AND THE HEAVENS CRIED

I was woken early by the sound of torrential rain battering the garden. Later the sun came out and the land shone with that brightness you only get after a downpour has washed the dust and fumes out of the air. Water was crossing the garden in silvery sheets, erupting from previously unknown springs, even out of mole hills - the runs acting as underground pipes.

This is the mower crossing of the stream, old scaffolding planks that had been lifted and thrown around by the water.

And the breakfast table is  covered in water - too wet for cornflakes. (I have the WHOLE EARTH gluten free ones.)

As we may be having changes in the spring - perhaps the extension (reduced in dimensions by the cost of VAT) I decided to photograph the beds that will be changed to paving.

The tree on the left will go and the plants we want to keep be dug up and replanted in the veg beds.

Sometimes walking around the garden it is the small things that catch the eye - 

 A new bud on the Magnolia grandiflora,

Cardoon buds so heavy they need support,

 Or just a small rose.

The first apples (Bramleys)(cookers) have been picked, wrapped in paper and put in old photographic developing trays in the shed.

This is the big ash tree at the top of the garden. It has ivy climbing it - a hideaway for small birds - and a Rambling Rector climbing rose. There is some die back on the branches - not the dreaded ash dieback present in young trees but just old age - I suppose a bit like myself as the years pass.

The small  trees at the bottom - left the big magnolia, right the handkerchief tree.

Some plants just love the autumn like these Anemone japonica alba but one has to be careful as they tend to spread and invade others nearby. 

 And, is autumn coming through the endless rain - every day - well the roses think so - the rubifolia is heavy with hips.

Grandchildren joke - Why did Captain Hook cross the road? - 

To get to the second-hand shop.

(NB. And the Heavens Cried - 1961 Anthony Newley written by Glynn Elias and Irving Reid) (Bit sad knowing that!)