Note from Formentera
We had left Innisfree on July 14th surprisingly colourful with lupins and sweet williams still fresh thanks to periodic cool, damp days. These are two of my favourite flowers with their unique scents and array of shades, special too as they always bloom on our daughter’s birthday. So before we left for our Formentera holiday I had made sure I had planted seed for next year’s show.
sweet williams at Innisfree
sweet williams at Innisfree
Formentera was a complete contrast of course; all cloudless and maritime blues with juniper and rosemary aromas drifting by on a warm wind. One had to search hard for movement in the heat; a spotted flycatcher amidst the juniper scrub, a kestrel flying to the carved orange cliff face was the only bird life on show. There was, however, two exceptions to the heat induced slow pace of life. Small green lizards scurried everywhere so curious were they that five sought us out on our cliff top perch scurrying over our feet and even up into a pocket! Even the sea washed up surprises and excitement: a message in a bottle intrigued our grand daughter and set her off in search of treasure in the sand dunes!
lizard on cliff top Formentera
The sunset on our last day proved to be the most spectacular of all. A perfect orb of fiery crimson sank all the way beneath the horizon as jet black swifts whizzed back and forth overhead. Back home the one and a quarter inches of rain during the fortnight had supercharged the garden and allotment into verdant growth. New potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, mange tout and cos lettuce all finally emerged once frantic weeding had taken place. With Bluebell and friends still laying, everything was in its place.
Sunset at Cala Saona Formentera