Wonderful Wednesday #225

{Because nothing smells like Summer more than Elderflowers}
Today at 7pm {Tuesday evening as i type, the time of the week i write my #wonderfulwednesday} it's 28 degrees.  I can't ever remember a time in Cumbria it has ever been 28 degrees.  Scratch that i can't ever remember a time in my life it was ever 28 degrees!  It's made my head do funny things!  I feel as if it's not been fully attached to my body all the live long day!  Today will also forever be known as the day i wore the prettiest white cotton sundress and only noticed about ten minutes ago that you could see my underwear through it!  You can also see the great big splodge of orange melon juice i dribbled down the front of it as i scampered out of work shovelling icy chunks of the stuff into my mouth because i was too hot and too impatient to wait any longer.  I hope it comes out.  Any tips if it doesn't?!



Scorching heat and melon gobbling aside it's been a busy but a-okay sort of a week. Productivity {or at least the feeling of it has been resumed}, jobs have been done and things ticked off too.  But with that and The Heat {i wonder how many times i'll mention the weather this week?!} comes the inevitable tidal wave of sleepiness and tired.  Thanks goodness for this little post and for tomorrow off work to potter and adventure on those two wheels without a see-through dress and with plenty of suncream!
 

Let's list!





1.  Ice-cold watermelon and cucumber.  What i really want to write here is 'anything cold.' But actually what's winning in all of the fruit and veg stakes around these parts is great big chunks of as cold as i can get it {read:  sometimes ten minutes before i eat a few chunks of either i put my little tupperware in the freezer just for fun - that's right i do know how to party!} cucumber and watermelon - both or one or the other.  Either way they're both just ridiculously refreshing and is it weird that i'll take either of them over ice-cream any day?!  Honestly give me a great big bowl of ice-cold watermelon, torn up mint leaves and a squeeze of fresh lime and sometimes if i'm hungry a great big dollop of equally ice-cold Co-Yo right on top and i'm happy as the happiest clam ever was.  Also for those savoury beans out there, those great big chunks of cucumber work just as well with torn up fresh mint, a few toasted sunflower seeds aaaaand a great big spoonful of the thickest, creamiest cottage cheese you can lay your little hands on.  


2.  Remembering to put an apple in the fridge at work all ice-cold and ready for 'end of day twenty-five minute wanders home' where you crave something sweet for energy but nothing but icy-cold will do.  Are you sensing a theme...?!


3.  Having an empty laundry basket when it's barely even Tuesday.  Who am i!?  Not the productive domestic goddess you're imagining that's for sure!  Praise be to drying washing outside any-which-way but let us praise even more  the ability that almost thirty degree temperatures has to mean i can get ALL OF THE WASHING done in a blink of an eye!  


4.  Wafty cotton dresses, bare legs, tan flip-flops and the hugest floppiest sun-hat to hide hair that hasn't been near a hair dryer in the best part of a week!  Pretty much my every day uniform lately and just the coolest and comfiest!  Does it make me sound old if i tell you i wish that more things were made of linen and cotton?!  


5.  Turtle doves.  There's a pair of them {least i think it's the same pair!} that have hung around our garden since we moved in.  They sit on the fence next to each other and they cuddled up when it was really snowy over the icy months.  Sometimes there's a great big flutter of feathers and a ferocious squawking that comes from the great big sycamore tree at the very end of our garden when i assume they've had a little fall out or maybe Mr Turtle Dove hasn't washed the dishes.  But most mornings lately they're all i can hear first thing as i get ready in out spare room - coo-cooing to each other, one on the roof above my head and the other in the tree.  When there's nothing else to hear in the morning but that, and the birds twittering away in the distance, it's actually really lovely.  Maybe i should give them some names...?!


6.  Tea on a hot day.  Okay so i'm one of those people:  Not much can keep me from my cups of Lady Grey and actually even in this hot, hot, hot  summer weather i find nothing more refreshing than a little mug of tea!  Obviously it's even more  delicious if you can find a shady cool spot on the grass in the garden.  In fact i've been making a point of drinking my morning cuppa in this exact way!  The only small problem is that it leaves me very much not wanting to go to work!


7.  Salad-y suppers.  My favourite kind of suppers.  Well, you know unless you're going to let me have something breakfast-y for supper instead 'cos then we'll be BEST of friends!  Jokes aside, there's nothing i love more at this time of year than just filling up our fridge with fresh seasonal fruit and veg and making supper up based around the most basic things - torn up basil, wild rocket and tomatoes from the window sill with sea-salt, black pepper and a really big zig-zag of olive oil with some crusty bread.  Or grated carrots, apple, toasted sesame seeds and torn up coriander dressed with fresh lemon juice and tahini.  Or charred baby gem lettuces served up with tamari, toasted sesame seeds and fresh lime.  These are all so good served on the side with some protein.  Or sometimes i just pair them with left over new potatoes with fresh mint and butter; some leftover quinoa, or even just a little leftover pesto-y pasta and some olives or anti-pasti.  If i'm ever in doubt, a slice of toasted rye bread with hummus is always a safe bet too.  I LOVE summer food!


8.   Cucumber and mint chopped and torn up in a great big glass of cold, iced water.  At this time of year, it's the simplest most easy things that really are the best and if like me, you're just not a sugary drink, drinker then this ones for you.  I also love frozen raspberries dropped into water with mint, or even a couple of fresh strawberries and some torn up basil leaves.  Lime and mint is also a great combo!  Or lemon and basil!  The options are endless!  And you can even make up fresh fruit or herb ice-cubes so they're good to go whenever.


9.  Homemade ice-lollies. The bees knees if you ask me!  Ours were made from coconut yoghurt blended with frozen blueberries and a great big scoop of Acai powder for extra goodness.  I then popped some desiccated coconut and chopped walnuts into each mould before i poured in the mixture for some extra crunch.  They are so easy and SO GOOD!  
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And we're done:  all loved and listed and finished for another week of stopping, sitting {sipping something!} and counting the littlest moments of lovely from my week.  Don't forget to bob right on over to  Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's and Ellie's #wonderfulwednesday posts - AND LU's TOO - this gals words well gosh i could lose myself in them for hours and never get bored - and catch up with their best bits too!  I'm off to put my head in the freezer......



Sending love!