Autumn

 Autumn has taken me by surprise this year.

In mid September we went to Italy for a wedding and a few days holiday. On returning we all tested positive for covid and have stayed at home. I'm now recovered and am out walking again and in those couple of weeks since my last walk, summer has moved into autumn.

The bracken has turned brown and gold and funghi are appearing in the woods.

 

We are off to spend a few days in Scotland, I'm looking forward to noticing the seasonal changes as we travel north.

 

 

Early Autumn

There is a definite autumnal feeling in the air. The mornings are cooler, cyclamen have appeared, and the garden has a softer faded feel as we move through early October.

In the countryside the berries are bright until the cold weather arrives and the birds devour them.

This time of year encourages slowing down and reflection, two things that I seem to have had little time for lately.

Only my second post this year. I don't write but somehow am loathed to admit the fact and give up on the blog. I miss the early days of blogging when even the smallest blog like this one could form its own little community,  people in many different places around the world, quietly documenting their lives and photographing their surroundings. All on Instagram now I suppose and blogs are old-fashioned unless there is something to be promoted or sold.

Blogging is more time consuming and time seems to be in short supply these days, ridiculous since I no longer work.

The rhythm of my days has changed now that neither my husband or I are working. I no longer have those quiet solitary days at home. We are busy, the television is switched on, there are no quiet pauses in my day to take gentle walks with my camera, to sit, and to think.

Life is good but I miss that quiet. Today I have a rare day to myself and it feels good. I hope to make more time for days like these.

I'd like to find time to blog again, not regularly as I used to, but from time to time, simply documenting my days. We'll see. If there is anyone reading - do say "hello".

summer evenings

We are having a mini heat-wave here with temperatures reaching 30ºC and my last post has pictures of a cold January Edinburgh day!

Today is the summer solstice (in the UK it was at 5:24 this morning) so I thought some seasonally appropriate photographs would be a good idea.

These pictures were taken  last week when we had a short walk and an evening picnic along the Wayfarers Path in North Hampshire.

I like to go at this time of the year to see the wild orchids. There were plenty to see this year.

A beautiful place for a picnic sitting in the sunshine among the wild flowers.

The path back went through fields of barley, gently moving in the breeze

and as the sun got lower in the sky the whole place took on a golden glow. A reminder to appreciate the long summer evenings.

autumnal

These days, September and October are my favourite months. I've always preferred spring with its freshness and promise but, perhaps something to do with getting older, now the slower days of autumn appeal more.

This year we have the autumnal cobwebs, berries and early mornings but in the middle of the day, a real indian summer with temperatures in the 20ºs. It is a perfect combination.

There is a stillness about autumn, the crops have gone and the weeds and wildflowers grow before the ground is ploughed. The fields are full of birds feasting on any grains left behind. Pigeons mainly.

We walked around a local lake on Sunday, very calm and quiet.

The leaves are beginning to fall.

The skies at sunrise have been amazing, this has been my morning view this week.

Autumn has come to the garden too. This is our little front garden, the cyclamen get better each year as new self seeded plants appear.

Hello August

Hello there. All is fine here. I haven't posted in a while, there is a lot going on at the moment in my non-blog world and I couldn't seem to find the space in my head to think about blogging.

As it is the first day of a new month I wanted to try and get started again. These are a few photographs from my walk yesterday.

The countryside has changed over the last few weeks as we move past midsummer into harvest time. The wheat is ripening, the barley was cut a few weeks ago, and the verges are full of tall grasses and hogweed. The rain earlier in the year seems to have made everything grow vigorously this year.

I usually post pictures of the landscape and mainly flowers so for a change, some cows having their breakfast

a butterfly sunning itself on the brambles

and this little bird who was singing his heart out yesterday morning.

I'm not very knowledgeable on birds, is it a greenfinch?

I am hoping to get back into the habit of taking photographs and posting again. Susannah Conway is hosting  "the August Break" again this year and I'm intending to post a few pictures to the flickr group  - always interesting to see how others interpret the prompts.

green and white

stitchwort

hawthorn

elder

white campion

rowan

water dropwort, hemlock (caution- extremely poisonous)

goose grass

meadow foxtail

dandelion

cow parsley

The weather is turning warmer and the bright lush green and whites of late spring/early summer will be replaced by darker greens and bright summer flowers. A few photographs recording this wonderful time of fresh green foliage and white flowers.