All Summer in a Day

Last weekend, we had our annual church retreat. This year we went out to the wilds of Kerry on the west coast and stayed in a lovely little hostel in Dingle. 

It's been raining every day for weeks, and when we arrived, it was lashing! 

But on Sunday, the sun came out, and we had our summer in a day!

photo courtesy of Liam

We were the only ones on this spectacular beach (that little dot in the photo below is Eoin!)

They couldn't resist a race... 

We got home on Sunday evening, and I immediately went outside to check the progress in my garden. It's always the first thing I do when I've been away; I'm a little obsessed! My absolute favourite thing about summer is watching my flowers bloom, and just one day of sunshine makes a world of difference in this rain-swept land. Sure enough- my garden had burst into life!

I brought this hydrangea with me from our old house, 

and it's finally flourishing! 

It has about 20 blooms on it, each one a bouquet in itself.

Yum! 

I planted several strawberry plants in an old wheelbarrow I found. 

They love it there!

A vibrant clematis I trained up our hedge.

Hello favourite flower in the world: 

the humble sweet pea! 

Every year I plant loads of them 

all over the garden. 

Their fragrance is divine.

A climbing rose, blooming for the first time.

This rosebush is the only one I didn't plant. It's definitely what you would call an "antique rose". 

I like to imagine the first tenant in our house, lovingly planting it and enjoying the sweet pink blossoms just like I do.

And here is my first harvest of the year! I can't wait to spend the rest of the summer picking flowers every day and arranging them around the house.

You can never have enough fresh flowers, and you can never have enough old glass bottles. Together, they make the best of friends.