It's been a bit of a trial finding things to talk about this week and also to find any nice photos to share to illustrate that with. The dullness is more as it is same old, same old, as actually the weather has been fairly kind, so I have done a couple of walks (brown leaves, brown fields, brown woods) and seen a couple of fungi that were faintly photogenic, but otherwise of little interest to me. No cèpes at all this year, so I have to keep going with my stash of dried from last year.
There was an amusing moment during the week when I was wandering around the Orchard, and Donald decided he didn't want to walk so spent his time circling my head by standing on my shoulders (I really am stretching the point here). The shadow we made on the ground was amusing - I'm either wearing a Davey Crocket hat or a saucepan!
Other things are preparing/being prepared for winter. After the first significant frost of the year, I thought it was time to bring the avocado tree into shelter - they aren't known for being frost hardy!! This is its third year, and it was grown from an avocado stone we brought back from Guadeloupe - the fruit was huge (family sized really), as was the pit, so we thought it was worth a try. The tree actually has branches, and has done better than any other avocado stone I've grown, so I want to keep it going, but it will have to stay small enough to bring indoors each winter!
Following on from last week's pride in a first new flower on the little orchid, I can now present flower number 2, and looking closely at the buds, next week there might even be a third flower. This small and frankly rather abused orchid has been with us now for three years and I am amazed by it. I would like it to be an example to the bigger orchids that have since seduced me, but I don't know that they talk that much!
One thing that has made the week dull from a blogging perspective is the fact that I am preparing for a voyage to Plague Island next week. I have had to get to grips with expensive lateral flow tests, passenger locator forms and Engagement sur l'Honneur form letters, do laundry so I have enough clean underwear, find the small rucksack for carrying my camera around, charge up the battery for the big camera, and look into the exotic subject of public transport into and around Birmingham. All this should mean that I have lots of exciting photos for next week's blog, but make today's effort a major snooze fest.
As even the cat is a critic, I'll leave it at that for now!
Comments