This month I've been...

Celebrating...at Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding party. This was taken before most of the guests had arrived. It was a lovely evening full of fun and laughter.

Admiring...the beautiful autumn colours. The photo of the rudbeckias was taken yesterday after a heavy shower which is why they're so wet.

Harvesting...elderberries to make elderberry gin. It should be ready just in time for Christmas cocktails :-)

Auditioning...fabrics for my latest journal quilt. I'm a tad behind as this one is for June!

Tidying...my fabric drawer after pulling out all those fabrics. So satisfying but, alas, unlikely to stay this way for long!

Starting...a new crochet blanket. The pattern is Maybelle Square by My Rose Valley. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK.

Continuing... to crochet my other blanket. Stylecraft Special again.

Walking...in Tatton Park.

Listening...to the bellowing of a stag as he marked his territory.

 

Strolling...through the woods today and hunting for interesting fungus.

So that's been my month so far: a curious combination of lethargy and busyness. Apologies for not having been around much and for not visiting your blogs either. I'll try to do better into November. However, there's still a few days of October left and I'll be back later in the week with a Halloween treat. x

Sunday walk

As the weather turned out much better than expected today, I couldn't resist the opportunity to head out for a walk. The first part of the walk took me along my usual route by the golf course.

There are still lots of berries on the trees to feed the birds over the winter. Combined with the white lichen, the whole effect looked *whisper it* quite Christmassy.

 This little multi-coloured leaf glowed amongst the grass.

The unseasonably warm weather seems to have persuaded this elder that it's already spring as it had lots of new growth.

My Dr Hessayon guide tells me this shrub is Euonymous europaeus 'Red Cascade'. I've never seen one before and it was really striking with its bright pink and orange flowers.

In fact, I was surprised how many plants were still in flower.

Reaching the end of the path, I wasn't ready to turn back towards home so carried on across the railway line.

Loved this little gypsy caravan sitting in a field behind a farm.

The horses were far too interested in one of their friends at the other end of the field to pay any notice to me.

On the far horizon, I could see Rivington Pike which we walked up earlier this year (it's the small bump which you can just make out, though it was clearer in reality).

And this was where I eventually turned for home with the autumn sun already low in the sky. It seems such a bonus to still be having warm sunshine and blue skies well into November- long may it continue. Well, at least at the weekends when I'm free to enjoy it.

Otherwise, it's been a fairly quiet weekend and I made progress on a couple of projects, including this winter embroidery. I want to do a little more stitching before it's time for bed so I'm going to have to love you and leave you. Enjoy what remains of the weekend. x

Come with me...

There's a small park in the heart of the city. A place of calm where I go to watch the squirrels and experience a few brief, soothing moments of nature. I took these photos a couple of weeks ago, before the strong winds, when the trees still had some autumnal colour.

Before we go through the gate though, I need you to listen to the song Pure Imagination from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It came into my head when I was thinking of a title for this post and has stuck around ever since. Go on, don't worry, I'll wait.

OK, ready? Then let's take a walk through the park. Come with me....

Hope you enjoyed your stroll through the park. The gate is just ahead but I'm going to linger awhile.

I may not be around much until the New Year as it's proving difficult juggling work and all the preparations and activities of the festive season. Really I want to say I'll be taking a bloggy break but am finding it hard to let go! I'll still be around and visiting you though and will be back to wish you a merry Christmas. See you then. xx

Autumn 2012

As November draws to a frosty close I wanted to share some of the photos I've taken throughout the last few months to remind me of Autumn 2012. Well, minus the torrential rain.

At this time of year I'm always reminded of the famous quote from the poem 'To Autumn' by John Keats. And 'Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness' seems to have been quite apt this year. We often seemed to wake to early morning fog and, funnily enough, it's very foggy tonight too.

Spiders' webs became more visible as they glistened with moisture. Better for avoiding their inhabitants too! Luckily only a few seemed to invade the house this year during 'spider season' - or, more likely, they've got better at hiding.

As the fog lifted, the warm glow of the morning light filtered through the mist lingering over the water.

And eventually gave way to glorious blue skies. 

The leaves seemed more colourful than ever this year. Or maybe it's just that previous years have faded in my memory. I did see more colourful displays than this but it always seemed to be when I was in the car and unable to stop to take pictures.

The berries also seemed more plentiful, though other kinds of fruit have suffered from our miserable summer: I had a single solitary apple on my little tree.

This tree was absolutely bursting with fat, juicy berries. Superstition says that lots of berries means a hard winter to come - let's hope that, as with all superstitions, they're wrong!

 Mushrooms also seem to have done very well. These were in a local garden.

This little fellow was in a park munching on what I thought was an acorn. You could hear the crack crack crack as he worked his way through his snack! I went back a few days later to take more photos of him and his friends and discovered that they were actually eating peanuts which they'd stashed at the bottom of a tree.

I watched in delight for about 20 minutes as they chased each other around, scampering among the leaves and digging in the earth to hide their food for later.

And then they'd pause for a rest and a snack.

Isn't he gorgeous? So cute! And my favourite photo of Autumn 2012. I wonder what images Winter will bring?