A surprise Summer day with hints of Autumn
Dew on an oak leaf
We’re on a walk along the canal as the sun is shining for a change. I can hear pigeons in the trees and the occassional plop of a fish coming up and making rings on the water surface. Fluffy seed heads are gently blown above the water.
Acorns
I loved how the sun shone through the oak leaves.
“The Saracen’s Head” -pub which does food right on the canal. No one seems to know how it got its name. I SO want to know though.
Hawthorn Berries. The expression “never cast your clout until may is out” refers to the white blossom which comes out in May from the Hawthorn -hoar (white) thorn. Your clout was a selection of under garments you kept on all Winter. Oer!
A quirky bird house 6ft in the air
Seed heads
Convolvulus -the morning glory in bright colours for our gardens stems from this rigourous wild plant. To face the sun it wraps itself around everything and closes up at night.
Canal barge. These are usually homes now. I’ve only ever seen one working barge delivering coal to barges like this.
Me- pic by hubby. The swing cardi is in 100% wool in harvest colours from the Paton’s Sublime 607 book. I did one in black and another for daughter in green. It’s a lovely pattern but I edged it all in seed stitch (moss stitch) to prevent curling.
Bull rushes at the edge of a field
This little chap was only an inch big (2.5cms). So tiny and perfectly made.
A beautiful sight- straw bales safely made ready to be taken in. With all the rain we’ve been having I’ve been worried about the wheat. A bad harvest means higher flour prices which means bread will go up in the shops. It’s one of the staple foods of the UK.
Like that hymn says “All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.”
Water mint in flower.
Blackberries lovely to eat with apples in a pie or crumble as I can’t do pastry.
Have I ever told you that I was asked to leave home ec. classes? I think the teacher thought I was going to poison her. She sampled my sweet and (extremely) sour chicken and survived but my peppermint creams defeated her. I think I muddled the glycerine and peppermint essence. Tears came to her eyes and she spluttered that she thought my talents lay elsewhere before dashing for some water. I think I knew back then I ought to sew. 🙂
One of the many bridges over the canal.
Elderberries. One of my great aunts could make wine from anything but elderberry looked good and even smelt good. I hae made elderflower cordial in the Summer from water sugar and steeped elderflower heads. Very refreshing.
Elder leaves are turning red.
This butterfly rested on an elder leaf and was very patient with me while I tried to focus.
Now this is what I’ve been looking for! If you look carefully there are 2 sloe berries high up in this blackthorn tree/bush. You can make sloe gin for Christmas if you gather them now, prick them with a cocktail stick and add them to gin with sugar. I need to find more. 🙂
The bracken though wasn’t fooled by such a lovely day and insisted on showing me it was Autumn.
More next post. Have a wonderful weekend.
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