...heavenly colour

This time last year the park was a riot of bold, bright colours - vibrant reds, yellows and blues:

In mid-August 2018 there is an entirely different colour scheme to enjoy. Those long weeks of non-stop sunshine have bleached the colour out of the landscape, leaving only the most delicate pastel shades - blush pinks, soft greens, eggshell blues, ivory, taupe and cream. Simply divine!

...midsummer moments

• Last weekend we finally got a break from the dry, hot weather and had a proper rainy day. It was lovely! We did a complete circuit of the park and got soaked to the skin, but it felt absolutely wonderful to be comfortably cool for a change.  

• For the past six months at work we've been waiting to move to a new base as our current building has been sold to housing developers. There have been various delays, mainly for lengthy repairs to be made to a collapsed, water-damaged ceiling in the part of the Grade 2 listed building we're moving into, but on Friday 10th August we'll finally be saying goodbye to our shabby, decrepit office/home-from-home. I've been busy taking photos of all our favourite features - the gorilla tape carpet repairs, mystery stains and passive-aggressive notes left by the cleaner before she retired in March. The DIY solution to the tap that couldn't be turned off in the kitchen and the save water/hot water* warning signs above the missing sink in the ladies' loo (with the fetching dark blue gloss paint walls) are my personal favourites. 

*Ironically we haven't had ANY hot water in the building for the past month and a half. The boiler has gone the way of the cleaner, and (like her) has not been repaired or replaced.

 

• The decluttering and packing has resumed with a vengeance, as one of the rooms we were supposed to be moving into is still not ready, so a lot of the things we were planning to take have to go into storage for the time being. The washable toys came home with me this weekend for a much needed spa break. Who knew that the light grey (with dark grey ears and tail) shaggy dog was actually a white (with dark grey ears and tail) shaggy dog?!

• My friend asked for help with a painting project yesterday. She has a small business offering wedding props for hire (large illuminated signs, sweetie/prosecco carts etc.) and had agreed to source a 'rustic' painted pallet as an added extra freebie for a couple she particularly liked. So she painted the pallet mint green and I went over to do the decorative bits. The lettering is a bit wonky, but it was a last minute project and I've offered to repaint it more carefully with a generic message if she wants to add it to her repertoire of accessories for hire. 

• The hot weather has resumed so we kept our morning walk fairly short today. Highlights included the pincushion flowers (the seeds I planted at home are growing, but no sign of flowers as yet), the pink and zingy orange daisy, and the fabulous lilac/blue thistle - a seed head was harvested for planting at home. The XXSCat dog has a quizzical expression - "Why are you loitering among the flowers when there's running to be done?"