In the midst of Summer...

The mornings are cool and refreshing.

I rise just after five and if Caspar is awake he comes out with me for a brisk little morning constitutional before the very best part of the day begins, - an hour or so in the garden while the sun is just casting long shadows on the tops of the mountains, and the valley is dew-kissed, cool and fragrant.



We warm up quickly here in this semi desert, and by eleven o'clock I am urging Charles inside, out of the heat and the bright sun.

So what do we do with the rest of the day, before the coolness of the evening descends again?

I am lazy, - I read the summer books that are light and entertaining. We nap a little, and lately my interest and imagination have been captured by the magic of digital editing.

Look, look what wonders you can create with just a click of the mouse!!!

At the risk of becoming boring, (because I have talked about this before) let me tell you more!!

A picture from the garden, which is magic in itself, can be transformed into any number of fascinating images.

A rose



gathers depth and contrasting shadows and light, and becomes a painting.....



A glorious stem of lilies is subdued and textured



and then is magically morphed into a lovely water colour...



The afternoon passes. Sometimes I think about the heat of the valley when we were younger and there were apricots and cherries and fuzzy, sticky peaches to pick, and we only had fans and a sprinkler running on the flat roof of the house, falling intermittently as it circled around and around, giving the illusion of cool rain.

Could I choose, what would be my druthers? Or would I just be grateful to have had the best of all worlds.....