Autumn is here

My regular walks have petered out a little, the arrival of a new kitten is very distracting, and makes staying in the house in the evenings much more attractive, and in addition, the nights are drawing in,and there has been a lot of rain, both of which also reduce the opportunities for pleasant walks! 

However, when I get the chance I am still going out. During the week, when it doesn't rain I often take the opportunity to go for a short walk near the office,

 

There is a community park, which has some scrubland and open space, and various footpaths, so I can take half an hour of my lunch break and get some fresh air, and sometimes sunshine.

I have been spotting different types of mushroom and toadstool, some more dramatic looking than others, and have come across some unexpected sculptures, too (unexcepted not least as this one is off the path and not visible from it, I only found it because I turned up a little muddy gap between trees to get off the path as there were some other people coming and it isn't very wide. Perhaps it is more visible from the path in winter, when the foliage dies back.

This Saturday morning, I woke up rather earlier than I consider reasonable for a weekend, and found that there was a rather nice sunrise and a beautiful bright, crisp morning, and contemplated going out for an early(ish) morning walk. However, by the time I had washed my face and cleaned my teeth the sun had gone in, so I went back to bed with a book and a couple of cats for a bit, then went for the walk after breakfast instead.

It was still a nice day. For the first half of my walk the sky remained grey and overcast, and it was definitely chilly,  but enjoyable - there was still heavy dew on the grass, and lots of mud.

There were also some lovely autumn colours - yellow gorse flowers, and bright red hipsand haws.

As I continued, the sun came out, so the second half of my walk was made in bright sunshine, under a brilliant blue sky. 

It wasn't the right time of day for foxes or badgers or deer, but I did see lots of birds, and several cheeky squirrels.

And the sun was still out when I got back home, so I was able to put some washing on the line, and to let Vashti explore the garden a bit. 

Loki came out too, whether for company, or in a purely supervisory capacity,I am unsure. I don't think Vashti approves of wet grass, although she does enjoy visiting the Outdoors, at least for short periods. I weighed her today and she is now 2.1kg so she should be able to have her op soon - the vets will put her microchip in at the same time, and I shall then be able to start teaching her the Way of The Cat-Flap. 

The afternoon turned pretty grey, but it was a beautiful morning. 

Doctor Strange

I went to see the Doctor Strange film last week.

I saw it in 2D, as 3D tends to be awkward (trying to fit the specs over my own) and to leave me with a thumping headache, but would imagine that it would be pretty impressive if you can take 3D.

And it was a lot of fun. I loved that, like other films in the Marvel universe, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's fast, funny, and a little in dnager of inducing motion sickness..!

I didn't care for Mr Cumberbatch's early beard, but once he shaved that off and displayed his cheekbones all was well!  And the cloak is excellent.

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo and Benedict Wong were both excellent, as, inevitably, was Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One.

If you've enjoyed the other Marvel films, go and see this one, and you'll have fun. If you didn't,you probably won't.

Oh, and don't forget to stay for both the after credits snippets.

Autumn

This morning was rather grey and damp, but it wasn't actually raining (at least when I got up) So I decided that I would go to Stourhead, to see the autumn leaves.

I was a little startled that when I arrived, about 15 minutes after opening time, I found that the main car park was full and the overflow was getting pretty busy. I suppose that's what happens when the National Trust goes onto BBC Radio 4 and says that this weekend will be the best one to see the colours...!

Just as I got tho the entrance of the grounds it started to drizzle, and although this did stop when I was about half way around the lake, it continued to be pretty grey, so the colours didn't look as dramatic as they do when you manage to catch them on a day of glorious autumn sunshine!

There were swans swanning around on the lake, as well as the ducks, gulls and coots, and I saw a heron, too, fishing near the Pantheon, although it very uncooperatively had it's head down making it hard to photograph successfully.

I enjoyed the walk, and the views - I didn't even mind the rain, as it wasn't cold.

After leaving the main grounds, I drove along towards 'King Alfred's Tower', which is on the edge of Stourhead's park. On the way, I found a little space to park from which I could walk along to 'St Peters Pump', which is a little monument marking the source of the River Stour.

I then moved on to King Alfred's Tower itself. The tower is a folly, built in 1772 to mark the spot where it was believed Alfred the Great rallied his troops before defeating the Danes in 878AD. It's an interesting building - a triangular brick tower with a staircase in a little turret running up one corner, and is totally empty, (and very damp) It is claimed that when it was built, it marked the point where the counties of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire met, with one corner in each county, but I am a little sceptical.

You can climb up the tower (160', around 250 steps) and it is well worth doing so - the views from the top are stunning.  By the time I got to the top, the sun had come out.

Although I visit Stourhead fairly frequently, this is the first time I've been to the tower. I'm glad I did.

More photos in my flickr set, if you're interested

Autumn

It feels as though autumn has truly arrived, in the past few days. We've been rained on, and rained on some more, and my tomato plants seem to have gone, overnight, from green and vigorous to yellow and fading (although still with a fair number of tomatoes)

The rainy weather has suited my mood, as after the fun and excitement of the long weekend, full of treats, I have been back at work, and very busy.

Now, however, it's Friday again, and my last day at work for two weeks! The disadvantage of having upheavals at work requiring my presence, and lots of colleagues who want to book time off is school holidays is that you get very tired waiting for the point where you can have a holiday.

