Dwindling ...

...the number of posts and the number of readers I suspect

and the harvest too

but it was a good year for French beans

and I will definitely grow them again.

Sissinghurst and Great Dixter continue to mellow beautifully

 and there is an exciting new place to visit,

Tillingham, a biodynamic vineyard, 

with rooms and a restaurant in the heart 

of the Sussex countryside.

There was a son in San Francisco

and another newly established in Tokyo.

This butterfly looks a little how I feel.

I'm never good with the shortening days

and this seems to have been a particularly swift descent into Autumn.

Pencil sharpening, new term feelings were not as marked as in previous years

but for this one

a fifth birthday

and an exciting first week at big school are under her belt.

For now, in these troubling times,

I seek solace in scenes like those above,

the writings of Gladys Taber, (thanks Nan)

and seek to adopt the Zen-like attitude

of this ram.

See you, I hope,

before we all fall over the cliff.

Tall cat and friend bonus post

The owner of this hat (like Patsy) is not here at present.

The Secret Garden

By train to Cambridge.

And a chance to visit the Fellows' gardens at Trinity College.

Does anybody know what this is?
The branches are like thorny antlers.
. 

I knew I'd seen it somewhere before.
And then it came to me.

Birding

I'm not a great fan of sitting still in dark bird hides -

they tend to be colder than the outside,

and often devoid of bird sightings, apart from coots.

There are always coots.

But sometimes they offer shelter from a stiff breeze

and a knowledgeable birder who was kind enough to explain

 the wonderful extraordinary sight of the flocks of birds 

wheeling, blending and separating

overhead when we emerged together.

He told us that they were lapwings and golden plovers

and that they were taking evasive action because a pair of 

peregrine falcons were trying to get above them so that they could

stoop in pursuit of their prey.

We don't know if they succeeded, but the birdwatchers were happy.

'That's a big tick,' said one satisfied couple.

I scored 25 points in my

I-Spy Book of Birds.

A yellow beret moment

No longer do I feel harried and hounded through the day

by the swift approach of winter nightfall.

Yes, it's getting dark;

but more slowly.

This is 5.18 pm and that's

a big improvement.

The crocuses are out.

And the sun shone brightly through the stained glass

at Two Temple Place.

I have a sudden hankering for a yellow beret

and a bunch of daffodils to match.

Christmas in the Spring

 A three hour transformation took place in my kitchen today.

The team - Art Director, Stylist, Photographer and Publisher

brought nearly everything they needed

(that tea pot got lucky)

to create an impression of a bright spring day in the country

on an exceptionally dull December one in town.

As far as I could tell,

all that was going to remain of the original location,

was a hazy impression of a 'country' garden in the background.

Even the table top was theirs,

carefully selected from a backgrounds rack

in a props warehouse.

Who knew?

The cake, though scrumptious looking,

was deemed to be a little too messy,

so I stepped forward with an offer of knives

to tidy it up.

Later someone found a plate of macarons in my fridge

and decided that they would be just perfect

for the Waitrose version of the advertisement.

Bunting was called for but later abandoned as 

too much in the way of the copy that had to be added later.

I believe this is one of the selected shots,

possibly destined for Sainsbury's or Tesco magazines

as I can't see any macarons in it.

Disappointingly no flowers or cakes were left behind.

I am not familiar with this author

so I have looked her up for you.

Now I can bring in the Christmas tree.