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.

Places to find some peace and (relative) quiet

Turtle spotting in Central Park.

A trip on the tramway (actually a cable car) 

over the East River to Roosevelt Island.

Very little to do there

but a stroll to the Four Freedoms Park

was pleasant enough and completely deserted.

The outright winner for tranquility was the Met Cloisters.

Monarch butterflies in the Conservatory Garden.

Purl Soho. A pilgrimage to see the knitting shop of online fame.

It was certainly quiet in there. Somnolent even.

I had to ask someone to help me 

because nothing is labelled for brand, composition or price.

After a short discussion and vague hand waving at the shelves,

 the young woman turned away, as I thought, 

to show me a pattern but to my consternation

fell into another assistant's arms for a prolonged embrace, 

much back stroking and murmurs of consolation.

I stood behind her wondering what I had done to trigger this collapse.

Eventually she straightened and wandered over to the rack. 

I came away empty-handed.

A walk on the wild side

This shrew - not alive sadly - but still looking pretty perky.

Like the mole I found last year.

I swear this hen was posing.

It froze until it heard the shutter click.

Human being herded by hens.

Bees love drumstick alliums.

I took out a huge dogwood which revealed the weedy mess 

that the site of an old pond had become behind it.

One thing led to another and we found we had cleared a corner without

a real plan, so we plonked down six bags of woodbark on weed suppressing membrane,

(two trips to the garden centre because one always underestimates)

and a few large logs from the cedar cut down  two years ago

and lo! all the disposessed frogs came hopping out.

This one hopped onto my bare foot which was a cold and clammy surprise,

but no more than I deserved for taking away its ancestral home.

This Red Admiral has taken to basking each evening during the last minutes

before the sun goes behind a tall tree and rapidly plunges the garden into shadow.

The plight of the bumblebee

Late last autumn I had two banks of meadow turf laid.

They thrived during the wet winter and have started to flower.

Here's what is in it:

Sheep's Fescue, Red Fescue, Quaking Grass, Meadow Barley, Agrimony, 

Bird's Foot Trefoil, Red Clover, Common Sorrell, White Deadnettle, Fox and Cubs, 

Meadow Cranesbill, Greater Celandine, Autumn Hawkbit, Common Knapweed, 

Common Mallow, Wild Marjoram, Meadow Buttercup, Meadowsweet, Great Mullein,

 Musk Mallow, Opium Poppy, Ragged Robin, Red Campion, Tansy, Teasel, 

Common Toadflax,Viper's Bugloss, White Campion, Wild Basil, Wild Carrot, Clary, 

Wild Thyme, Yarrow, Black Medick,Common Daisy, Welsh Poppy, 

Small Scabious, Maiden Pink, Chicory.

All are rich in pollen and nectar and winter food for birds.

Just typing that list of lovely names makes me feel better,

but the thing is - it seems awfully quiet there.

I've seen 1 Red Admiral,1 Cabbage White,1 Orange Tip, 1 Solitary bee

1 Damsel fly, a few hoverflies

and not a single honey bee.

Let's hope word gets round soon.