The advantage is that suddenly it's mid-September, autumn is coming, and you get to go off and play!
I have a theatre ticket for Saturday night, then on Monday I am off to Italy for a week, then I shall have a few days either at home, or in Devon, depending on the weather.

Hopefully I shall be able to relax, unwind, and return to work invigorated!

Plus, the Bath Kids' Lit. Fest starts at the end of  the month so there is something to look forward to on my return. Guests this year include Judith Kerr, Eoin Colfer and Philip Reeve, to name but a few.

And not long after that my birthday will come round again, with friends here for the weekend, and another theatre trip.
So, despite rain and wind, life has its charms!

Autumn Colours

I had planned to catch up with housework, and other things which have piled up over the last couple of weeks, while I've been busy partying in Dublin and then being sick-unto-death. And I started well, this morning: I finally managed to post a birthday present to my best friend (admittedly her birthday was a week ago, but it felt like an achievement)

I even did some vacuuming and some laundry. However, I noticed while I was in town that the trees are looking rather colourful just now, and that it was actually a rather nice day, so I decided to change my plans and head to Stourhead to go for a walk, and enjoy the autumn colours.

Stourhead is owned by the National Trust these days, but it used to belong to the Hoare family, who were London bankers. They had a manor house built in the 1720s, and the gardens were laid out between 1740 and 1780.

There is a lake, surrounded by woods, and overlooked by a grotto, the 'Temple of Apollo' and an reproduction of the Pantheon.

The woods around the lake have a lot of beech trees, and rhodedendrons, and there is, of course, a rustic cottage.

I also found some wonderful fungi, on a fallen tree.

and of course, the gate house going up p he house itself, is, well.... modest and unpretentious...

I wonder whether I can fit a small castle on to the front of my house, too?

Tomorrow is forecast to be cold and wet. I'll do housework tomorrow.

A Walk in the Country

It was chilly today, but around lunchtime the sun came out, so I decided to forget about the housework, and to head out for the afternoon.

I went to Stourhead, which is owned by the National Trust, now. The house is not open in the winter, but the park is open all year round, and it's a lovely place to go for a walk. There is a lake, with ornamental bridge, miniature Parthenon, and temple of Apollo, not to mention the grotto, thatched cottage and neoclassical summerhouse.

Its a little late for the best of the autumn coours , but there were still some lovely acers clinging on to the last of their crimson leaves, and plenty of beech leaves in every shade of copper. There are masses of rhodedendrons and although it's the wrong time of year for their flowers they have that dark green, shiny foliage against which the other colours show up beautifully.

I didn't see any deer this time - which probably had a lot to do with the high number of dogs and small and excited children around - but there were ducks, and swans upon the lake.

I saw several robins, and blackbirds, and a few chaffinches and something which may or may not have been a goldfinch.

All in all, it was a very

After my walk, I headed to the farm shop where I bought 3 different types of local apples, and some Medlars (the last, simply because I have never had them before, and know them only from Shakeapeare and other literary sources. They will have to be kept for a while to ripen properly, and it does appear that opinion is divided as to whether they are worth eating or not, but it will be interesting to see what they're like.

And as an added bonus, I got a lovely big paper bag to take my groceries home in, which proved very popular with Tybalt once I had emptied it of fruit.

A Good Day.

A Chilly Morning

It poured with rain on Sunday. I didn't mind too much, as I was having a fairly lazy day, especially having spent some of saturday trying to do a little pre-winter tidying up in the garden - (although I think possibly I should trim the grass one last time. )

There is something very cosy about sitting inside a warm, dry house listening to the rain and wind outside, and after 3 flood-free years I have almost stopped panicking about the possible consequenses, although my heart goes out to the people in Scotland who faced (much more severe floods than mine ever were) over the weekend. I was expecting another grim, grey, rainy day today.

Instead, I woke this morning to find that there was a chill in the air. It's not truly cold - there was no frost, but it has been so mild until now, that it feels much colder . It was a beautiful clear sunny morning, and even in the last week or so autumn has moved on - many of the trees - the poplars, the horse-chestnuts, and the ornaental cherries are almost completely bare now, and those which are left are every colour between gold and scarlett.

The Virginia Creeper has lost all of its leaves, and the hedges are almost bare, save for the clumps of ivy. Even the fields are losing their green.

Perhaps winter is coming.

Changing seasons

I think autumn is here. This morning was clear and sunny, but with a definite bite in the air, and as I drove to work, under skies full of hot air balloons, I realised that it has all been creeping up on me without my noticing

The hedges are full of purplish-red unripe blackberries, the leaves on the beech trees and horse chestnut trees are starting to turn every shade of yellow and brown. It's going to be a bumper year for conkers.

I have the same drive to work every day and it is easy to focus only on the irritations - the everlasting roadworks, for instance, or the drivers who think tail-gating is a good idea, but I do drive through some lovely bits of countryside.

This morning, I saw a little animal run out from the hedge and across the road - my first thought was 'squirrel', then 'rat', but when I got to look a little more carefully, I reaslised it was a Stoat - they tend to be quite elusive and I can only remember seeing one about 2 or three times in the past.

The guy behind me hooted at me for having braked but I'm glad I did. (I wouldn't have wanted to run over it even if it had been a rat)

It ran into the opposite hedge just under a magnificant Rowan tree absolutely loaded with berries - very dramatic againt the pale blue sky.

I didn't have my camera with me so the pictures are from a trip to Westonbirt Arboreatum, last autumn. I think maybe it's time I went back there.