Summertime.

 Our summer was a late arrival. Wet weather delayed vegetable planting till mid-May.

 At that time there was a heavy pall, weather-wise and emotionally. Two loved ones sadly passed on, both prey to Alzheimer’s. We almost lost our beloved cat, Pushkin, who gradually lost his appetite and finally refused to eat and drink. Vet tests came up with low blood counts but no diagnosis. We all went through the agonies of Z force-feeding him for about a week. We had prepared ourselves for the big goodbye. Then one day, he inexplicably turned the corner: wanting to eat but frailty and poor coordination impeded the process so the syringe was replaced by the teaspoon. On the day he unsteadily walked up to us and rubbed our legs - his morning greeting of old – we both wept. He was on the way back to us!

During our rainy season, Z had clearly been plotting garden improvements. In the first week we decimated the hedge which was a three-day task.

Then a tree-feller dispatched two demised pine trees and pruned down a deciduous tree.

During the process of the latter, I mused over the origins of the term, ‘lop-sided’..

  Then serious pool-cleaning began.

And after a time of sadness, anxiety and hard graft, we enjoyed moments of joy as well.

 Our Sheffield-based niece, Jenny, learned that her current bump will be a little girl. Her two-year-old brother-to-be wants her to be called Fire Dog Bull – the third is the actual surname which seriously delimits feasible name choices!

As the heat returns, so the crickets chirrup and gladden our days, as do the swallows who wheel around before swooping down to drink at the pool. 

  

With the new run-way in operation, the air-corridor overhead has regular flights coming in, so our tourist economy is on the up. If we can, at the same time, maintain the current pattern of falling Covid-19 figures, then all will be well.

 We are the proud owners of certificates attesting to our being fully Pfizer-ed and of ‘green passports’ which allow us to travel within most European countries.  We have no desire to travel abroad for the time being.  

     

The sun is out, our roses are in bloom and our produce is nicely ripening.

It’s time to savour summer!