Summer is coming to an end in The View from the Terrace

The leaves on the forsythia are starting to turn gold. I noticed it a few days ago. It is still August, just, and I can’t believe that summer is coming to an end. We have had so little hot weather. There were two weeks in late June and early July which were mostly very hot. I was with Cat in Cardiff then so I missed a lot of it. It would have been nice to spend time in the garden then. It got too hot to walk to the park, but at least I got to wear my pretty summer top with the butterflies that I bought last year in Whitby even if Cat did say that it looked like a nightie! It is quite long, long enough to be a dress if I were young enough to wear a mini, but people wear tops long with trousers now, but Cat said, ‘I thought you hadn’t finished getting dressed’. Since I came home it has rained so much that I haven’t even planted the marigolds that I grew from seed, but they weren’t entirely wasted as I gave half of them to Cat for her garden and I did manage to plant those while I was there. She says they are coming into bloom, I must ask her for a photo.

I have started reading Les Miserables. I thought about it in the spring when I was doing a course in Europeon culture and literature, in fact I did read a few chapters but then I stopped. Then a couple of weeks ago they showed the musical on TV. I saw it at the cinema when it came out and it totally blew me away. It had the same effect watching it again on TV so I have decided that I will read at least one chapter a day. I will be through it in a year. If I am going to be ill so much I may as well make good use of my time resting. Mum read Victor Hugo though I don’t think she read Les Miserables, she never mentioned it but used to talk about The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She had surprisingly good taste in literature. I remember her telling me how she once got into trouble at school for reading a different book from the one set. The teacher called her to the front of the class and made her show everyone what she was reading thinking it was a cheap romantic novel and intending to humiliate her, and she was reading H G Wells. She told me she got bored with the set book, I don’t remember what it was.

We have found another car. Hubby rang a friend who does up second hand cars and he had a Volvo Estate for sale. I didn’t really want an estate as they are a bit big but beggars can’t be choosers. Hubby put a deposit on it and will pick it up later in the week so I wont even have to cancel a duty at my voluntary job. Maybe now we can book that trip to Cornwall. I need to speak to Cat first as she wants us to have the dog while they go away. Hopefully we can fit both holidays in before the autumn really sets in. If not I will give Cat priority because we have been to Amsterdam this year. I do like to see the sea every year though and I have only had half a day at Barry Island unless you count seeing it from the plane! I suppose we could take the dog to Cornwall but it’s a bit restricting as you can’t take dogs everywhere and you are not allowed to leave them alone in the chalet. Cat can’t take her as they are going abroad.

This is the sunset from our garden last night