A proper summer ....

... this year, after a couple of indifferent offerings in 2013 and 2014.  The weather has remained settled and warm / hot for some weeks now, and the "grass" is looking very brown and dry indeed.  This is very much the norm for summers here, and last year's verdant one seemed very odd.

The solar bird bath was deemed such a success that we treated ourselves to a small water feature (right) to adorn the new deck.  This too is solar powered, although the system is different and it runs for four hours before turning itself off.  There are batteries which are charged by the solar panel, as well, meaning it can run in the evening if required.

With a new "toy" on the way, I've put my trusty Minolta CF3102 up for sale.  It's a very reliable machine and I've not had much trouble with it at all - just an exit sensor which failed a while back.  Anyway, there's not room for everything, so it's time to move it on.  With less than 500,000 on the meter, there's plenty of life in it yet.