Rain? What rain?

Whilst many parts of the country have finally had storms and rain after the very hot spell of weather, it seems to have passed us by.

The forecast yesterday suggested rain was highly likely, so N constructed this temporary reservoir on the decking to take advantage of what we anticipated was going to be a good downpour.  He also rigged up some piping to for a spout from the little garden shed into one of the water butts.  We were ready for the rain.

Today it was cooler, and breezier.  We had a quick walk into town and it started to rain!  It lasted for about a minute and we could almost count the number of rain drops that fell.  That was it.  Other parts of the country have had violent thunderstorms and rainfall but it's still dry as a bone here so we are still lugging buckets and trugs of grey water up and down to the garden.  

I finally took a better photo of a bee with its legs covered in pollen

We did manage a really lovely walk Sunday evening to Fishbourne and back.  We saw a baby robin and a red squirrel but the battery on my camera ran out  so no photos.  

We've been enjoying the fruits of N's labours in the garden recently - courgettes in a very tasty ratatouille, cucumbers, new potatoes (the taste is far superior to shop-bought) and our first tomato.

N took these photos - he was keen to show the size of the cucumbers!

It was very hot and muggy yesterday and neither of us felt like doing much at all.  Today was thankfully cooler, and for the first time in several days I made good progress with my list - we both felt we had achieved something at last.  

The next post will be my 100th.  I know some people (who have built up a following ;-) ) have give-aways to celebrate.  Maybe I'll try that on my 150th or 200th post, if I'm still blogging.  Updating this little blog has become part of my daily routine, and has been a wonderful way of recording progress in the garden and our potterings at home.  N and I have been so surprised at how we have changed over the months since we have settled into not working for a living, and this is something I hope to explore further over the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, we hope for some rain!