In the morning, I take my tea down to our little terrace at the beach; it faces directly East so I bask in the morning sun which, even by 7 a.m., can be quite generous. The terrace is edged by a rock retaining wall, and the garden it “retains” is filled with any plants hardy enough to withstand the saltspray and the winter’s winds. Lavender seems to manage there, although it’s not as happy as the rosemary or the wild rose.
And lavender draws bees, which make me very happy — except for the hummingbird’s auditory acrobatics, I’m not sure there’s a better sound in a garden. Go ahead, click on one of those photos above and picture yourself listening to that contented bee, breathing in that sun-warmed lavender. . . .
But if you want to see more sun-basking happiness, look what caught my eye, near the lavender, by the beach, in the rock-oven that the sun has just turned up to Bake, Low . . .
I love how this garter snake modestly exposes one casual loop at a time, keeping the rest of its beautiful self discreetly back in the rock-crevice changing room. Do you do the same thing with your towel, in the sauna? Or lying on the beach?
I was careful to pay attention to the “Do not Disturb” sign, and tiptoed quietly past to sip my tea on my cheery orange chair . . .
Which is where I’m heading right now, for the start of another Summer day, island style. . . . And you? Any summer plans?
The lavender is lovely. I drove by a house where the owners had dug up the lawn and mass planted lavender in the entire yard and it was stunning, a sea of purple loveliness.
Hope you are relaxing in the warm weather mater.
We did a house exchange many years ago with a family from Blois, in the Loire valley. . . their only garden was a deep swath of lavender at the bottom of a long sloping lawn — the fragrance would drift up to us in the house — wonderful!
Hope you're relaxing as well — will you head out in the boat soon?
Happy reading Mater!
😉
I can almost feel the sunshine on my face as I look at those photos. I feel more relaxed already. Enjoy! (Many years ago I worked in a ground-floor office that was always cold. We'd take turns going outside to stand in a little patch of sun for a few minutes to warm up. We called it "lizarding.")
I love that image — keep hoping a lizard or two might show up in our rock wall, but so far only the snakes . . .
Does anyone on the island keep hives? I'm wondering if the bees might be wild ones…
I don't know of anyone here who does beehives, yet, although many of my neighbours offer Mason bee housing. Beekeeping has always been a (remote) dream of mine — someday, perhaps . . . so far, though, the bees are wild ones here.
Yes, I can imagine the bee, and the warmth and the scent of lavender. A perfect day in a long-awaited summer.