Basking, baking and bathing.

All related to the hot sunny weather that we've got at the moment,  apart from a blip on Easter Sunday when it got blustery and then rained all night,  it's been glorious.   26 on the terrace early this afternoon,   I've been swimming twice a day - once just before lunch to freshen up and again later in the afternoon.

Far more birds around now too,  the swallows have been swooping for a few weeks and about a week ago we saw the first flash of gold and heard the song of the Golden Oriole - such a pretty summer song.  We have a pair of goldfinches nesting in our front garden olive tree this year too which we haven't had before.  We've seen them around but not nesting so close.

The dogs are on their summer schedule now as well which means up earlier,  walk before it gets too hot,  then lie in the sun  (how? black dogs?  surely too hot?)   for most of the day..... them,  not us,  lying in the sun that is,  although I do lie out to dry off after swimming.

The little  lizards with long greeny-blue tails that scurry around the terraces,  into the bushes or up the walls are also basking in this weather.  As are the geckos or salamandras which bask in the sun too.  They hang on the walls in the sun but move very quickly if anything goes near them. 

The vegetable patches are doing well in this warm weather too,  kohlrabi,  beetroot,  radish all  up and looking good.  The lettuces and rocket give us enough whenever we need salad,  even the garlic and potatoes are looking good and we don't normally bother growing them as they are so cheap (and better) than we can do.  However 2 lots of potatoes recently sprouted before we could eat them and the garlic did the same back in the winter,  so we plant rather than throw out.   All 7 Jerusalem Artichokes are up and healthy,  I planted out the 5 biggest squash plants this afternoon,  and tomorrow the first dwarf Borlotto beans are going in.  Eventually 26 out of 30 sweetcorn germinated and are planted out,  not sure what to expect,  maybe 2 or 3 cobs per plant?    The last pea plantation is still producing enough to eat and freeze but maybe not for much longer, not many flowers on them now.

Strawberries....over a kilo in the last 3 days and so many flowers, small fruits and almost ripe ones to come.