Shall we go for a walk?

Beach

Marsh

Kew botanical gardens.

Coastal heathland.

Estuary nature reserve.

And a memorial bench

with a plaque that simply read,

'Wish you were here.'

Ripples

We've had alternate days of fine and foul.

Here's the fine.

And here's the fowl.

The House Captain would like to apologise for the marked

deterioration in the quality of this blog.

The photographer is making a valiant effort to raise the tone

 but the author has been put on warning.

Puns, to quote Dryden are

'the lowest and most grovelling kind of wit'

or as Ambrose Bierce has it,

'a form of wit to which wise men stoop and fools aspire.'

For the boys

We made a nostalgia laden trip back to 

a farm in Tuscany.

The roses are still there - just.

The long cedar walks still

criss cross the estate

The bocce ball where we played in the cool shade

of the holm oaks,

 has fallen into disuse.

The river where we swam

and sunbathed on the rocks,

was in full spate after torrential rains.

The olive trees recovered well

after the devastating frost of 1985.

The picnic table at the belvedere 

 looks just the same.

 The views over your shoulder to Siena are timeless.

But it wasn't all about looking back.

We found new things

and went to new places

and maybe one day we could take everyone

and make new memories.

Things to do on the beach in October

Gallop.

Make a dog happy

by throwing pebbles for him to chase.

Bird watch.

Wish you could say you'd seen a Bar-tailed Godwit.

Find and pocket a useful Duralex tumbler.

Seek shells.

Marvel at the tenacity of Marram grass.

Watch the river flow into the sea.

Wonder what these razor shell initials stand for.

Find industrial archaeology.

Find beauty in debris

but wish there wasn't so much of it.

Admire the geology but stay away from the foot of the cliffs

because you've seen the rock fall without warning.

Stand and stare.

Wait for the sun to break through.

Stay as long as possible.

Watch the beach empty.