Joining in again with Amy’s Five on Friday, I offer you five random observations from this week:
One As well as blue skies and delicious, warm sunshine, grey overcast skies and heavy rain, we had a day of sea mist that shrouded the sea and clifftops with billowing, hazy clouds. I had the unsettling experience of standing in the garden in the sunshine with the mist occasionally rolling through, sending the temperature plummeting. It looks like smoke and it’s quite eerie when it happens. Sometimes, in the summer, it can be hot and sunny when a mist will suddenly cloud the horizon and roll in off the sea. I know it as a ‘sea fret’ but it’s also known as a ‘haar’: a cold, sea fog caused by warm air condensing over the cold sea. It’s upset many a beach picnic.
Two The hedgerows are positively exploding with all this sunshine and spring rain. There’s fresh cow parsley, golden-green Alexanders, white nettle flowers… Walking the dog takes longer when it’s so gorgeous as I have to stop and admire what’s going on. Cassie doesn’t seem to mind.
Three My eldest has spent the past two days in exam conditions in the school art room producing his final piece for his Art GCSE. From what I’ve seen of photos on his phone, it’s been worth the effort and absolute mess in his bedroom. He’s gone in today for the final school day of year 11. From Monday he’ll be on ‘study leave’ and only go in to school for his exams. It’s also the final day for year 13 before their A’levels and many high-jinks are planned. He customised his school shirt in great detail last night which was hilarious. As I took a photo of him before he left this morning, he fixed me with a hard stare – ‘What are you going to do with that, Mum? Do not put it anywhere…!!’, so respecting his wishes I can’t show you. Suffice to say it’ll raise a few eyebrows among the teachers.
Four There was a fascinating programme on Radio 4 this week about E F Schumacher – Is Small the Next Big? – and his revolutionary ideas about economics. I’d not heard of him before and was blown away by how contemporary his ideas, which date from the 1970s, sound and how much his holistic philosophy makes sense. His premise, that people matter and that everyone can affect change, is one that I wholeheartedly agree with and I’ve ordered his book ‘Small is Beautiful’ to find out more.
Five I’ve spent as much time as possible in the garden – it’s so hard to stay indoors when the sun is shining and you can practically hear the plants growing. I’ve tended my seedlings, planted borage, nasturtiums and Californian poppies, weeded, and dead-headed the tulips, which are now all over apart from a few sultry, dark ‘Queen of the Night’ and ‘Ballerinas’. I’ve been admiring tulips on other blogs and Instagram and have clocked so many that I’d love to have here. Hopefully, all my photos will help me to work out where the gaps are for planting more bulbs come the autumn.
Have a super-duper weekend. I have a friend’s birthday party tonight, the village Gardeners’ Association coffee morning tomorrow and the rest of the weekend at leisure 🙂
acoastalplot 
we definitely had sea fret or haar here last weekend, while the south had temperatures in the mid 20’s we had a miserable 8C………
hope the last day has been fun, my daughter goes on year 12 study leave today. which means exams are scarily close….
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It’s a testing time all round… x
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The weather by the coast has certainly been a bit bizarre this week. We were caught in a torrential downpour at Lepe Beach yesterday whilst a few miles down the road it was completely dry and sunny. xx
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Hope the study leave goes well, it’s such a mementous time in their lives. More beautiful photos particularly the first two. I love the mist, so atmospheric. Have a good weekend, whatever the weather. B X
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What an amazing difference in the weather I live on the East Coast by the sea and the temperatures have plummeted, it feels more like a winters day. Hope all goes well with exams.
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I do like the idea of five random observations on a Friday, what a lovely end to the week. The countryside around where you live looks very beautiful, the spent pink blossom is a nice touch too.
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It sounds like a lovely week – a mix of weather, lots of gardening, and an interesting show on the radio. You are fortunate to be able to grow tulips. If I put any in the deer here would eat them as soon as they bloomed. They love tulips!
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What a shame Kristie. Hope you can buy them as cut flowers to have indoors.
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Another lovely post, Sam.
Those photos are gorgeous.
Best wishes to your son.
My son is studying economics so I will definitely check out that link.
Enjoy the fine weather.
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Beautiful photography! I too am interested in the ‘small’ movement. Some days I’d like to chuck it all in for a small square footage and much less chaos. Looks like an interesting read.
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You’ll not usually find me reading books about economics but this one is fascinating.
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Beautiful photos. Such a change in the weather. The hedgerows and verges are looking so beautiful at the moment:)
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Great photos – thank you!
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I like the sound of your week. I have never experienced sea fret but I have read about it in a crime novel, it was very spooky. Sam is now well accustomed to study leave…. I hope there is some studying, in between sleeping and walking the dog and cooking lunch! Three exams done, four to go. I am intrigued by your sons art installation, maybe he wants to share it? Hope you enjoyed the party! Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x
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Good luck to your son! The weather here has also been extremely uneven, but when it’s sunny oh how hard it is to stay indoors.
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Beautiful pictures! It’s not just there that the weather has been funky. I’ve got my windows open today yet tomorrow it’s supposed to be back down to freezing overnight and cold and rainy tomorrow. I suppose that is part of Spring. Hope your son does well. Enjoy your weekend.
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It makes all the difference when the sun comes out, doesn’t it. Good luck with the exams, they go on for years! 🙂
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Small is Beautiful sits, not yet read, on my shelf.
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Interesting read so far…
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Enjoy your leisure to the fullest this weekend.
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Traveling around the countryside White is definitely ‘The colour’ at the moment. Enjoy your weekend.
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Very atmospheric photos Sam. The first is wonderful. The tulips here are finishing in a rush too. All the best for exam season. I expect that it will be mostly sunny weather until they are over!
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Good luck to your son with his exams, I hope that everything goes really well for him!! I know what you mean about hearing the garden growing, our hostas are a bit like that, I am sure if I stood and watched them I would see the leaves unfurling! Thank you for joining Five On Friday, I hope you are having a good weekend. Sorry to be late visiting, I have been otherwise occupied as I said in my post. xx
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Stunning photos of your garden and the sea!
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Beautiful, gentle scenery as always Sam. That sea is just incredible x
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