Friends on Friday

A few photos I forgot to post yesterday...

Queen Victoria cruising by.

There were at least two of these that did a fly by.

We don't get sunsets here as we are facing the wrong way, but there was a definite glow over the sea last night.  Quite a contrast to tonight where I can't see the sea, as the clouds and sea mist has come rolling in with the wind.

You could even see the moon last night before it was dark.

This morning, a big bonfire was lit down the road - yup, on one of hottest days of the year - it was still smoking at 2 pm when I walked past.

This evening, I could STILL smell smoke in the air.  You have to wonder sometimes about the thought process some people go through when they light a fire on one of the hottest days of the year first thing in the morning... or perhaps there is no thought process at all, which is probably more likely.

Anyway it was a lovely day, albeit a bit smokey at times so I had to have the doors and windows closed for a few hours, but once it had cleared a bit I spent some time trying to see if I could see any fish.  No luck.

One of my lovely lilies.

The Gunnera plant.

A young damselfly nymph I think this is.

The sunflowers my neighbour gave me yesterday.

It was very hot walking to the Ventnor Gardens this afternoon where I was going to meet up with a friend who has recently moved to the island.

It was a  very hot walk.  The walk back was much more pleasant as a slight breeze was starting to build up so it was a lot cooler.

Sunning himself 

His little eyes are closed.

Gorgeous flowers.

We had a lovely couple of hours wandering around the garden and catching up with each other's news.

She used to live too far away for us to meet up much before, so it is nice to have her living much closer and we are planning to meet up again next week which will be lovely.

Managed to capture a lizard on film, which is not always easy.

We have some at our place, but I only see fleeting glimpses of them.

Total walked today: 4.5 miles.

Total walked this month...114.7 miles, so I think I have done pretty well indeed, and it has been fun to see if I could achieve my goal of 100 miles this month.  Especially when I look back to this time last year and remember how ill I was, and the fact I'd had the first of my A & E admissions. 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Morning Gardening & Afternoon Walk to Ventnor Botanical Garden.

I was out in the garden by 7.30 am this morning as I wanted to get some work done before it got too hot.

I decided to tackle by the summer house as I hadn't been up there for a while.  It is not really usable as it is pretty dilapidated so that is part of the reason why it ended up so overgrown.  We will eventually replace it - that is the long term plan anyway as the views from up here are fabulous.  

I had had plans to paint up here, and store my painting supplies, but well with the easel boards being lost by the removal company I have nothing to use on my easel frame, and it has just kind of put me off the whole idea.

Wheelbarrow full of weeds and what I have pruned from various plants.

The round bin is full too.  I actually did a couple of wheelbarrow loads.

Much clearer.  Still needs work, but it started to get too hot, so I moved to the orchard.

The views from the summer house.

You can see my cherry trees with the netting on the two branches.

I spent some time in the orchard, clearing ivy off some of the apple trees along the back and also cutting away grass and weeds from around their trunks.

One of the original labels that the owners previous to the ones we bought the property off put on the trees.  A shame all the other labels seem to have gone missing.  

After lunch I decided to go for a walk to Ventnor Botanical Gardnens.

A lovely walk along the coastal path

The gardens were looking fabulous.

These are Agave plants like the one I got the other day.  She grew it from seed she got from the Botanical gardens.

I sat for a while on this bench in the shade

and just took in the view.

I left a little Kiwi Rock to hopefully bring a smile to someone's face.

So many beautiful flowers of such vibrant colours.

A helicopter flew overhead on my walk home.