Blazingly Summer

I suspect that this cake stand may well be used for many more tea parties yet.

I am so glad that I came across it recently.

I'm not quite sure how old it is...the paint is quite chippy.

The plates are all matching & definitely vintage.

It's lovely on a dressing table in between recitals, although I think I might paint the leaves a better green, what do you think? They seem a bit dull & gray to me, presently.

I am trying really hard to enjoy every moment I can of our summer...it's a real one. A long, hot & sunny summer that makes you sweat...a lot, dries out all the land, ripens all the crops magnificently & makes you sleep with just a sheet on. It would be quite easy to complain that it was too hot, but then I stop & think of all the delightful moments that I am loving, like sharing these delicious drinking coconuts straight out of the fridge with Rob. We've never had them before in New Zealand..the water tastes so delicious & the flesh is so queer...kind of like lightly toasted coconut jelly (jello) & we love them!!

Pomegranates whisper of far off hot & steamy lands & somehow a few of these amazing fruits have made their way to us for the summer. They utterly fascinate me..look at all those facets to every little seed. I have also been making the juice (bought separately) into jellies...little pretty bowls full, eaten with thick, creamy Greek yoghurt & so simple to make. 

All the vibrant colours are calling to me in the heat.

 I adore this little double calibrachoa... like a kind of miniature petunia.

It looks so lovely in a terracotta pot.

As it turns out, my passionfruit experiment was entirely successful.

Whole passionfruit thrown into the freezer, emerge months later, just fine & tasting like mini sorbets.

Sweetcorn is in full swing & ever so useful for summer meals.

It's most delicious just like it is really...don't you think?

These little peppers from the market are so colourful & very sweet.

Roasted with various coloured beetroots in a good dollop of coconut oil the flavours concentrate down & it all keeps so well in the fridge. I added corn cut off the cob, crumbled feta & basil & it was heavenly!

I just had to make some more the following week so that I could use some of the peppers to make these Book Shop Savoury Muffins. It was one of those recipes that was floating around the kitchen for months on a squitty bit of paper cut out of a newspaper. I am amazed it didn't get itself lost & so that it doesn't, I have posted the recipe here, so that it can be readily found again because they are so good.

There are so many birds in the garden through the summer & they all seem to adore fruit.

 Plums are a particular favourite...best I don't leave any sitting on the back porch or peck, peck, peck!

The plums are closely rivaled by cat biscuits.

I came across this truly remarkable video this week.

It's very short & absolutely worth the watch.

A large group of starlings are called a "murmuration"....

These summer berries from the Famers' Market are so magnificent I wanted just to look at them for as long as possible...red currants & boysenberries,

worcester berries, black raspberries, blueberries & gooseberries.

These are black raspberries...quite a blackberry flavour to them & very yummy.

It's quite handy having an orchardy sort of person popping in from time to time.

This week he brought us some coconut ice white peaches.

 They're a bit different to regular peaches as you eat them while still crisp.

By the end of the week we had some glowingly beautiful yellow nectarines too.

The vintage basket I found at a market recently & I just love it to bits.

These dwarf zinnias have been fabulous in a large pot beside the pathway in the front garden.

And I am so enchanted by this most unusual hydrangea.
I think I'll have to pot up all the prunings later in the year & grow as many more as I can find spaces for.

I do hope that if you're from the chilly hemisphere you have been reinvigorated for a few moments while you visit.

 I am so glad that you came to see me, all of you!!

Thank you so much for your chats, emails & kindness..you are truly wonderful!

 Have a lovely week!!

MUCH 

 ♥♥♥♥♥