Tuesday 27th June 2023

Suddenly its high summer. Lots of daylight, if the temperature has dropped, its not by much, and so time is spent between what we want to do and what we have to do.

We have to work.

For now.

And so, for me, there was an audit to carry out. Its my job, so should expect to do it once in a while. At least we agreed there was no need to travel to Denmark for it.

And in the afternoon, I was going to harvest our yellow rattle seed, so I don't need to buy some, or as much, in the autumn.

Day set, then.

Audits are, well work, and for many its something like a interrogation, and for the auditor, it really isn't fun putting people under pressure.

So it was good that this one went well, lots of positives and no negatives.

And done just after lunch so I had time to write most of the report before the end of the working day.

Which was nice.

The lawnmeadow is at its best now, a sea of ox-eyed daisies, swaying in the wind, dotted with the purple flowers of some late corncockles or our Pyramidal orchid. I look for other flowers, but the ox-eyed daisies do take over.

I gather a large envelope of seeds and seedheads, ponder whether to go for a walk, decide not to, so sit in the garden to read and keep Scully company.

Jools had bought a bag of Italian bread mix, so I add water, mix and knead. I look at the instructions and it said to leave to rise for 20 minutes. I thought I knew best and left it an hour.

By the time I returned to the bread monster it had taken over half the oven, but the application of gas mk 8 stopped it right in its tracks.

The bread was to go with Caprese, of course, which on a cool but humid evening was perfect with the still-warm bread.