We start and end at home but in between there is a wonderful adventure!

Above a beautiful sunrise and below we made it to Florida. Blurry yes but that moment, well we have waited a year for this trip so it matches our feelings perfectly.

When I was looking through all the photos I noticed that there were lots of Gav and I together. To celebrate that here are some of them. There are a few self timers shots but also in the mix are ones taken by Disney Photopass photographers and some by automated cameras on a few rides.

If you’ve been here a while you’ll remember a layout of me on this ride two years ago where I kept my eyes closed the whole time….. I was obviously braver but still out of my comfort zone. And look at Gav smiling away!

Dole whip? Yes please but in a strawberry float please with and orange one too.

Hello Tigger!

Love, love this ride.

A very enthusiastic photographer in Galaxy’s Edge. Love this one.

Crazy and fast ride Test Track my hair was an absolute nest after this ride.

This one was at about 8am with a beaustif early sun lighting up Cinderellas castle.

Outside The Beach Club Resort. Very fancy.

More for the Star Wars fans. It was very hot (I thought it may have cooled down in October….) too hot to wear these t-shirts but we’d brought them so snagged a photo before we packed up and headed north to Charleston.

So pretty.

Then north again to The Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Where we took a trip to see some wild horses. More on this story soon.

We also found Duck Donuts. Oh my goodness. You select your own icing, toppings etc. And they are made fresh right there as you wait. They are delicious and reminded us of proper seaside doughnuts from here in the UK.

The all too soon we headed home.

To greet our beautiful pooch who clearly missed us…..

Autumn had arrived while we were gone.

A snap of the garden right now.

And there we go.

But before any adventuring photos a few from my daily photo series.

Produce!

Lovely purple aster complete with raindrops and sunlight.

Cooking apples ripening nicely.

Took a walk to Canal Gardens. Lots of textures going on.

Sun-flares.

The screen says it all! What a fantastic night.

My take on a healthy bowl lunch with homemade hummus.

Another walk. This time around the garden at Harlow Carr.

Raindrops again but this time on that beautiful shrub Cotinus coggygria.

Gav was sizing up a new building project. Oh no not more building work…….lol!

Winter foliage coming along.

Love to document the garden from this spot. I must try and do a scrapbook layout about the changing seasons with some of the past photos.

Light.

Lovely breakfast out with friends. This was a spicy bean and egg dish.

And there we go.

Another snapshot of our days…..

Picking tomatoes and basil from the greenhouse.

A lovely sunny day and someone loving that.

At last the Cafe au Lait Dahlia flowers and she was worth the wait. Seen here with my other fav Labyrinth.

Went on an adventure to meet a friend I haven’t seen in years. Started on the bus….

Another walk to Canal Gardens.

Painted Lady butterfly. They are just as amazing with wings closed! ANd this was was getting a goo snack from the hebe flowers.

Lovely spot in the garden.

Purple daisies are back!

He’ll grab a moment in the sun whenever he can.

Real life on a beautiful late summer morning.

Beans and sunflowers and artichokes.

Crops.

This photo is like a dream come true! Been wanting to get my family to the park for a photo shoot for ages and final made it happen. I’ll be sharing more of this later this week. (and they look blurry but there aren’t so not sure why that is?)

Bee, sunflower and magical light.

I’ve decided that I shall not even resist picking these up this autumn.

Hoping for a late crop of salad.

Home made scones. Decided to make them square and not sure I’ll ever go back to messing around with cutters now!

Amazing tomato plant.

Local florist. Love looking at their displays.

The last of the eating apples and a pretty moon.

Popped outside in lovely sunshine to pick more tomatoes and got caught in a rain storm. Too refuge in the greenhouse.

And there we have it. Up to date! Yay.

A few more weeks.

Lovely scene in the garden.

Found a new to us butterfly. The Gatekeeper. So beautiful.

Raindrops on dahlia.

Lots of crop collecting going on.

