Runaway May

The apple blossom fell.

A dear friend visited from far away.

Younger son knows London better than I do

and sat me in front of this lovely Thames view.

The alliums began to open.

I made a tiny summer dress out of a

Sanderson curtain fabric dating from the 1940s.

The sky was blue one day.

The Libertia flowered.

The irises bowed and snapped under the weight of the rain.

The lambs are decidedly chunky.

Their mothers look long-suffering while they are being head-butted

and sometimes run away.

The tadpoles I rescued from the ex-pond are doing well.

Their mothers are indifferent to their fates.

But mysteriously all the fox cubs have vanished.

Their mother looks rather lost.

Blossoming

As above, so below

I had a modest plan for a patch of tulips under the Magnolia,

that I hoped would mirror the pale pink and white blooms above.

I chose a tulip called Graceland and waited.

Imagine my disappointment when the tulip buds emerged lemon yellow.

There must have been a mix up in the order.

But at least these echoed the yellow leaves which were just beginning to

show as the flowers faded - Magnolias flower on nearly bare branches.

Imagine also my astonishment

as the yellow tulips performed a transformation trick

 fading first to creamy white and then flushing

with pink at the outer edges.

 As the Magnolia petals fell, 

the tulips rose to meet them.

A perfect hand over.

The new generation

The sappy snappy tulips are blooming.

The feeble vegetable seedlings have been gently

tucked into their soft beds.

And yes! Here they are! Right on cue.

The latest family of pouncy bouncy fox cubs.

Six of them

eagerly exploring

their exciting new playground.

It is their ancestral home after all.