Summer Delights

Summer is well and truly with us.  It seems ages since we passed mid-summer eve so we're on the downside now. Over the past few weeks, crowds of Adelaide families and tourists descended on Victor Harbor and its environs.  Even with school restarting, there are still many holiday makers here, which is great for local businesses, but a bit too bustling for the laidback locals.

I was walking to the library last week and started reminiscing about what summer means to me. Firstly, as everyone knows, I hate the hot weather and humidity - and crowds. But I have to admit that there is something special about the lazy, relaxing feel of a warm (not hot) summer's day, a loose cotton top, the gentle breath of the sea breeze, and the long, bewitching twilight. Yay for daylight saving, I say.

Anyway, as I was walking, I compiled a list of summer senses. I wonder if your list is similar?

Sights

• A summer sunrise 

• Glorious summer gardens
  

• Deserted beaches

• Red-flowering gums

Sounds

• The excited shrieks of children playing at the local beach

• The morning screech of cockatoos outside our window 

• The gentle lap of waves on the shore

Tastes

• Yummy fruit salad

• Burnt barbecue sausages and onions washed down with a beer

• The luscious, dripping juices of a mango, with coconut and mango ice cream. 

Feel

• Bare feet on the lawn

• The feel of water between the toes

Scents

• The intoxicating smell of a new-mown lawn

• The tantalising aroma of a beachside barbecue

• The old-fashioned scent of a rose ...

... and the heady perfume of a frangipani.

I volunteer at the museum garden

I am now officially a volunteer at the local National Trust - as  a gardener, though I am also studying up the history so I can perhaps do some writing. The Trust property is a substantial stone house built in 1866. It was originally the Harbour Master and Collector of Customs House, built opposite the Bay. When shipping declined, it was bought by the railways and was the stationmaster's residence until the late 1960s. The nearby railway station is still used for the tourist steam train that does regular runs to Goolwa.

Source: victorhaarbornattrust.org.au

My new friend Kathy invited me to join the National Trust as a volunteer. She has done most of the work to maintain the garden. Here I am on my first day!  It was great to see the steam engine whoosh into the station behind us.

And here are some views of the various beds that surround the museum.

Part of the dry garden 

A generous geranium