A day of contrasts

It is scorching again. Much too hot to work in the garden. The shade under the pergola was pretty much the only place to be by ten. And what a place, the roses and honeysuckle were in full bloom, the bees buzzing and the swallows swooping overhead. The enforced languor gave everything rather a “holiday of yore’ feel. Shades of past August breaks in the south of France flitted to and fro. Lachlan and Keith were already aimlessly seeking shade, complaining about the heat and pining for Beer O’ Clock. I felt that to complete the tableau I really should be reading a random French novel taken from a motley row of dusty abandoned tomes left in a holiday villa. The library here is suitably dusty but any French novels are my own choice, which seemed like cheating. I toyed with picking one at random from Amazon France or perhaps digging out the Proust. Had the time for Temps Perdu arrived? Well no. Instead I knitted a bit in a desultory manner, thinking about doing all manner of things, whilst making no move to commence. The morning drifted away.

By way of startling contrast, this afternoon I had a Zoom board meeting. Some 20 of us all lined up in our little zoom boxes, sporting our lock down workwear of choice. We had not had a board meeting since the end of March so I was interested to see the changes. We were a very assorted bunch. Josh is now shaven headed with a full Appalachian beard. Andrew was much as ever, he has clearly mastered the clippers and Heather was impressively elegant, having a follow up meeting later in the day. Several of the group were shrouded in shadow and a few were mysterious static floral images – video firmly switched off. I had donned a shirt for the occasion – my yoga crop top I feel would have been a bit startling. Meeting venues provided further excitement. Jamie has rather impressive wooden fish affixed to what appears to be the walls of his shed/log cabin. Despite all these distractions, a productive meeting ensued – interrupted only by intermittent livestock issues. The Chairman had to leave briefly to rescue a goat with its head stuck in a fence, there was a very vocal lamb in an adjacent room to be silenced, Pingu the cat had a walk on tenor role and Lyra ambled in to slurp water vigorously – thankfully I found the mute just in time.

Meeting adjourned, I ditched the shirt and, stopping only to collect the last ice lolly, made for the garden. The border roses are fabulous. (Lady of Shallott, Emma Hamilton, Gertrude Jekyll and Jude the Obscure (quite a challenging dinner party mix)). I was also excited to see that some dierama I grew from seed a few years ago on the off chance have taken and are flowering. However, it is the lavender field that lifted the spirits most. It is stunning. This was Keith’s idea – I never would have dared. And this thought took me back to the board meeting where we had been pondering a problem which seemed to have its roots in self-censorship and low expectations. Sometimes you have to decide what you want most of all, not just what you think you can get to work with what you have to hand, and try to make it happen. It won’t always come off, but when it does it is glorious.

The garden tour and lolly provided a brief respite. Tonight is pizza night and Keith has dutifully fired up the Pizza oven. We now have a choice of hot and sultry outside and 7th level of hell indoors. I shall be making the pizza in a bikini and pinny.