High Summer

Oh, wow. It's been such a lovely weekend. And it's been so hot! Really, properly hot, the sort of heat you remember from endless childhood summers, even a bit too hot at times, and I rarely say that. It's been about 28°C/82°F which is pretty warm for these parts. All the doors and windows are open and breezes waft through the house. The washing dries in about half an hour. We had to buy more sun cream.

We always seem to eat more fresh fruit at this time of year. I've been eating cherries by the bowlful, I just love them. And they are so pretty to look at too. We made ham and pineapple pizzas with the kids and I made pineapple-upside-down cake with the leftover fruit. You put some of the pineapple juice into the batter and it's so moist and sticky. We ate it slightly warm with vanilla ice cream.

I was up and out early with the kids yesterday morning to Hobbycraft. Funny how those little bits and bobs add up so...I wish it came up as something else on the bank statement, like "household essentials" or "totally necessary items". We were back by ten and I spent most of the day painting the inside of the Bella and Angus's outdoor playhouse. It's currently used to store toys and they never play in it - they can't get through the door - and I want to make it nice for them. I emptied and sorted it and got to work with my white emulsion. Good grief it was hot in there. I didn't really think that through but once I'd started I had to carry on. The kids were in the paddling pool and came over to help every now and then, before losing interest after about six minutes of painting in a very hot wooden box. But it was good to get it done and that shower and gin and tonic later in the day never felt so good. Then we went out to my friend Rachel's for a barbecue with some other friends. She'd prepared such a lovely meal; mezze-style dips and nibbles, then a leg of lamb marinaded then barbecued, served with flat breads, bulgar wheat, salad, amazing dips - all homemade - then for dessert what Rachel called "a sort of deconstructed baklava" consisting of honey ice cream, filo pastry, pistachos and apricots. All so good! We ate outside surrounded by hurricane lamps and tealights until by ten pm it was too cold and we came inside.

Angus was really unsettled last night - I suspect another ear infection - so we were tired this morning. We muddled through and after lunch we went to Bella's school summer fair. We wandered around looking at the stalls and games. We sweated a lot. We retreated into the school "woodland area" for shade with our ice creams. Angus was so hot and tired he didn't really know what to do with himself so we left after an hour and came home to sit indoors and watch the Wimbledon final. How fantastic! I was pretty excited and had to keep leaving the room at tense moments. John was quite pleased with Murray's win but he can only think and talk about the Tour De France at the moment - there isn't room in his head for tennis too. I'm between books so have been reading Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen in bed and I already want to cook everything in it.

We have only two weeks left now before the school holidays start and it already feels as though everything is winding down and the pace is slowing. Or maybe that's just what the heat does to me?