orange(s)

literally - this one was quite juicy:



All things orange at this week's PhotoHunt over at TNchick's.

Vics

We're coming very close to Victoria Plum Time...another great summer favourite:



Meanwhile I'm off traveling for a week. So if you find I'm rather sluggish in returning your visits, that's why.

And for a range of summer pleasures visit Summer Stock Sunday.

strawbs

Strawberry season is well under way. They are such summer favourites. I generally go and pick them myself - the ones from the shops are just too disappointing.



Visit Robin's Summer Stock Sunday and enjoy the summer.

blossom

For some reason the orchard blossom seems almost over, even though May has just begun. My favourite trees in the college orchard are the quince trees. They are somewhat forgotten and tucked away in one corner which is overshadowed by an evil big Leylandia (that got planted for which reason?).
They have beautiful big blossoms, and usually not very many of them. The one below was still closed a week and a half ago:



By now it is probably gone...but I hope some bumble bees came along in the meantime so that we have some quinces this autumn.

For gorgeous flower photos from everywhere visit Today's Flowers hosted by Luiz, Denise, Denise and Laerte.

Protection

I saw that on a walk some days ago. I wasn't aware that squirrels can read - but seeing that there are no squirrels anywhere near their nuts, squirrels probably can.

Protection is the theme of this Saturday's PhotoHunt. Enjoy.

Four

Four was the number of leaves on a little plum or greengage seedling, that has magically appeared in one of my flower pots. Well, maybe two and two, if you're pernickety and you think cotyledons should not be thrown together with other leaves. However, that was yesterday morning. When I came home after work in the evening, I could already see the next two.
It's amazing how things can grow when they're young.
I'm going on holiday soon, so I fret that it might not survive - I hope it will, and that it will produce lots and lots of greengages when it has grown up.



Go to TNchick's Photohunt 153 to see what other people make of 'four'.

Love Thursday

The husband and I are quite good at sharing our space. Except when preparing meals. This is probably because the kitchen is hexed.
Whilst cooking, I generally find that whenever I need to use a particular cooking utensil, the husband needs exactly the same item, too. When I need to be somewhere, the husband also needs to be just there just then. This is especially so in the most important moments of the cooking process. We've been experimenting with different approaches to solve the problem for roughly the last decade. I think the best outcome so far is that we still very much enjoy eating the meals that we've cooked together. Today's LT picture is a quick snap of last Thursday's orange hearts for the fennel salad:



Happy Love Thursday!