Annabelle hydrangea

Another cool day with light rain this afternoon. For those not from the UK, the reason we are having such a cool and miserable summer is due to the jet stream being further south than usual for this time of year - north of the jet stream the countries have a cool summer, like northern Norway, and the countries below the jet stream have hot weather, like southern Spain and Greece. As it is lying lower than usual the UK is sitting in the north above the jet stream and so we are having a very cool summer, something I have not experienced before - we do get cool days in summer but not for such an extended period. It is quite depressing after the winter to miss out on a decent summer.

My Annabelle hydrangeas are the star of the garden, they bloom with such huge white heads and have been planted all around the house so they make quite a spectacle. I wanted to photograph them to keep a record of how they look in summer, as in winter they are cut right down.

Tommy as so many forms to complete for his new job and PhD in Germany. All foreigners residing in Germany have to be registered with their local municipality (it's called Anmeldung) so he can get registered for tax, ID etc. He also has to get his degree approved so he has so much paperwork to get through. I took some passport style photos for him today as he also needs photos for various forms. He is very excited about starting his PhD in November. He is currently working in a 5 month internship position and they have offered him a full time position, and the company have also offered  to pay for him to do a PhD in the UK, but he turned it down as the one he will be doing in Munich is exactly the area of research he wants. He was also made offers by other UK universities for various PhD's (including Oxford) but again, the areas of research are not his exact speciality so he did not accept them. At least he knows what he wants and is pursuing that dream, even if it means he will be living abroad.