Missed (The Fourth of July)

No fireworks here for Independence Day, despite a scattering of Americans in the area.   It reminded me that July is a month for celebrating revolutions, whether American or French.   Today the warm weather sputtered out, it was cooler this morning and then this evening we had an almighty rainstorm.  No wind, and the rain was coming down so heavily it was bouncing on the church roof, creating a sort of mist about a foot off the slates.  It is now (at 9.45pm) starting to get dark and the sky is still overcast.  The garden is full of a wild, wet darkness.  

I may have mentioned that I have left the garden and hardly cut any grass or hedges since the spring.  There is a practical reason for this as we wanted to see what grew, and this afternoon we found a raspberry patch; or rather we found raspberry bushes in amongst brambles and sprawled hedge.  Free raspberries!  The grass has taken full advantage of my indolence and thrown up great long stems and long seedheads, making the top lawn look like a meadow.  The seedheads have a fascinating range of colour, from green-gold to red-gold and a polished bronze. On warm sunny evenings I can see the light between the house and the church, the seedheads forming a thin golden haze above the grass, the gnats dancing in the sunshine.  But not tonight.