combine Elli's birthday celebrations with meeting up with family to go to St Michael's Mount in the same trip. We dropped Juniper off at a cattery on the way where we met this HUGE dog, the photo doesn't do it justice but it was standing taller than Ed and was fluffy like a polar bear!


Our first stop was the National Marine Aquarium:




Followed by a little explore of the Barbican where we discovered the most amazing antique/curiosity shop with oddities ranging from a giant stuffed tiger from Dartmoor Zoo to original drawings from the making of classic Disney films. It was such a treasure trove!



We stayed with my sister and her housemates, here they are in cardboard form:


Chess, cats, and golden evening light:


A picnic on the beach, featuring leftover pizza and a chocolate cake hastily decorated with 24 candles:


We swam in the sea and played a few games (though I was too focused on collecting beach glass to really concentrate on the rules 😛):



✨ I ✨ LOVE ✨ FALMOUTH ✨

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Early on Thursday morning we set off to Marazion to meet family and head off to St Michael's Mount! We took the boat there at 9am and then later on, when the tide was out and the pathway revealed, we walked back on foot.


Lots of amazing windows (zoom in on the designs in the second photo!):


The view of the gardens from the top almost makes you feel a bit dizzy:


We had the perfect weather for it, so serene and blue! It was nice to be there first thing in the morning too, before it got really busy.



By lunchtime we were very ready for a pasty and did the touristy thing of wandering round for a pasty shop and then wandering round for a place to sit and eat it. The only shady spot we could find was on the beach, in the shelter of a big rock so we settled there and thankfully were able to eat without competing with seagulls 👍


That evening we went to Lusty Glaze beach in Newquay which is so nice for swimming 🌊 my dad found this toy poodle and knew I'd be interested hehe:


Friday morning started off misty:


But it soon brightened up (enough that Ed got sunburnt!) 🌞 our last seaside stop was Treyarnon Bay:


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It was great to hop down to Cornwall for a few days but it's always nice coming home and seeing what the garden is up to! While we were away our one and only sunflower opened up in all its glory:


Another pic of the hollyhock because tasty shadows 👌 and our newish rose ('compassion') gave us its first flower since we've had it and let me tell you the scent is GLORIOUS 😍 the colour is so pretty and it fades to a softer, creamy pink as it opens up:


Our happy little orchid in the shower, and the most recent courgette! Usually we pick them when they're smaller in case the slugs descend but this one was hidden under the leaves so it was a nice surprise to find it, big and unblemished:


We sowed some cosmos seeds a few months ago, only two plants survived and this is the first flower we've had! Next to my precious night scented phlox which we sowed around the same time. I heard about it on tv, how it smells really nice in the evenings (clue is in the name) and attracts moths, so I was really keen to find some. It was a whole process, involving me buying a different kind of phlox first (one that apparently smells like cannabis and has fooled the police a few times 😂), but I eventually got my flowers and can confirm they smell deliciously sweet, like parma violets!


The last thing I have to share is this delightful content:


Ed and I had a BBQ one evening after work, and Juniper settled down for a nap on Ed's back which was possibly the cutest thing to happen in existence:


As you can see we invested in a string of fairy lights for the garden, but now we definitely want more! Ed and Juni both spotted a bat fly past as I was taking this photo:


Fin.

P.S. If you made it this far, thank you for your dedication! See you next time 💝

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