Is this summer?

The coreopsis are gleaming gold in the sunshine

This time last year it was wet and miserable.  This year, dare I say, we seem to be having a proper summer - hooray!!  More than two consecutive days of sunshine and warmth constitutes a summer by my books and we're now heading into the second week of this lovely weather.

The grey-leaved stachys have tiny, quite insignificant mauve flowers, but we have noticed that the bees love them!

Lurking in the shadow by the fence are the two surviving sunflowers - we're hoping  they  manage to flower  later on

In between spending time in the garden, pottering, we've done our best to get some work done.  We had to do a shopping trip first thing yesterday morning and we were properly organised yet again - we used the store cupboard list to check against what we should have/needed to buy, we made a list, we took the calculator for a running total.  We are definitely becoming savvy shoppers.  We stuck to our list, but also snapped up a couple of bargains, including four very nice aubergines for just £1.50.  That's a good buy for here.  Today we have sliced and blanched them, and they are in the freezer for stews and ratatouille in the winter.  We also bought 3 whole chickens, and N boned them out.  That produced, we reckon, about 11 or 12 meals for the two of us at a fraction of the price had we bought the meat ready-prepared.  I then boiled the carcasses up and picked the remaining meat off the bones - enough for 2, possibly 3 chicken and leek pies, and sufficient stock to makes four lots of soup. 

I read the gas and electricity meters again yesterday - both are easily accessible and I can see what the usage is each week.  It will be interesting to see what patterns emerge through the seasons.  I keep meaning to check the water meter; it's in the pavement on the main road somewhere but I'm not sure which one is ours.  I may have to do some surreptitious inspecting one evening.

The bucket has become a permanent feature in the kitchen - any washing-up water goes in, as does water used for washing/cooking veg etc.  We put the plug in the bath when we have a shower to collect the water and then fill the bucket up with that, too.  We may not be in a position to recycle all our grey water, but we are doing something to help our plants through this hot, dry spell.  

Since taking the decision to stay put in the flat, we've been thinking of ways we can make the most of the limited space here.  One of the issues for us is the size of the kitchen, and it's layout, and after a bit of deliberation, N hit on the idea of taking the kitchen door off to see if that would open the room up a little.  No time like the present, and within a few minutes the door was off and hidden behind the sofa.  It's amazing what a difference it's made, not having a door between the lounge and the kitchen - we now have a 'open-plan living space'.  Very grand ;)  This has got prospects.

The evening sun catching the trees over our fence

After dinner this evening, we took a bottle of wine and a couple of books and sat in the garden for a hour or so.  It was still very pleasantly warm, and it was nice just quietly reading and chatting.  

Books, wine, chairs and evening sun - simply perfect!