Our local windmill has eight sails and is said to be the only one surviving in the world with that many sails. At the moment it has precisely none - they have been removed awaiting the arrival of new ones. The mill has not been able to work since before we moved to the area, but will soon be back to grinding corn when the new sails are fitted. It does look a bit odd with its naked top - it took me a while to work out what was wrong since it is a landmark visible from miles away, and it nagged at me to "spot the difference"!

 

We had two visitors yesterday - two Swifts, either a mated pair or two youngsters, who were swooping low and going right up to the House Martin nests under the eaves. We watched for quite a while, until they seemed to lose interest, but are none the wiser as to what they were up to. We half wondered if they might be trying to usurp the nests, but don't know if that is a likely explanation. Maybe it was just juvenile curiosity.

Good things are going on in the garden. The Astilbes are looking luscious

 and even more so close up.

 We have got a very nicely veined Mallow, and the Hydrangeas always make me nostalgic. Where I grew up, in West Cornwall, they grow like weeds, and when it was time for the Carnival, the float that the Carnival Queen rode on was wrapped with wire netting, and that had Hydrangea heads pushed in so that they formed a complete mass of flowers.

And I do do some handwork still! I found some lovely drapey viscose and made a blouse. I found the perfect buttons in the button tin, and the ties at the neck are a good excuse to get out some of the various brooches I have acquired/inherited.