Visible Monday in the summer.

We are experiencing a 'proper' summer here in Blighty, by which I mean hot and dry. Very hot and very dry! Comfortable dresses are the order of the day and this sleeveless red dress from Hobbs just fits the bill. I wore it to the recent local music festival so that my husband couldn't lose sight of me in the crowd but so many other women were wearing cheerful red dresses, with white sunhat like mine, that he couldn't find me!

There were all manner of dress styles at the festival  but the dress that I liked the most was this sand-coloured linen. I thought the wearer looked so elegant and well co-ordinated in her straw hat and lovely green slides.

"It's from Zara," she told me.

3/4 sleeves, a good length of skirt, a reasonable price. It's even got pockets. I had to buy it!

(Although, note to self, in future wear a bra that stops me looking like a sack of potatoes.)

Worn here with a chunky pink necklace, Manolo Blahnik sandals that are wonderfully comfortable, (although the leather soles can be treacherous on the wrong surface), and my much-loved and used Prada handbag. Linking up with Patti for her Visible Monday.

Book club.

Our book club met at the weekend to discuss

It's a serious book with a very glum ending and we didn't do it justice. The discussion was somewhat highjacked by the social scientist lecturers amongst us and many interesting aspects of the novel were not properly considered. But no one was really in the mood for a serious, glum book because the weather was glorious and the young England football team had just won their game.  We all felt more like celebrating. Himself wore his waistcoat in an homage to Gareth Southgate. (It amuses and pleases me that sales of waistcoats have soared. I think that men look great in them, very civilised!)

We sat outside as the sun went down.

There was a wonderful afterglow.

Candles were lit

and citronella candles added

 when the midges started to bite our ankles!

Sharing our evening sky with Friday Skywatch.

Friday Skywatch - in the air.

Last weekend many children were busy with their own entertainment while the adults ate and drank and listened to the band at the local music festival.  Young girls swung and somersaulted in the early evening air, fleet of foot,  their hair flying. They reminded me of my childhood, quite a bit of it spent upside-down, walking on my hands, doing cartwheels, swinging endlessly from the big tree at the top of the orchard. (My brother had a den in it's branches but it was out-of bounds for me, his nuisance little sister.) How I would have loved to have been tied into this contraption of giant rubber bands and been able to leap and swing high into the air!

The boys needed no equipment other than their water bottles which they frequently replenished. Then it was back into the deer park to continue a water battle. It was hot enough for them not to care whether or not they got soaked!

Linking up with Friday Skywatch

to see skies from all around the world.

Factor 50 on our 4th of July!

The 4th of July marks the birthday of our friend, Janet, and this year was her big 'O'. She's a redhead and the present spell of very un-British weather doesn't go well with her porcelain skin. She went out and bought some factor 50 sunscreen in preparation for a celebratory picnic on the beach and a good dog walk. They have just become the owners of two re-homed Irish terriers, Maeve and Murphy, another pair of redheads. One of her birthday presents was portraits of the dogs made in felt.

We all piled into the camper van and set off for a place where we could drive onto the beach and walk the dogs to our heart's content. The grass verges along our route were bleached, we have been experiencing high temperatures and no rain for weeks. But what was that? Spots on the windscreen! No one in Blighty usually travels far without a mac or a brolly, but in just a few unaccustomed weeks of heat we'd forgotten a lifetime of habit. "It always rains on my birthday" announced Janet. Now she tells us!

We parked on a deserted beach as the rain fell. Summer in England, how many times from childhood 'til now have we enjoyed times like this. We were in tucks of laughter.

Time to crack open the champagne.

Maeve wants to know if the rain is going to stop so that she can come out from under the table.

The picnic tastes great.

"I'm not seventy yet," says the birthday girl.

Then, just to be absolutely ridiculous, an ice-cream van comes driving along the beach. The driver has newly arrived from South Africa and he must think that we're mad. Ice creams to go with our strawberries and birthday cake. We give him a slice.

The rain will stop soon.

Perhaps.

And it did!

We went to an Italian restaurant for our evening meal.

It was a PERFECT DAY.

(But it hadn't rained a drop at home.)

Fabulous festival frocks at the Smoked and Uncut.

At the weekend we went to the Smoked and Uncut festival. The weather was, and continues to be, fabulous. And so were many of the festival goers.

Many families had brought beach tents to protect their children from the sun.

It was hot!

I sat on a hay block and listened to the music, pointing my camera at the passing fashions.

Plenty of white,

long,

medium,

and short.

Black

and every colour in-between.

Glitter face paint and a colour-matched drink!

And the men were not to be outdone. Glitter plus feathers!

But my favourite outfit was this sand-coloured linen dress, the wearer looking so relaxed and elegant. (It's by Zara and I want one!)

What did I wear? A bright red dress, so that Himself could spot me easily in the crowd, with a white fair-trade cram-on sunhat. 

Of course, it didn't work, he completely lost sight of me.

"There were lots of women in red dresses with white hats," he complained.

Fair do. He was right.