It's the Summer Holidays!!!

The pattern that seems to be emerging now is that we get three weeks of warm sunny weather at the beginning of May and what was once the summer months have turned into monsoon season. But with the kids now off school for eight weeks, we can take a break from the normal run of the mill and there are no time restrictions on us.
We are free to explore at every opportunity that a break in the weather gives us. And even when the rain pours down from heaven, a baking day all together has all the ingredients to make some happy memories. Some of my fondest memories are learning to bake in my mothers kitchen while we listened to Maria Callas on the radio.
One more thing I'm delighted about this summer is that for the first time in three years we have owl chicks in the copse beside our house. Long Eared Owls. I often cannot sleep at night and so sit in my garden and listen to the screech of the chicks. I've counted four chicks calling so far. And I'm waiting for the day they fly into my garden as they have done in previous years. It is an amazing experience when this huge bird flies right past and lands on the fence next to where you are sitting, big eyes glowing out in the darkness.