The light is starting to fade earlier now. Lit a few candles to cushion that blow!

Trying to make scones. Getting better at them but still not quite as thick as shop bought ones.

The nameless pink Dahlia.

Everyday stuff.

Blue sky and yellow flowers.

More flowers in the sunlight.

Light.

Sat down and made labels for the dahlias. Maybe next year I’ll know which tuber is which.

Rock climbers.

Look forward to making our version of salad nicoise every year when the green beans are ready.

Documenting that I’m still in a t-shirt for our early morning walk.

Delicious lunch with family.

I have waited ages for this beauty. Dahlia cafe au lait. Love the bee and the bloom.

Oh yeah!

Popped in to see this cutie.

More harvests.

Playing with flowers.

And there we go. Almost up to date! Ha. I keep saying that right?

Lots of flowers, bees and other winged creatures along with a haircut!

Gav pottering in the greenhouse.

Calendula and raindrops.

Tuckered out Buddy.

A Squirrel and Pigeon on the lawn.

Honeybee on a cornflower.

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Me picking flowers.

Home baked scones with jam and clotted cream……oh my. Deliscious.

Love me a sunrise.

Lovely Dahlia and hover fly.

Petals fallen on his little head!

Close up bumble bee.

There have been so many butterflies this year. Struggled to capture them on camera but here is a peacock one.

And a ladybird.

Another bee on a lovely sunflower.

Broad bean harvest.

So cheeky.

View of the cutting patches and the wood beyond.

Ah, here is a better shot of those butterflies!

Hairdo!

As I said an abundance of bees.

And flowers.

Summer in full swing.

Back sharing a few more weeks.

And to begin all things from the garden.

This pretty flower is Orlaya. First time growing it for me and I’m impressed by its beauty.

Tomato….

Little arrangement.

Light on flowers.

Blousey but lovely.

Hebe flowers with added honey bee.

And potato flowers.

Starting off the week with a sunset.

Trying to remember this collection of plants so we can replicate on the other side of the steps.

A lift selfie.

Adorable pooch.

Almost blooming.

Forever making things……

Another crop almost ready.

More bees.

One of my favourites. Salad Nicoise.

Can’t resist the light.

We were walking from hers to ours and Gav ran past on the other side of the road……We were trying to get all three of us together but he’d gone by the time we got the camera sorted!

A lovely rooftop garden when we went to London.

Ice-cream and silly faces.

In the tube station on the way to Abbey ROad.

And there we go.

Almost catching up now….almost!

The tomatoes went in.

Bees buzzed and collected pollen.

A self sown foxglove grew taller than Gav and looked lovely with the shrubs.

The cutting patches were looking good too.

And the light on these honesty seed pods. Perfection!

Lunchtime deliciousness.

Love the table in its new position and now with summer plants on it.

No words needed…..

The fig tree has a fig again. Just the one the same as last year and same as last year it does not look likely to ripen.

I was waiting for the spirea to flower as I thought it would look amazing with this foxglove. SUch a pretty peachy colour.

The sky was a wonderfully eerie grey and then the rainbow appeared. I can never capture their true magnificence and luminosity though.

Took a walk together. Love getting the three of us in one photo.

A favourite fruit of mine. I love cherry season.

Not a perfect shot but lovely all the same.

Here is that foxglove again! But this time it was the evening light that captured my attention.

Another bee.

A handful of blueberries. Still waiting for them to ripen!

Took the car for a service and had a couple of hours to wait so I popped to a nearby store and treated myself to a very unhealthy but delicious afternoon tea in the cafe.

Walked with Bud to the gardens at the park

After 100 days of art on those 5 x 7 pieces of paper I decided to paint on an old canvas instead. It is a work in progress I was just getting layers down here and really enjoying the process.

We had given up on this rose, actually forgotten it was there and then I spotted a bloom. So delicate and beautiful.

So there we go. Lots of light, flowers, garden and a pooch all in all a perfect start to the summer around here.

And here are a few more.

