Jumbo Pink Banana

Bella Italia & Ikea

AS IT WAS LATE in the season, I had intended to plant a small, yellow, fast-maturing squash but I must have picked up the wrong packet at the garden centre and never looked closely at the name again because this is actually Jumbo Pink Banana squash. There's no chance now of it growing to its full size and turning pink but it's been good to see the vigorous growth of its straggling vines and see the young, currently lemon yellow, spindle-shaped fruits begining to form. This is part of the Three Sisters bed (along with sweet corn and climbing French beans) at Barbara's mum's.

Her mum has collected handfuls of beans for the past 2 or 3 weeks and we're hoping that the swelling corn-on-the-cobs will have time to ripen. Definitely worth trying again next year.

The fungi (left) , which I think are some kind of earthball, were pushing up through a crack in the concrete path in Barbara's mum's back garden.

We have quite a social day, calling on friends, family and neighbours. I seem to have got back into the habit of carrying my sketchbook with me, drawing those perenial subjects for drawing journalers, coffee machines, pots and cups, as well as trees, the queue at Ikea and Tessa, our friend's dog.

I'd set out with no pen so the blue tree (below, right) and Tessa were drawn with borrowed ballpoint pens.