August sublime...

With raindrop symphonies and droplets on windows.

After the heat of July, the moody weather of August has been a dream.

Big fluffy clouds and loud thunder set the mood.

The rain brings back the flowers.

Candlelight is just the thing, with the pitter patter on the roof and wind whipping through the trees.

I run out to pick some flowers before the rain removes the petals.

I don't even make a proper bouquet, I simply push them into a jar.

Amethyst butterfly bush has been my favorite this summer.

I enjoy my blossoms and books as I sit in the window seat watching the rain.

There is a window seat that runs the length of the room, right behind the settee.

I think about what a curious summer it has been.

Letting my Matty go, but having my extra loving Teddy Love me back to a new place.

A new time in my life.

No Matty and Miles, but now Teddy.

I miss them so.

How you can miss beings so profoundly, I will never know.

I suppose that is why I was given the most loving Teddy in the world.

I have never met a dog who loves like he does.

He is the best gift I could have ever hoped for, wonderful Teddy.

I sit at my piano thinking these thoughts, playing a tune as raindrops hit the window.

All of a sudden, a gust of wind throws open the door to the conservatory and my candles get blown out.

Soon the rain begins to lift, the sun returns, and I go into the Garden...

Garden findings after the rain are the best.

Nothing will delight me as much as the sweetest Sun Gold Tomatoes do.

That's a lot coming from someone who did not like tomatoes.

Although I've always liked ketchup and salsa, which is a funny thing.

I do love a homegrown tomato for certain, filled with sweetness and flavor.

When I started growing my own tomatoes many years ago, I grew to love them, especially vine ripened in the sunshine.

I suppose the tomatoes I do not like are the watery flavorless kind you get in restaurants.

But these below are scrumptious.

Standing in the hot summer garden, eating sweetest sun gold tomatoes off the vine, is the truest essence of summer bundled in a berry.

Tomatoes are berries, aren't they?

The rain returns as I sit down to type this letter to you...

It has rained almost every single day this August.

I am amazed and overjoyed.

Last summer's monsoon season was extra rainy, and this year it seemed that it would not be as good.

But then, just like that, August has filled the buckets and the heart.

You get a sort of desperate feeling when it is hot for too long and the rain does not turn up.

Thank goodness it has because the pumpkin vines are having a wonderful time spreading throughout the whole garden.

There's a certain garden magic that only the rain can create.

The trees have little growth spurts, and the wisteria vines stretch out, curling at the end and grabbing on to the trellis.

I walk around the country house garden...

I whisper Hi Miley at his giant verbena patch.

Then I make my way around the garden paths, as I arrive at Baby and Matty who are buried side by side in the back, by the big old pumpkin patch, and under a huge tree.

It's unbelievable to me that time has gone by as it has, and that I once knew Baby and Matty and Miles.

Mister Lovee keeps everyone's grave super tidy.

Teddy runs around like a mad man, checking all the places Matty showed him.

All the important nooks and crannies that all of our dogs have always sniffed.

Behind the cottages and workshops, where bunnies hide.

Around the paths, nose to the ground.

Teddy shows us all the wonderful things that still exist on our little parcel of earth.

He adds such light and life to the gardens.

I am deeply grateful for him and his beautiful personality.

He was such a rotten little baby (albeit fun and adorable), just wanting to bite and tackle you, but he has turned into a true angel.

Cuddling up to you, sitting on your lap no matter his size.

He was sniffing around the pumpkin patch today and it warmed my heart so deeply.

The other dogs used to love to do the same.

I feel that Teddy's character has a bit of all the dogs that have gone before him.

He is cuddly and in charge like Baby.

He is soft and angelic like Miles.

But he has also stepped into the role of guardian and fierce protector like Matty.

He is all of them rolled into one.

I can hardly believe how that has happened, but life always amazes me like that.

I laugh to myself as I walk around the garden paths, shaking my head, saying...

Life, you are such a curious thing.

You are beautiful, amazing, wonderful, painful, cruel, magical, unpredictable, awful and incredible all at once.

I love the wisdom it gifts with the passing years.

Teddy has literally just put his chin on my lap, so I best be off.

Time to feed my sweet boy and of course, get cozy and cuddle.

He is a master snuggler for sure.

I am really enjoying my August and can hardly believe that it will be September in just a day.

How much we all love Autumn, it's so exciting!

Just 23 days I think, until fall officially arrives.

I can't wait.

 

I hope you are well in your neck of the woods.

I have been sculpting a whole lot and hope to have some pieces to share soon.

 

My best and warmest regards to you and yours!

 

With love from, 

Vanessa and Teddy

 

See you soon!

 

 

 

PS: I love listening to this Jane Austen inspired playlist whilst typing to you.