Remember the pups?

One found a new home; but the other two seem to have stayed in my care.  I can't say I'm complaining.

They're ten weeks old now and just like teddy bears.  Well....maybe a bit more boisterous.  Life is an unending game of tag mixed with a fair amount of rough and tumble.

We have our quiet moments, too.  They're still small enough to be scooped up together in my arms for a family snuggle.  Soon I'll be cuddling one at a time.  Then they'll be too heavy to lift at all.

They had their final vaccinations today, which means that next week they can enter the big, wide world.  I'll introduce them to Joss and take them rambling on the moors.  We'll have a few heady months of perpetual playtime before they settle down to the grown-up business of becoming sheepdogs.

Till then, we frolic! 

It’s the last day of the month; and, while autumn is still officially three weeks or so away, there’s a sense that summer is ending.

Another week and then the children will return to school. We’ll fall into routines, old and new….start looking towards longer nights, turning leaves, cosy fires.

Spring was so gorgeous this year; summer so dismal. And yet….did wishing bring it about? The final day of August has been one of the loveliest days of the year. A true, blue sky day. Topped off - most remarkably - by an upside down rainbow. Not on the horizon - but far above the earth where the clouds pass by.

Of all the rainbows we’ve had recently, this was the most special. There’d been no rain all day - just sunshine and warmth. Then suddenly, hanging from the heavens, this arc of light.

That has to be an omen of good things to come.

I couldn't let August slip away without showing you the heather in its prettiest frock.

The gloom and rain of this month have made for a dearth of photos; but I managed to salvage these.....leaden skies and all.

If you're wondering what entitles Joss to be in the frame, he's chewing on a stem of heather - an habitual pastime when up on the moors.

The blossom's just beginning to turn now - the purple buds fading to brown.  Let's hope that as the colour leaves, the sunshine returns.....

P.S.  Today I'm taking part in Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary at Little Red House.  Why not pop on over and take a look at some of the other lovely mosaics you'll find links to there?

In case you were thinking that life in the country is all roses and heather, I’d thought I’d show you this. The muck midden!

The cowsheds were cleared out yesterday and this was the result - a towering mountain of manure at least twelve feet tall, twice as deep and about four times as long. You can probably smell it from where you are. J

Whilst the sight and the pong may not send humans into a happy tizzy, insects love it. And a dung heap crawling with creepy things and peppered with grain seeds draws birds like a magnet.

The farmer tells me that before a farm was established on this land, there were just seven or eight sorts of bird visiting on a regular basis. Today, a quick tally of species he sees often came to almost thirty - including some less common and endangered breeds.

So next time you’re driving past fields and get a whiff of ‘country smells’, remember the feathered ones and be glad!

So far as weather goes, August has been - frankly - HORRIBLE!

Cold, wet and unbelievably gloomy. Dark, dreary, depressing and dire.

Get the picture?

But….in the rare intervals been showers and downpours, there’ve been some very pretty rainbows.

Black clouds, it seems, have colourful linings.

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am by the picture above!

All year long as this series has progressed, I’ve been itching to show you August - the month when the heather flowers and the landscape is suffused with purple.

And as surely as the seasons turn, August has come and the moors have put on their annual spectacle. And it‘s breathtaking.

And yet....this!

As I stood on my habitual rock this morning, I could have panned my camera through 360° and in every direction you would have seen purple, purple, purple. Except, it seems, in this one.

I hadn’t realised just how dominated this particular aspect is by fields. To be sure, the faraway moors are resplendent with blossom, but the

gloom that’s been our lot this month renders them grey at this distance. Which leaves us with a token smattering of purple in the foreground.

And so I’m offering you today what I wouldn’t have thought was even possible - a green Pennine landscape in August.

I've just got to show you this!

Last month, my friend, Ali, posted a photo on her blog of some amazing cake bunting she'd found on Etsy.  It was made by Kiki La Ru and was utterly charming.

As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the perfect project for my friend, Hannah, and I e-mailed her the link.  A few days later and the pictures you see above were the result.  Gorgeous or what?

Hannah (who is 12, by the way) stitched her maypole bunting from scraps - the scraps left over after her mum, Claire, and I had made our summer bunting for the classroom at Texere Yarns.

The photos above were taken by Hannah.  And, of course, she made the cakes, too.  She's an all round creative girl from the tip of her pretty head to the tips of her dancing toes.  And we're dead proud of her!

There’s only one fly in the ointment when it comes to living at Dixon Hill. Actually, make that several hundred flies. Of a sort. Because we’re talking midges!*

For those who dwell in midge-less climes, let me explain. Midges are kind of like mosquitoes…..except they don’t carry the horrible diseases that mosquitoes do. They do, however, hang about in the same vague clouds…..mostly invisible..…and bite in the same nasty way. They particularly like water - especially water underneath trees. And, since a stream runs through our garden and trees overhang it, they think (like me) that this is paradise.

Drat!

No summer gathering is complete without bottles of insect repellent (bug spray) at the ready. Neighbourly conversations of an evening are generally accompanied by flailing arms, vainly attempting to fend off the little blighters.

Truth be told, they haven’t been as bad as usual this year. They prefer still, balmy evenings…..and there haven’t been too many of those. But I think they’ve tired of waiting for the perfect weather to launch their raids on human flesh. Either that or they’re just plain hungry. Because they’ve started to hang around and bite regardless…..clearly determined that a spell of grotty weather won’t keep them from their annual feast (me).

It's been playday here today.

Joss played with a ball...

Nettle played with a tree...

I played with my Lensbaby...

And a good time was had by all! 

I'm playing mum to three adorable, six-week-old bundles of fur this weekend.

I foresee cuddles galore!