AUTUMN TAIL END

 What a lovely sunny crisp day down by the bay, cotoneaster berries flourishing and nearby the black bryony hanging in poisonous ropes in the hedge.

But no it is not at home - the tide has gone out and the fog rolled in.

There is still colour in then garden, calendulas and nasturtiums.

However many of the leaves have fallen and are blown away, mainly under shrubs where they can rot down as a mulch.

The big cherry still has a few and the beech hedge is well coloured.

The gardener has removed the last of the buddleia from by the septic tank and R wants miscanthus to replace it - we have some so will need dividing and replanting. At least with the tank and our own borehole we do not have to pay water rates (yet) nor contribute to the pollution of our rivers.

In the main path up the garden a couple of shaggy parasol fungi have erupted. We do not seem to have had as many fungi this year but have no idea why - perhaps the wet year has drowned the lot? It has been exceptionally wet and that is saying something for it always rains a lot here. I have decided to cease mowing although the grass is a bit long as it is so boggy.

Well, that all folks, hard frosts at night, snow forecast but missed us, my knees gone and wobbly so physics and doctors and so on - exercises for strength and balance, out walking, well stumbling along walking stick in hand.

So I will leave you with the fatsia in full bloom and the rose on the shed still in flower.

This weekend twenty to thirty thousand people will descend on our town for the annual Dickensian Festival - locally known as the Dickfest. We pray for good weather but it looks like it might rain as it often does here.

WHAT A GREY DAY

 For sitting by the wood burner and toasting your feet. Under high pressure the weather does not change much. 

R is interested in getting in a garden company to do stuff - which as all I do is fall over and cut a little stuff back might be a good idea.

Still have some lingering photos a bit late but here they are and then I can archive them.

So, the stream (drain) from the field at the back is pouring water into the garden and the leaves from the trees are blocking channels causing overflow etc etc. I wonder how much an acre of paving or concrete would cost. Then it could just be lots off pots?

Just been to Winchester Cathedral and we think we have water problems. Here is the Gormley in the Crypt - flooded.

This is how it feels to walk our lower garden.

So we are now on winter time and all is going dark. We have Bonfire night ahead and this endless US election. Floods in Spain and drones bombing all over the place. There is enough misery in the world without Putin putting his boot in (rhyme). Why cannot everyone be nice to one another? 

So we have had another gale and sticks are everywhere, rooks sit in the tops of the leafless trees and caw loudly.

Oh! For spring.

Just had an email from my cousin in NZ where it is spring. Too old to move out there now. What I need is a lot of money, a private plane and a house in Nelson or on the Coromandel for the winter.

There is not a breath of wind here, it is overcast and chilly and damp. The pheasants seem happy though. Video is a bit gloomy.

Now the iCloud will not recognise my password - Aaaaargh!