Tuesday 14th June - Willow Vale

Clear skies last night and today, with some welcome sunshine and a little warmth indoors. Outside gusting westerly winds chilled the air substantially. There is something about the late afternoon light of winter skies that I love. The colours appear so clear without that slight haze of summer humidity, and perhaps the golden glow of light is warming mentally if not so much physically. The ground remains damp, turning lawn areas to mud in foot traffic patches, unusual to see at this time of year. Grass growth has slowed to almost a standstill with the cooler weather. The winter solstice approaches, bringing thoughts of the turn to slightly longer days and a journey towards Spring again.

Picking mandarins and the first of the oranges this week.

And we have a guest, snake (below), what a beauty. Reasonably small and slender with huge eyes covered in shimmering gold eyelids. It has been in the slot of our front door for the past few weeks, and this week we noticed there were two, the second one being smaller and paler. A sheltered place to hibernate or give birth perhaps? Though not technically outside, it's also not inside, so we have left it be.