I love the smell of Tiger Balm in the morning OR The JOYS OF SUMMER

The world is very beautiful where I live. Just been round to the scout hut to open it up for another Cub Pack who are spending the weekend there. Hillsides carpeted with bluebells, the white of wild garlic, and Lady's Smock. Red campion coming into flower in places, and the gorgeous fresh green of newly clothed trees – birch in particular. Heifers, sheep and lambs in the same field. So lovely.

Oh Bags sounds wonderful after 3 weeks of living just west of Slough!! Can't wait to get back to Fife tomorrow; it always seems so peaceful - even after a day in Edinburgh, I walk down the hill towards the Forth and our house and feel 'lighter' and more carefree

My taxi driver and I, have been commenting on how VERY GREEN every thing is on the drive into work!
We both agree that the colours seem more intense than normal.
We also have the wild garlic and bluebells!
Does anyone else agree?

It's all the extra carbon dioxide we're feeding them, jeni! Trees just suck it up with great delight!

No! I think it's all the rain that washes off any dirt off the leaves! It hasn't had a chance to settle on the foliage!

Plus they are new leaves. Spring greens are always lovely, I think, and Argyll is gorgeously green for a lot of the year. This time last year a lot of the newly clothed trees were scorched brown by a storm we had in early May that blew salt spray onto them all. They looked half dead until autumn. They seem to have recovered though, so that's good.

Wow soop
Bit of sparrow hawk action in the garden lately.And today, lot of magpie noise. When i looked out of upstairs window could see it was magpie determinedly scolding young cat on the next door fence. Magpie on bush, about 2 ft from cat, pecking lumps out of the bush, as a demo of what that beak could do.
The trees look so lovely this week. And the rape flowers look as if they are illuminated from within.
Drove through warwickshire - thinking about how different it must have looked in Shakespeare's day - with the strip system, the woodland and the common ground. And all the fields and lanes awash with wild flowers.

Our lanes (and even roads) and fields are awash with wild flowers now. How lovely is that? Was only noticing it on the way to archery last Tuesday. You should visit Scotland, jess.

A particularly beautiful Spring here this year, thanks to all the rain. It has reminded me of England.

Fingers crossed that the house martins will stay and use one of the nests. We haven't had any nesting for two years. We think our population (eight nestsful) was wiped out in the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud on their way back from Africa.

Bags our house martins have raised a brood for the past three years. It's lovely to see the wee ones, mouths agape, peering over the edge of the nest. Wondering if they will return this spring. The lovely elderly lady for whom we worked [until her death at 104] used to allow the martins to fly around her vast home. They built nests [not now used] in the corners of the high ceilings in the entrance hall

Last night's sunset, as seen from our window, was a taster of things to come. Have uploaded pre and post-sunset pics. From hereon, they become even more spectacular

Wow soop. Looking forward to seeing even more .......

Butter at some point throughout the summer evenings, the sky will turn crimson and the islands a deep shade of lavender...the sea can be streaked with torquoise and mauve and red. A sight to behold!

Have uploaded more sunsets. We have hundreds of images spanning eight years. It's very difficult to choose a few favourites.

We have lovely ones here as well! It is Zomerset!

The raining mist is blowing across the fields, the trees are being squalled at, and everything is dripping everywhere. The day after tomorrow we've got three tents to put up and a lawn or two to mow....or we might go for tall daisies and buttercups. Ah well.......... fingers crossed for some if only a little.
Everything does look marvelously lush though.

Summer has finally arrived here in Devon. At last have managed to be outside in a t-shirt for more than five minutes!

Unfortunately, the sparrows have ousted the house martins from their nest - not much kindness in nature!

A stiff, many-headed stalk of dark purple columbine,
A delicate one of pignut with three umbelliferous heads
of tiny white-flowering umbellifers,
A four-flowered stalk of red campion,
And a single stem of flowering sage,
All in a dark green vase, looks good.

Lovely picture, Bags.

It is a lovely time of year. We went to Evenley Woodland Garden to check out the azaleas etc. Not much acid soil around these parts - but they have a little patch there. Lovely. Star of the show was an excessively blowsy white tree peony. I could imagine someone sending a bouquet of them to one to a great Edwardian beauty.

Thrilled that the tree peony I had to hack back to bring over when we moved has finally agreed that here was home. The most amazing, huge, crimson flowers. And the smell of the pheasant eye narcissi is just so wonderful. The many different cranesbill types geranium are fabulous too, dark chocolate, pinks, blues and white. Pale yellow irises at their best now, and the others in many shades ready to flower.

In the wild field at the back, king cups, water havens and so many others. Just booootiful.

Water avens is my second favourite flower.

Really love reading all these post of such beautiful flowers.

Can I boast just a little? J. is taking various bodies to various gites and getting them settled in, but before supper they walked around our garden and were full of praise. Future daughter-in-law adores flowers, and is just delighted with how the wedding garden is looking. Big to go to bed with. I am so happy she is happy. That's all I wanted.

All your hard work has paid off butter