Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Has it been hot round your way?  It certainly has here, even the occasional rain is not bringing the temperatures down.  The skies have mainly been blue with wispy clouds.

And I have been doing some people watching when able to get a break in work.  Look at these guys with their mobility scooters in Peterborough!

I walked around my garden this week on the sultry, hot, bright evenings and the famous nursery rhyme popped into my head...Mary Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow?  Well my garden is growing with the help of these wonderful, furry, busy bundles.

The enormous number of these amazing insects is partly due to the fact that my neighbours house is up for sale and they have had to move on leaving the place empty and the garden being completely left alone.  A queen bee has made a nest and there are literally hundreds, if not thousands around.

We love bees and find them no trouble at all so we are leaving them 'bee' for as long as possible and hope that no one will view just yet.  My lavender is a favourite of theirs along with the various flowers that have burst into life. 

   So, do you want an update on my garden?  Thought so...you know what to do...get that kettle on and the tea cups out.  Have you got a nice cake to munch too?  Ready?  Let's see what the end of July is like at Sweetbriar Dreams...(sorry for the amount of bee shots too...like I said they are everywhere and I am in heaven...

This is my main flower bed that the bees are thoroughly enjoying.

The shasta daisies had a beautiful creamy bee that happily posed while it got drunk on the pollen.

The buddleia has now bloomed and is full of butterflies, so many red admirals decorated the huge shrub...

...and the cabbage whites are adorning the smaller flowers...

The earlier busy activity from the insects has produced so many plums on the tree - we can't wait to start picking!

There is some growth in my kitchen window baskets with the tumbling tomatoes.

My peppers are beginning to swell in the greenhouse, but that's about the only activity in there unfortunately unless we get another growth spurt next month.

The reading corner is more colourful with the hanging basket and the ever creeping ivies.

The foxgloves are welcoming their ever returning visitors.

Alongside is the sweet rocket, another popular plant!

Overhead we heard the buzzing of the small aircraft engines from the local airfield,

but then we heard a much louder sound, that of the Lancaster that occasionally flies over...

The day was finished by us driving to one of the reserves and watching the sunset over the fens.  A quiet and reflective time.

Now, you may have noticed the shots are a little different this week.  I've been a bit naughty and bought ANOTHER camera!  I change cameras like I change shoes!  I loved 'Val' but in the summer months, and on the rare occasions that the sun has been out,  I found the lack of view finder really hard to contend with, and being a certain age I needed reading glasses to see the screen to line up the shot.  So, with a bit of research I found the Fujifilm Finepix HS20 EXR and got a fantastic deal on Ebay.  As normally happens, I have fallen in LOVE with this camera and all the additions you can get with this.  For a bridge camera this is great as you can screw on filters and additional lenses.  A few hours/days/months of playing is on the cards!  My poor SLR camera is still waiting for me to pick it up again but I like bridge cameras as there isn't so much to carry around, so perfect for trips out.  Trouble is it is black and not that beautiful red of 'Val', so tomorrow I am buying stickers for it to 'pretty' it up a bit!!

I also received something beautiful in the post this morning from Annie at The Tartan Bee, just look at this wonderful bag she has made with one of my favourite things adorning it...the VW Campervan!!  Please take a look at her gorgeous blog and Etsy shop (the link is here).

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all so so so much for your beautiful comments on last week's post.  This was a particularly hard post to write as anything to do with my Grandad is still so hard to deal with.  I bore my family with it really so I don't mention it, but my blogging friends have really come to the fore as to why I blog, you were so gracious with your comments and touched my heart so deeply.  I know I'm gushing here, but THANK YOU all.  I am going to put a page together on this blog to put updates on the dolls house and the things I manage to learn along the way with the documents, so you can dip in and out as you please.  I have replied to all the comments made via email, and I am sorry I haven't replied to those that are 'no reply bloggers', so can I say again, thank you so much, your comments were so lovely and mean the world to me.  Right Chel, enough gushing, get a grip and get this project going again!

Have a wonderful weekend and week, we're off to Greenwich, London next week for another trip down memory lane!

Take care.

♥Chel♥

(Remember that if you want to see a larger version of my photos just click on one and a slide will appear)

This week I am sharing with:

Share Your Cup Thursday

Simple and Sweet Fridays

Cottage Style Party

Weekend Flowers

Saturday Show Off

Seasonal Sundays
Weekly Top Shot
A Favorite Thing

Go along and meet some lovely new people