All flowers of garden things this week.

Self sown sweet rocket.

Lovely Alliums.

Hosta leaves.

A view of the garden in May.

Spinach! We can’t grow the stuff, okay well obviously we can but it doesn’t last long. Always bolts. But this was the biggest crop we had ever had. It’s been a very good salad season so far.

Pretty Centaurea in blues and whites.

This is the poppy I painted for one of the 100 Experiments in Art.

Me and him.

Light on a lovely geranium flower.

Off adventuring in Portugal with my Mum, sister and niece. This is in the seaside village of Salema.

And one of my favourite things to do when staying here. Watching the golfers from the bar.

Poolside reflections and feet.

We were very lucky with the weather. It was sunny everyday and the light here……. And the area our villa is on on the golf complex is like a tiny village of whitewashed townhouses. Adorable. I love wandering those cobbled streets.

Imperfect but priceless. My sister and her daughter sharing a funny moment.

Ah. Such a great few days. Here is my shadow waving from the patio.

And back home to this cutie.

Plant combinations.

Growing.

Sun worshipper.

Always the bees.

The trialthlon rode into town again. Here are the leaders of the womens race. Love that this world class event comes to Leeds and that the swim section takes place in our local parks lake. We usually watch on T.V and then rush to the end of the street to watch them cycle by. So much fun!

And there we go.

Here are a few more weeks.

The garden started growing again. Love perennials.

Someone was chewing sticks held tight in his cute little paws.

A new angle. Gav has been working so hard in the garden.

Our salad and home made bread in lunch.

A walk to Canal Gardens.

More wood chopping from the fallen tree.

New compost bins. Needless to say he was rather pleased with this construction.

New to us chairs. They are exactly what I’ve been looking for and secondhand so more environmentally freindly! I like the battered look but we may paint them.

Our second year attending a session of World Snooker.

Many of our potted tulips were squirrel food last winter so we only had a handful to enjoy. This ‘Black Hero’ popped up amongst self sown white borage. I liked the dark with the white.

Apple blossom.

Making more bread. Actually I think this turned into hot dog buns for a baseball evening.

Bad habits……. But if we are eating revels then I like to make sure we have an even spread of flavours. Lol!

Blue and green.

Clematis in full bloom with the moon and contrails.

Helped my Sister walk dogs and we meandered through Canal Gardens again. This view…… It’s heaven. Such a great spot.

On my lunch break.

Hooray. UK asparagus back in season.

Arrived at our camp site to a little bit of sunshine.

Blurry but love this photos.

And back home again with more stick chewing.

Phew…… there we go another three weeks.

Sharing another couple of weeks today. I’m so behind in posting these but that’s just the way it goes I guess. I’ve been working more hours over the last few months and it had impacted on my dedication to the blog! But I’m still here and still want to share and pondering how I can keep up regular posting going forwards.

Anyway, here are some great Tulips about to burst into colour. I was drawn to the purple tinge that seemed to pick up on the Hellebores behind.

And apple blossom about to bloom too. And a blue sky!

Walking in the park.

Beautifully lit Daffodil Thalia. One of my fav’s.

Gav had been working on getting this part of the garden all neat and tidy and I potted up some plants to display on that old wrought iron table we have had for years. Adore this new area.

Wraps for lunch with our salad.

His favourite napping spot in the morning when the sun beats down. Plus real life with a bag of rubbish abandoned!

And week six…

Taking advantage of the fallen cherry blossom this week on our walks.

Amazing butterfly. That iridescent glitter like sprinkles on his wings was just wonderful to see.

Our salad wall going strong. We have had a great year with this system so far.

As I said……

And more salad ready to be planted up. Love the textures of different leaves and the light. Always the light.

It’s all flowers or foliage! Euphorbia griffithii with a covering of raindrops.

And we had breakfast out with friends before going to a local flower show. Hummus and halloumi? Oh yes please!

Not sure we will ever catch up but there we have another two weeks.