Big Grandson is 13

Big Grandson was 13 on Wednesday. 13! A teenager! Fortunately he's showing no signs of being a grumpy one. None of our children were difficult teenagers either, so I'm hoping that this continues. He's a lovely chap. They came here for tea, he having been with his dad on a bus trip round the city - which he loves doing. 

They usually come on Fridays, and yesterday he had a nostalgic play with the Brio that now resides in cupboards most of the time (there's a lot of it!). He and Biggest Granddaughter had a good time with it and he requested that it be left out so that they can continue with it tomorrow. He used to play with it every time he was here, but (sniff) now he's mainly grown out of it. It takes up a lot of room in our house... 

And today we went for a walk with our walking chums. 

It was very enjoyable. The weather was warm (at last) but we mainly walked through woodland so it wasn't too sticky. 

Then we came home and I wandered round the garden for a bit. It's very flowery. The perennial sweet peas are doing well. 

The (pestilential but pretty) Japanese anemones are growing into the phlox again. 

This is a pretty hydrangea which my work colleagues gave me when I retired. For a few years it refused to flower once I'd planted it in the garden, but after I threatened to dig it out, it did flower and has continued to do so every year since then. 

I love this verbena. It's taller than me. I hope it survives next winter - it got through the last one, but that was quite mild. 

This fuchsia at the front of the bed is very hardy; I love it. 

This is a good clematis, though unfortunately the slugs agree. 

This clematis hasn't done so well as usual, this year; presumably it's been too chilly for it. 

Just as I sat down in my little reading nook, our neighbour started mowing his lawn, very noisily. He's very meticulous and likes to mow it in stripes. Eventually he stopped, but by that time it had started spitting very slightly. I tried to ignore this, and read on for a while. But then the rain became just a bit too damp. Oh well. It saved me from having to water the pots. 

 

Summer stuff

And so life drifts on, busily but unremarkably (which is all good). The garden takes up quite a lot of time, even though the front part is full of volunteer plants, such as this lupin and all the foxgloves.

I do love them -

and the Canterbury bells. It's all a case of weeding judiciously. 

And it's also bloom time for things that I did plant, such as these alliums

and these peonies. 

The garden is full of bees. 

Look at these clematis climbing up the fence. 

Isn't nature wonderful? - with considerable help from man, or in this case woman. 

On Saturday we walked with our friends from Dirleton to North Berwick, along the coast. It's been very warm, so we were happy that it was cloudy and not too hot for walking. 

We lunched on this rock. 

Here we are approaching North Berwick after a walk of about 5 miles. We got to Dirleton, in East Lothian, about 20 miles from Edinburgh, by bus - and back again - all free for over 60s, which is very satisfactory. 

Many of the cottages in East Lothian have red roofs, the tiles made from the very red earth of the countryside. 

We sat on the top deck of the bus, like teenagers. 

There was a lot of general teenage hilarity from us over-70s, which was fun.  It was a lovely day out.

And today I visited my very nice friend Joyce, and as always took a photo of the Forth Bridge out of her window. Much the same photo every time. Can't break with tradition. 

And that was another week. It beats working. 
 

Blue blue blue

It's really all about the flowers at the moment. I've been toiling away in the garden, which isn't large but which I've foolishly made very time-consuming over the years. There are too many flower beds to be tended by an ageing person who needs to get on with her latest quilt, abandoned since we had Daughter 2 and Littlest Granddaughter and then our lovely American cousins. But look at those irises! 

I think the blue is my favourite but I also like this two-tone maroon one

and the white. Irises always remind me of my childhood garden, though those irises were purple. (I must get some purple ones.)

This one is interesting too, though not my favourite. What colour is it? Sort of browny red... there ought to be a more precise word but I can't think what it is.

I love the ceanothus - such a vivid blue. 

and the alliums, which come up faithfully ever year and are beloved by the bees. 

And I bought this thalictrum only last year; it's doing well so far. 

It's always a pleasure to go to the Botanics, especially as I have no responsibility for it. And things can be done on a rather larger scale there. 

I thought we might be too late for the mecanopsis. But no. 

Ooh.

Ah.

Back in our garden, the Edinburgh Two play frisbee in the sun. We need rain, though; the ground is like dust. 

 

Pink

Most, though not all, of the daffodils are over but the tulips are coming into their own. It's been beautiful weather here, so I've been enjoying tidying the garden, though alas my arthritic hip has not. Still, onwards and upwards. 

This is brunnera - it lasts so long and is a beautiful blue.

More tulips. 

Today we walked to the Botanics, admiring this beautiful blossom on the way. Coincidentally, I've just been browsing the internet, as one does, discovering that the house belonging to this tree, which is about five minutes from our house, is for sale for £5 million pounds. Of course, interestingly, one can see inside it, on the particulars. Sadly I don't think we'll be buying it. It's very beautiful, with an acre of garden (which we visited last year under the Scotland's Gardens scheme). But it's a bit big for our retirement. Also slightly (vastly) beyond our budget.... There are lots of very posh houses not too far away from us - and no, we don't own one - but I hadn't thought that any houses in Edinburgh were worth £5 million. Astonishing. 

There are still some daffodils at the Botanics.

But it's mainly the rhododendron season. 

And very...

pink.

By the time we'd got home, it had dulled down and become rather chilly. This is a pity, since we're having lovely American cousins to stay next week. And the weather forecast isn't promising. Sigh.

 

Summer sun

Life whizzes on at an alarming rate and we're busy busy busy with gardening, family things and a bit of socialising. We went to Vogrie Country Park with the Edinburgh Two the other week and walked through the woods...

looked at frogs in the river - and stuff like that. 

I had a coffee outside the art galllery and it was chilly for June. But I was served by a girl from Sicily, who said it was 48 degrees there. I'd much rather be chilly. 

But then it got warm. The garden is flourishing. 

Summer. 

I love it. 

The indoor plants are flourishing too. 

Big Granddaughter decided to get her hair cut much shorter. 

And Big Grandson got the Brio out. 

Daughter 2 and her husband have built a climbing frame for Littlest Granddaughter in their new garden. It was quite a lot of work. 

And we walked along the coast with our walking friends. 

Such a lovely day, with nice people. 

When all the family were at ours the other weekend, Medium Granddaughter asked if I could make her a dragon quilt. Whereupon her little brother asked if I could make him a dinosaur quilt. Well, obviously yes! I didn't have any fabrics featuring dragons or dinosaurs so sent for a couple of each. The trouble with buying fabrics over the internet is that sometimes the patterns don't turn out to be the size you expect. Those middle dragons are rather large! - though I like them. Hmm. By contrast, the dinosaurs are maybe too much the same size. Needs some thought. 

And back to the garden: it's clematis time. 

I love them. So do snails.

Big Grandson (who's about to be 11! - how did that happen?) loves drawing street scenes and trains, such as this picture that he WhatsApped yesterday. The perspective isn't quite right but there's a lot of detail. He has about six sketch books full of pictures like this. It's so interesting, watching them all grow up - a consolation for getting old.