Beautiful Places I Visited on My Trip

These are my photos of beautiful places I went to on my recent travels from 11 May to 1 July 2014:

Rishworth, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.

 A garden set in Portland, Maine, USA.

 Looking over Plymouth Harbour, Devon, England

 Scarborough Beach, Maine, USA

 River Dee, Chester, England

Belfast Docks, Northern Ireland

DOGS ON MY TRAVELS

When I arrived at my cousin Gail's house in Boston USA, we were almost at the door, when she asked me if I was O.K. with dogs. I had no sooner said yes than this little female Boston Terrier shot past her to lay a ball at my feet. She is called Wheezie because she makes that kind of a noise. She is a very appealing character and had me throwing a tennis ball outside and doing soccer moves indoors.
When we were packing to go up to Maine for a few days, she kept coming and putting her ball inside my bag and looking hopefully at me. She sometimes goes to stay at the house in Maine. but, not this time.

The dogs I knew well on my trip were Shell and Robin's

Fletcher and Toby and Sandra's Bubby that I call Bubsca, because it is such a funny little dog and about the size of a cat and furry. Toby, the Yorky is my favorite. He is very old now, about 15.

Bubsca waggled all over with delight when he saw me. Fletch would come and put his big head in my lap of an evening.

 Zac, is  a collie dog belonging to my cousin Jim in Aghincurk, Northern Ireland. He is old and blind. I met him in 2010.
When I knocked at the door, the four other collies, that I had not met barked but Zac did not. He could pick up my scent through the door and knew me from 2010. I do not play with him, but give him lots of pats and he likes to lie on my feet.

The first dog that befriended me on my 2014 trip, was called Twiglet. She is a dark Lurcher breed of dog and a rescued animal. She is still a pup. There was another Lurcher dog with her called Jazz, but apart from the first night, he didn't want to play. Twiglet had me throwing the plastic ball indoors most of the evening. In the morning she would be waiting at my bedroom door.

Proposed Butterfly Garden.

A BUTTERFLY GARDEN

This spring I am going to make a butterfly garden along the side of the garage.
I have begun to dig the garden and it already has two miniature peach trees and two Swan Plants.

Here is a list of the plants which I will put in to attract butterflies.
asters, hollyhocks, snapdragons, verbena, cornflowers, coreopsis, nasturtiums, phlox, pansies, floss flowers, alyssum, lavender and zinnias.

I may also include a feature of some kind - yet to be decided.

I am wondering how long it will be before the no watering ban is lifted. My vegetable garden is a wreck. The cauliflowers and broccoli I planted are all eaten by white butterflies and any tomatoes ripening have split. The only good plant is the courgette, which goes on producing flowers and fruit without any water. I tried to pull some carrots last week and they broke halfway so I had to dig them out as the soil is so hard.
It has been so dry here that the weeds on pathways and the scoria around the potagers have died - one good thing about the drought!
I have spring bulbs in the fridge in the meantime. I have not quite decided whether to plant them in the garden or in pots. I shall probably do pots.