Sunset time

Its that time of the year again when the sunsets are at their best, mainly because the sun is now setting to the North West of the house so we get a better view of it and mainly because we have had such clear evenings. The sky is still light in the North at 11pm. The colours are truly amazing and sadly I don't have a camera which will do them justice. The sky seems to have been painted using horizontal stripes, deep red at the bottom, rising through the colours, orange, yellow and then (and I had never seen this before coming to Devon) green, before turning to light blue to dark blue. The green is quite clear and is a sort of pale colour, possibly that pale apple green colour you see in the flesh of a granny smith only slightly darker.

The swallows are having a lot of fun especially trying to dive bomb us if we go near the outbuilding where they are nesting. They have also made rather a mess of M's car but it is parked in their flight path.

Charlie cat has taken to sleeping in the long grass in the field next to the house when it is hot, luckily he wasn't there yesterday as the farmer has now started silaging and came to start cutting the field yesterday, he does leave a border round the field so Charlie wouldn't have been mowed but it would have given him a shock. I did feel for the farmer last night, he was still cutting when we went to bed and clearly was still at it very late into the night. He is very thoughtful and didn't cut the field next to our neighbours, who are older, so as not to disturb them. He apologised to us for cutting so late but we don't mind at all, it is all part of living here, you can't live in the country and especially in such an agricultural area without tractor noise every now and then. I think when and if we ever manage to have holiday cottages it is something that we will tell people to be aware of, as some folks don't realise that the country isn't always quiet; March and April - lambing, so beware of where you walk and letting dogs of the lead; end May and June - silaging, lots of tractors on the roads and possibly working late into the night.

The tourist season seemed to start well with half term last week, the beaches were full and although it was hot, there was a cool breeze so it was nice, mind you easy to get burnt if you weren't careful. Some friends made it to the beach last week with M, but sadly I was working - typical.

Work is very very busy now for some reason, I am almost having to turn work away at the moment, but don't want to do it, as I don't know when and if it will dry up again. M is busy too and people (despite the recession) seem keen to buy the garden furniture. I think the local nature of the furniture is a good selling point and it comes direct from the Sawmills which is near here so limited miles on it (apart from delivery of course).

No piccies today, but once they have finished cutting (it doesn't do my hay fever any good), I will try to get some piccies of the fields and the bales, as although they are now in black plastic it is a pretty sight.