The Tail End of Autumn

This was the table for our meal last night, with much more to come - and our neighbours as well. Su made delicious spinaopita, tyropita, souvlaki and baklava, while I managed some tzatziki and salads - it was a lovely evening and great food!

After yesterday's brilliant blue skies, today was very much the tail end of Autumn - especially given the forecast for Siberian winds this coming week!

I was much taken with the skeletons of plantlife left behind while out with Bella this morning. All that energy of creeping plants…

These false nettles are still hanging on, but the next frost will probably stop them in their tracks.

More tangled branches. 

A thicket of branches and dead leaves. 

The last seeds yet to blow away from these plants. 

Amazingly, these campanulas sprouting out of walls are still flowering, as is the geranium at the front of our house.  

We watched two episodes of "The Killing" over breakfast, and then went up to Westonbirt this afternoon. On the way out, I noticed our own little internal rainbow caused by the glass in our internal door.

The clouds had cleared a bit, giving an impressive mackerel sky. 

Looking the other way was different again. 

When we got up to Westonbirt, it had dimmed down quite a bit, but there was still some blue in the sky.

This common beech sapling is extremely well protected - with netting, a fence and barbed wire.

A stand of mixed dogwoods bringing some colour to the Autumn day. 

The colour of this bramble really made it stand out. 

Great patterns of leaves to be seen everywhere. 

Saw this gnarled old oak tree 

You can really see the patterns of lichen on the branches when the leaves have gone from the trees.

Su had been looking at a book about tree bark before we went out, so that became a focus of interest for our rambling through the trees.

Where a branch had been?

Overlapping shingles of bark.

Came upon this stand of weeping spruce. 

 A three-way split for this hemlock tree

Tremendous curvy branches and lovely bark on this tree. 

Even the puddles were an interesting colour today, despite (or because of?) the lack of sunshine. 

We were rewarded with some sunset displays at the end of our walk and on the drive home. 

 Another bright bark display from this shrub.

Saw this barn on fire on the way home. We rang and reported it to find out that it had been going since about 1 o'clock this morning. No fun for the farmer.

This day a year ago, I took myself off on a lovely sunny day - up to Westonbirt with Bella!