Home and away

Yesterday Joe and I went to the Craft Barn. It's just up the road from where we live and surrounded by fields, so once I'd bought a few balls of yarn we went for a walk. There's a little lane with a few houses dotted along it, and they each have very well-tended gardens and vegetable patches.

Summer's getting on now - apples on the tress and crocosmia flowering away.

Those tidy beds put ours to shame...

The colours of the season seem to be flame-coloured: oranges, reds, golds. Not in an autumnal sense though. More fiery (to match the weather).

We didn't get much further into the field as you can only do so much with a pushchair. And Joe's way too heavy to carry any distance.

The combine harvesters will be out soon and the fields will be stubbly and brown and full of birds pecking at the remnants...

We made our way to the Linear Park next. It used to be an old branch line but is now a footpath. (Ironically, the proposed HS2 railway is going to plough right through it so there are some very unhappy locals). I thought maybe heading for the shade of the trees would give us some respite from the heat but it didn't make much of a difference to be honest.

We walked past some sweet little houses with cute names, like September Cottage and Damson Cottage.

Then we came home and enjoyed the cool of the kitchen whilst sharing a cheese spread sandwich. Joe has simple tastes (although he tolerated a bit of hummus the other day so there's hope).

Jay's dad and stepmum had sent us a postcard .They're currently away in Switzerland. The fresh Alpine air must be so nice right now.

Things are supposed to cool down a bit here over the weekend. I hope so - Joe's top teeth are starting to come through and he's been suffering. The heat doesn't help. I keep opening all the windows in an attempt to get a bit of a draught going. When it works it's lovely. Oh, to live by the sea...