A dish of granola with Greek yogurt, chia seeds, banana, strawberries, blueberries and maple syrup has become a favourite ever since we went out for breakfast in High Barnet with family on our last visit. 
I foolishly cooked tonight and the kitchen got far too warm but it’s one of our favourites and we had a homegrown courgette to use.
Aubergine, Courgette, Tomato and Halloumi Bake
Regular readers will know that I do love a jelly baby now and again.
Last night’s sunset was another pretty one with the golden light reflected in the windows across the road.
Our choir rehearsal was by the sea again today and the variety of blues, from turquoise to navy, was just lovely. My photo doesn’t do it justice. The beach was full of people enjoying the continuing heatwave. (Unlike me. I melt.)
I picked a posy of our first Sweet Peas today and they smell wonderful. Whenever I pick a small posy, I am reminded of our dear friend Ti, whom we used to visit regularly and always took a garden-grown posy to brighten up her room. 
We are getting beautiful sunsets at the moment and here the golden light is streaming into our hallway and being reflected in the mirror.
The Long Tail Tits are back! We havent seen them for a couple of years but today they were feeding in the morning and again in the evening. The photos were taken on a very long zoom from inside the kitchen so that I didn’t frighten them off.
We’ve harvested our first tomatoes today. The black one wasn’t really ready, the red cherry ones were delicious. 
Another scorcher out there today. I did find some shade this morning to finish a book a friend has lent me, “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans, that I started yesterday. What a brilliant, beautiful novel, full of humour but also bringing me to tears several times. I loved the heroine, Sybil, whose life is told through the many letters she writes and receives. All the characters are carefully drawn and utterly believable. It’s one of those stories where you feel as if you know all the people, their quirks, their loves and their lives and yet the story is full of surprises. Put this one on your reading list!
My reaction to the book reminded of a postcard I showed you recently and here it is again.
Walking along an alley in Penzance to the car park after yesterday’s talk at The Acorn, we saw a trellis full of Passion Flowers – such a beautiful and intricate bloom. Our plant is nowhere near blooming but we do have lots of buds.
Driving away we went past these colourful flower filled boxes.
I’ve long loved this little poem by Goethe. It is called Song of the Traveller at Evening and was translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was in a little collection I had as a child.
It has been an indoor day for me again as the heatwave continues, 29C today, doing lots of reading!
The air was so still, likewise the water that the reflections of the masts and the trees was just lovely.
From the car park by Muddy Beach Cafe, with the Zed Shed above where we rehearse.
We went to Penzance for one of the events of their week long Literary Festival this afternoon. We heard Christopher Brookmyre talking about his writing and his new. book, Quite Ugly One Evening. We read and loved his first novel written 30 years ago, Quite Ugly One Morning which was absolutely hilarious, a thriller full of wit and black humour. We are looking forward to reading his latest featuring Jack Parlablane. There’s a really good review of his earlier work here..
On the back wall inside The Acorn Theatre in Penzance
Afterwards we stopped in Marazion to look out over the sea to St Michael’s Mount and to have some of the best ice-creams available hereabouts.
Ice cream dripping in the heatwave
Driving home this afternoon we had to wait for a cat to move off the road. It was there long enough for me to get my camera out and take the photo as it was very slowly walking up the middle of the road. It eventually stepped up onto the pavement and jumped up onto the wall.
We harvested our first two courgettes today (should have taken a photo!) and made them into a delicious Creamy Courgette and Bacon Pasta, a BBC Good Food recipe, a real success.
Today’s poem, in this time of flowering roses, amuses me. It’s by Dorothy Parker who had such a delightfully wry sense of humour. 
In Truro this morning I was very taken with the beautiful hanging baskets. On the way home, we admired a couple of the many baskets in Redruth from the car.
In Truro
In Truro
In Redruth
A lovely warm afternoon invited us into the garden with ice creams.
There are so few butterflies in our garden this year but today there was a Meadow Brown. You’ll have to look carefully to see it in the (rather dry) grass.
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
I’ve passed on some of my Mum’s chimney collection to her Grandkids but I still have a few and we plant them up each spring for the summer as she did.
Our choir practice was by the beach at The Blue Bar in Porthtowan today so afterwards some of us walked down to the sea. What a tonic – to sing and then to see, hear, and smell the sea. We are so lucky to be living in Cornwall and so close to the coast.
Clouds
The sea at Porthtowan
Just have to say – we recorded the World Cup football match, England v Mexico, (KO 1am UK time) and got up early to watch it without hearing the news. It was a cracker of a game and sent us off on our day with smiles on our faces!
I’ve had a little beaded ‘cap/beret/hat’ for many, many years. It was in the dressing up box when I was little and when ours were small but no longer has wearers so I took it down to the wonderful Make-A-Mends where all such wonders are welcomed.
We had friends round for supper last night and I made a delicious dish, Mediterranean Chicken with Lemon and Olives. Here it is, part cooked, as I added the vine tomatoes and olives to the part roasted chicken, new potatoes and lemon wedges. I served it with a mixed leaf salad and crusty bread and we finished with Eton Mess. 
The Cornish hedge between us and our neighbours is covered in wild flowers. Here the Red Campion and our purple clematis make good colour companions.
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