Peony Seeds

What an appropriate name for such a shitty summer. I am officially fed up. The weather is as lousy as it has ever been. Climate change seems to mean milder, dry winters and cool wet summers in this part of the world, not really quite what I had in mind when they coined the phrase "global warming". Still I suppose worldwide wettening doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Still, there is an upside. Despite the rain there is plenty of light around. Although it gives a miserable flat light for photography, it has heated our solar panels up really well. We had them installed last year so this is really the first time they've been tested out. They have been working brilliantly. Assuming you don't count the ridiculous cost of installation, we're now running on free hot water.

Doesn't really matter how green you try to be in this part of the world though. I'm fairly sure that I'm going to have to put the heating on again at some point soon as the house feels a damp and a bit cool. Add to that the amount of electricity, petrol and weedkiller I'm going to have to use to tackle the the insane explosion of green stuff in the "garden" and I suspect that I'll be back to leaving lots of little black carbon footprints everywhere I go.

That brings me back to the subject of this blip; the yellow peony seeds. We cut down a couple of trees and some of the shrubs a week ago. Yesterday when we got home the son decided that he would shred them as the recycling guys pick that stuff up on a Friday. (It's a pretty naff idea really. We get one green bin emptied every two weeks. That's to cover all vegetable waste from the kitchen and the garden. Far too frequent in the winter and completely insufficient in the summer. These guys do almost nothing at the back end of the year and then are rushed off their feet in the summer. Who thought that one up? Still I suppose it's better than nothing). Anyway, after he had finished, all that was left of the pile of green stuff was this seed pod from the tree peony. I was amazed at how yellow they were as I have only ever seen them when they are dried out and black.

Apparently we're supposed to have a bit of nice(r) weather over the next couple of days but I'm going to have a good weekend come hell or high water (although I suspect if it's anything, it'll be the latter) and I hope you all do too.