Midsummer Sunshine

The Buxton Well 

Buxton Opera House

31st July 2013
Hi everyone,hope you are having as much fun as I am.  This summer our weather has been so different from the past few years, we have suffered  cold wet summers but this past few weeks has been a gift, a real summer with lots of sunshine  that has lasted for weeks. The gardens have suffered by the lack of rain but it has been worth the extra effort watering every evening. Curiously we haven’t had hosepipe restrictions  like in previous wet summers ! anyway it’s the end of July and we are  thankfully having some rain. But not for long though, we are told the prediction is more sunshine. Great for I have booked a holiday in a few weeks time so I am expecting good weather. I have really  enjoyed  being in the garden this year watching the flowers grow and tending to their needs, I  grew many from seed this year,  my sunflowers are special and the Yucca Palm has certainly excelled by sending out a huge flower that I have never seen before, in the ten years I have had the plant. It was a tiny cutting from my cousin Pam in Cornwall  and look how it has thrived, in spite of being up in the colder Northwest. I have spent most days in the garden,the days have been wonderful, warm sunny quiet afternoons ideal time to have a snooze under the trees, love it..   The rain is welcomed too because, the earth was so dry and dusty, the air needed refreshing  and the buildings and pavement a good wash down, now we can continue with the sunshine.

My beautiful  Yucca

Decided to have a hair cut last week  after seeing it grow into a neat bob, but with the humidity and the heat was hard to manage.  Now I feel more comfortable and do not look as if I have been dragged through a hedge backwards anymore. Then to escape the heat one afternoon I went to the cinema to see ‘Under the Candelabra ’ the Liberace story. I found it entertaining, interesting and good to hear his piano again.

Also travelled to Buxton a famous Victorian watering place, in the Derbyshire hills, to attend their annual Music Festival,this year  celebrating Gilbert and Sullivan. I went with two  friends and it was a wonderful sunny day, the town was buzzing with people. We had taken picnic lunches which we ate in the Pavilion Gardens, sampled the local water from their Well, it was warm and slightly salty but is reported to be very beneficial health wise. People where filling large canisters with the water which comes from deep inside the Derbyshire hills and filtered by numerous limestone rocks. This Spar town offers hydrotherapy and other treatments for those with specific ailments.. Very picturesque, unique architecture and atmosphere.  We had some retail therapy as is expected, then relaxed at a pavement café listening to live music that was being played by various buskers around the place…very relaxing.

Later we saw ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at the Buxton Opera House, another unique building that was in superb condition inside and out. Enjoyed the show, the music brought back memories of  my father  playing these tunes on the piano, from memory, self taught with a perfect ear for melody.  I remember sitting around the piano, with a roaring coal fire providing both heat and light singing along to his favourite tunes….magical.    I did have lessons as a young girl, but had not the patience or dedication that is required. I can carry a tune and do have a keyboard  to play on for my own enjoyment, though I am  not very good!!

  Check out Buxton - Check out Buxton

Pirates of Penzance      you must watch this video to the end,I just love their energy and the singing. Hahha