Flaming June certainly was an appropriate description of the last couple of weeks in June. It was exceptionally hot for this part of the world. Sleeping at night was difficult, and taking the dogs for a walk during the day was just impossible. They simply were not interested in going out in the heat, unless their walk took them directly to a lochan for a swim.

Each day the heat would build and build, until you really hoped for a thunderstorm to cut through the heat and freshen things up again. But they rarely came. Until last week when we had an almighty rain and thunderstorm. The lightening was both spectacular and frightening. I tried to get photographs but failed miserably. I was just that split second too late every time! On Sunday we went to some friends for dinner. Their home overlooks the very lovely Achmelvich Bay. Now I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Achmelvich - it is very beautiful, but there is a "no dogs" policy in the area which really, really annoys me. However ... I digress. As you can see from the photo below, it was another scorching, sunny evening:

achmelvich

But before long, the thunder started and it got blacker and blacker, until eventually the promise of relief from the heat came in the form of a rainbow.
promise-of-rain
Since Sunday it has cooled considerably, which is good news for me as it's not easy working in a small studio with a burner going constantly.

On a different note, can anyone help me identify this flower. We got a pack of wild flower seeds from Lidls a while back, and scattered them earlier in the year, only to have this beautiful flower appear.
wildflower

The colour is amazing, and I'm hoping it reseeds itself for next year. You can also see in the photo what sort of soil we have to work with here - sand! And while potatoes grow very well in sand, I'm struggling with other plants.