to being stuck in the UK for the past 6 weeks.

I've watched the clematis come into flower in the garden for the first time in 5 years; smelt the mock orange and rosemary close to the kitchen door; picked elder flowers and crushed the petals for the faint lemony scent and been tempted to try out the elderflower fritter recipe (didn't because my ability to make a light tempura batter is non-existent, despite my Aunty Kathleen's advice to use beer.) The garden is looking wonderful and the dogs have been able to lie out in the shade of the trees on hot days and retreat into the house when the weather turned iffy.

I've also been watching the Peregrine falcon webcam (find it at the top right of the page)

There's a Bara Brith in the breadmaker, a jug of freshly-juiced grapefruit in the fridge, and MWNN flies home late tomorrow night. His Ma has bounced back again out of the grip of the Grim Reaper and he's gone above and beyond the call of duty in all he's done during the past months. After a suitable rest, we're off to our floating home in Southern Burgundy come what may.