Back in my garden

 The recent heatwave has scorched my raspberry plants, just the top new growth leaves, this is a very sunny spot, so far my summer raspberries have ripened OK. 

My runner-beans are also scorched and not growing well, it's another sunny spot, I have another rouge potato growing.

I have planted my grapevine in one of the veg beds, the roots are in a shady spot, the vines grow into the sunshine, I hope to train the vines along these arches, which are placed for the tall raspberries on the other side.

I transplanted this red rose to a big pot last year, it struggled in the ground, I am happy to see this bloom and more buds, more red here from the crocosmia, lucifer. I pulled these out years ago, and most years I pull out the new growth, this year I decided to let a few grow in with the agapanthus.

We did not have many blooms on our magnolia tree in the spring, the squirrels ate most of them, so again I'm pleased to see so many blooms, the tree is looking good.

We seriously need rain here, the last time it rained was 10th June, over 3 weeks ago, my water butt levels are dropping fast, we have had a couple 10 minutes of fine rain which dried up very quickly, there is no rain in our forecast. I have purchased a rain measuring unit, just so I can see what amount of rain we get, I might bore you over the coming months with results. Southern water is bringing in a hosepipe ban soon, luckily we get our water from Portsmouth water and they have a statement saying their water supplies are good.

I dug out my 3rd bag of new potatoes, we are cutting lettuce every day, and my cucumber plant is producing more cucumbers, the tomatoes will be ready soon, I pick raspberries a couple times a week, the strawberries have finished, we have stopped pulling rhubarb, but there is plenty in the freezer. Sweet peas are still blooming.

We are having to watch Lilly, the huge black and white male cat from next door has started coming into our garden and attacking her, hubby has chased him away a few times, we have loaded our big water pistol with lemon juice to squirt at him, it does not harm him, cats dislike citrus which stays on their coats after the water dries and hopefully will deter him.

I've done very little since coming back from our break, my tummy is playing up, my doctor wants to repeat my blood test, and I will do another stool test, the surgery gave me the wrong test last time. I'm living on salads, steamed fish, avoiding breads and any flour based products, tonight I will make a paella seafood for me, chicken for hubby, I have two small pans and I'm happy to make different flavours.

Pitt Rivers natural history museum

 We would have never found this place, a tour guide recommended we visit, its spread over 4 floors, and just fantastic, the items displayed here are just a very small part of their collection, the photo below is from the 2nd floor looking across and down. 

I have never seen an elephant's skeleton, the ground floor was animal related.

On other floor artifacts.

I took over 50 photo's, every where was so interesting, you can visit their webpage, it was free entry with optional donation, here is just a taste, it's incredible and something to entertain everyone.

Steve Reed would love it here, our 9 year old grandson Will has seen my photo's and is asking his mum (daughter) to take him, sadly we did not have the time to take in everything, our 90 minute visit was just not enough time.

Oxford

Oxford is an historic city, full of colleges, historic buildings, 

this one below was Tudor.

Loads of towers everywhere with decorated columns all built in limestone.

Tall chimneys

College buildings covered in plants.

The colleges had wonderful gardens

Everywhere on the river were boats to rent, we did not participate, I'm not happy on water in small boats.

I found this shop in the covered market place, another lovely place to visit, small independent shops selling a huge range of products and of course food stalls.

 

We had two amazing days in Oxford, the weather was dry, a bit cloudy and much cooler, perfect for walking, which we did loads of, we also took the tour bus to understand a bit more about the history of the city. We found the locals were so friendly and helpful, often giving us tips to enhance our stay, everywhere was in walking distance, the only place we did not visit was the modern shopping area, shops just don't interest us. We did visit the botanic gardens, but much like my garden at home they were suffering from the heat wave, the beautiful rose garden was past it's best.

We use a Travel lodge near to the northern park and ride, we were not impressed with our room, whilst clean it was very dated and lot's of things felt cheap. It was nice to park the car and use the bus, the park and ride was cheap, fast and never a long wait for a bus. Oxford has fallen out of love with cars, which made walking everywhere so much easier. I have another post following this one, a trip to the museum. 

June round up

 Again no craft spend, other than cross stitching, I'm not doing much, in the garden there is so little required, I'm splitting plants and setting seeds. BUT, I ordered a table green grape vine, and then all my spring bulbs from Farmer Gracy, with a 10% discount, expensive month. 

My half year figures are good, I managed to stay under £500 for the first half of the year, hopefully I can do the same in the second half and come in under a grand, in other years I have always spent more in the spring and early summer.

9 Books read this month.

I wish Blogger would sort out the issues with our reading list, so many of my favourite blogs are not shown as they are published, some show hours or even days after being published. 

Just a pair of shorts no other clothes, I did get acrylic nails for my sisters wedding, I'm already wishing I had not had them, they look good but hinder me when doing anything, I have started filing them myself and using my own colours. 

It was an expensive month for our credit card, all the extras for the sunroom, plus we needed a new microwave and hubby got a new humidifier, it's all paid now, then new ladders and a BBQ, nothing else required for the house, we now have a local internet provider, much cheaper than Virgin and tied in for two years. We don't stream an extra channels, we hardly watch TV.

We have purchased new mugs, 2 each, they are smaller than our others, I drink 3 cups of strong black coffee each day, hubby drinks 2, we are cutting back, drinking smaller amounts, probably saving a good spoonful of coffee each day.

Kitchen waste goes into garden composter daily, I'm not keen with the council food waste, we don't put much in, it used biodegradable bags, we never fill them, I don't really want to use one bag a day, I'm worried about flies and smells in the summer heat.

My weight I lost 5lbs over the weekend I was ill, I've kept most of it off, living on salads helps.