Weather Round-up

Here's the round-up on the weather for last week - decidedly wet.

And it looks like we're in for more of the same.

Water, Water, Everywhere . . .

Got up today to more rain (after a pretty wet day yesterday), not for too long though as the blue skies pushed their way through. I don't think one breezy sunny afternoon is going to do much to dry us out though - with more rain on the way next week.

The university playing fields in town were a veritable lake when we drove past them earlier - and then we discovered that we had a lake of our own (well relatively speaking!).

A small pond had formed at the bottom of the garden, where water drains in from the field behind us, and hopefully drains out through a pipe into the field next door. Martin got the drain rods out and we soon heard the water gushing away, so we're back to a soggy puddle now.

The garden itself isn't too far off achieving lake status of its own though - a good half of it is so waterlogged that it's actually pooling at the bottom of the path leading up to the wood 'shed'.

Drainage strategies are already under consideration . . .

Glorious Skys

After what can only be described as a really rather ghastly day yesterday - ranging from plain dull to driving wind and rain - we were graced with this amazing sunset.

Overall the weather this year has been really disappointing - it seems in retrospect to have rained for most of the summer - but that may just be my poor memory I suppose. So, in keeping with the 'British' obsession I've decided to include a round-up of the week's weather in a Sunday post. Will actually have the evidence then to back up my impressions, and it'll be interesting to compare with future years.

Bittersweet October

Was trying to find a nice literary quote online to sum up how October was going, and came up with this.

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.

(Carol Bishop Hipps, In a Southern Garden, 1995)

It just seemed to fit the autumnal experience - one day warm, the next decidedly cool. Leaves everywhere. Sunshine and showers (unfortunately a lot of the latter round here recently). In fact it's been so damp we have tiny mushrooms growing on the drive! And here's the photographic evidence to prove it . . .

The garden is beginning to wind down now for winter, the summer flowers are dying back, although a few autumn specimens can be seen - miniature cyclamen, primroses . . .

. . . kaffir lilies . . .

 . . . and some of the fuschias are still putting on a good show.

The cabbages and sprouts are also recovering nicely from their earlier caterpillar infestations and putting on some growth. The bunnies aren't so evident now, at least they don't venture into the garden quite as much as they did. And the swallows are long gone.  Otherwise the birds are in fine voice, with the Yew Tree acting as bird central; the nuthatch appears to have taken up residence, and there always seems to be something flying in and out.

I was peering through the branches earlier and got a photo of what appears to be a one-legged thrush (although I might be wrong).

Martin also got some good shots of fat robin having a bath . . .

Doubtless October will be over before we know it, and it will be time to get stuck into the accumulated firewood, and light the Rayburn. Halloween is dominating the shop displays at the moment, but it won't be long before Christmas takes over . . . how many shopping days does that leave us?

Time for a Haircut!

It seems that Saturday was the Last Day of Summer (at least that's the way it feels after the last couple of day's weather) and it was time to give the Ornamental Pear a bit of a trim.

Before - all frondy, but getting rather out of control

After - all neat ready for next year's growth . . .

Belated Blogging

Herewith the 'Blogs that Were Meant To Be' . . .

Sunday 7 September: Cool . . .

Well we finally got round to ordering the new fridge and freezer we'd been promising ourselves ever since moving - no more going out to the utility room every time we want milk for our tea! Sunday morning delivery - lots of polystyrene packaging. The fridge - actually in the kitchen - makes a subtle whooshing noise from time to time, which took a bit of getting used to, and the freezer (which has gone in the utility room) finally means we have room for something other than peas from the garden . . .

Sunday 14 September: Carrots (at least that's what I think they are) . . .

Pulled our first crop of carrots, strange creatures every one . . . a regular family of Mandrake Roots -they tasted ok though.

Wednesday 17 September: Sunshine . . .

Finally!

Saturday 20 September: Strictly Come Leching . . .

Men like Strictly Come Dancing too - but for entirely different reasons. Think the BBC has got the Saturday night ratings sewn up, Merlin was pretty good too . . .

Monday 22 September: Bootifull . . .

Not exactly free firewood this time, offcuts from the local building suppliers / wood merchant - help yourselves from the pile round the back, £4 for a boot-full.

Mind you I guess it will burn quickly being mostly pine. Took some unloading, but it's all stacked round in our drying area now, filled up a fair amount of space . . .

Free Firewood

Took a wander past some workmen cutting back an oak tree at the side of the road (just up from the house) today. Asked them what they did with the cut wood and managed to secure some of the 'smaller' logs. Some of them seemed pretty big, especially after 8 wheelbarrow trips up and down the road from where they'd left them!



Pretty good haul all in all - will need to season it, so it probably won't be ready for burning until next year, but it's added to our stock for then.