Rain, rain and more rain

We drove to Rothbury yesterday to meet family, and hoped for good weather.

Why was I not surprised to find drowned landscapes and misty hillsides? Because that seems to be all this summer has to offer. This is a sweep of the

view from the car as we drove north, looking west. Not very appealing, is it? Yet on a sunny day it looks wonderful. We had thunderstorms and torrential rain this afternoon. The land is already sodden, the river is high, and when the water comes down from Alston and Kielder there may well be flooding along the Tyne.

My garden is waterlogged. The lawn squelches when I walk on it. The water ran down the slope and flooded the patio to the extent that Mr Frog was flushed out of his chosen patch of garden. I took the pic through the window. As soon as I opened the glass door, he calmly removed himself to the other side of the

fence where I couldn't see him. Camera shy, obviously.

All the frogspawn we had in February has gone, some eaten by magpies no doubt, but we have lots of tiny little frogs, about the size of my thumb nail, hopping about.
The one this afternon was a bruiser by comparison, fully four inches from head to rump. I hope all the little ones survived. There are plenty of slugs and snails for them to eat.