The scent of Summer

How lovely to enjoy a relaxed Bank Holiday weekend at home and not in a 16-mile traffic jam: yes, southbound on the M5 yesterday….thankfully we were heading northbound.  Last evening, whilst sitting exploring the hidden tricks of my new camera, I spotted this chap taking a break on the garden room window and couldn’t resist a photo.  I’d have liked to have caught the other side too, but I disturbed him and he flew off.

This morning, I’ve been out in the garden, pottering about.  The philadelphus smells so sweet, I’m hoping the rain forecast for later today doesn’t wash it all away.  Time to make the most of it now.

We’ve a few roses in bloom, so with a bowl in hand, I went collecting rose petals for a sweet friend whose daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks.  Around here, we do what we can for our friends and during our book group discussion last week all agreed, we’d collect and dry as many petals as we could for her confetti.

If only the colours would stay so bright!

If only the scent would stay too.  Instead, you’ll have to imagine how sweet our airing cupboard smells with trays of rose petals drying in there right now.

We’re still having probs with our pond and rill, so I took the opportunity to top it up, noticing the beautiful iris as I did.

I’m still waiting for our peonies to open though.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the elderflowers too, noticing them coming into bloom a good week or more earlier than usual.  Time to (not) find the packet of citric acid powder then and get the stocks of lemons and sugar in, ready to get the cordial factory going.  Who knows where we had put that citric acid though?  Thankfully, Intralabs offer a super quick delivery, so this morning I had no excuses.  Could I find the recipe though?  Yes, of course I could!

The blooms this year are enormous and extraordinarily plentiful and I think this could be the earliest Elderflower Cordial post ever.

With an airing cupboard smelling of roses, a kitchen filled with lemon and elderflower, can there be any better scent of summer?

The bowl of fruit I just prepared for lunch, maybe?  (No pavlova today!)

Comments

[Janilizi]

The photographs are great. I could almost taste the elderflower cordial.