A bit of wet

June. Don't ya just love it? Thank goodness I wasn't getting married, holding a village fete, a pop festival or camping. If I had been, any plans to emigrate to warmer, drier climes would have been much accelerated.

The garden did need a drop of rain, but not a deluge combined with a chill, biting wind. I've taken the positive view that it will toughen up my infant vegetables but past experience has shown that, rather than shaking their little leaves in the face of such adverse weather, they shrivel up their roots and die.

For most of the day a thin twist of cloud has drifted across the conifers of Badnage Wood, gauzy swirls of wet air which alternately veil and reveal the dark trees and never fail to fascinate - I can almost forgive the foul weather which accompanies this balletic cloudscape. Yesterday's thin curtain of drizzle gave way to 'stair rods' of rain and now a brief respite in which the sun has come out. (Above is the view from the kitchen window - something that is all too easy to stand and gawp at rather than getting on with the job in hand. Click on the picture for daisy heaven.)

Wet hens, sodden sheep and a curious 'nest' of cows and calves in the most sheltered corner of the new field....who would be outdoors if they didn't need to be?

Not us. We lit the woodburner and with our lovely visitors, sat and basked in its warmth. One dog in particular - Wilson - saw an opportunity and Took Advantage.