A late Monday miscellany on a Tuesday with a few bits and bobs from the last few days.
The sunflowers in the kitchen windowsill are beginning to look a bit sorry for themselves. Just a little tired, bedraggled and brown around the edges. I've had them for a couple of weeks and they have been wonderful.
Actually I quite like them like this. Just as in Spring when tulips become open and overblown and make sculptural shapes in their vase, so these wilting sunflowers have an opulent beauty of their own
We've been members of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust for quite a few years now and often walk at some of their nature reserves, others we have never visited. A new list of all the reserves has arrived in the post this morning and we are already thinking about travelling just a little further afield to discover new ones.
Meanwhile the garden has taken on a pink hue
but some of the flowers have been spoilt by the wind and rain over the last few days.
On a sunny morning last week we visited Sugnall Walled Garden near Eccleshall. Although it is still August there was a slight autumnal feel in the air. Coffee and cherry scones were lovely indoors away from the wasps. Outdoors a group of cyclists were enjoying coffee with slices of rhubarb and ginger cake.
Reading - borrowed e-book from the library 'The Diary of a Bookseller' by Shaun Bythell.
To be read - 'Big Sky' by Kate Atkinson which I've had reserved at the local library since the middle of June and 'Deadly Dance' by Hilary Bonner a new author to me but I spotted it on the library shelves when I popped in to collect 'Big Sky' and thought I give it a go.
Lastly back to the garden, yesterday just after 8p.m. so photographed in fairly low light through the window, one of the fox cubs in the garden he looks as if he had been snoozing in the raised bed. His brother was with him but shot off before I could take a photo of them together.
Meanwhile the garden has taken on a pink hue
Lastly back to the garden, yesterday just after 8p.m. so photographed in fairly low light through the window, one of the fox cubs in the garden he looks as if he had been snoozing in the raised bed. His brother was with him but shot off before I could take a photo of them together.
Your wilting sunflowers, are quite like the opulence of Autumn. Still gorgeous, but with the signs of what is coming. I think they are gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteA pink hued garden. How perfect.
Reading possibilities here. You know I love to look at your suggestions! Thank you for more ideas.
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Thank you WoW, Kate Atkinson's books are always interesting, the book shop one is amusing. The pink garden is looking very wet and dishevelled this morning:)
DeleteI love your sunflowers and share your enthusiasm for flowers even when past their best.
ReplyDeleteThank you,Johm. Some flowers look sad when they start to go over but others take on a different kind of beauty:)
DeleteThe fox is a delight!
ReplyDeleteHe is, we saw him again last night this time checking out some work that had been done in the garden:)
DeleteI love the sunflowers :) I bought a bunch from Sainsburys a week ago and they are still looking fresh but I will keep them for longer now I have seen your comments on yours wilting :)
ReplyDeleteAll the pink flowers in your garden look pretty and the walled gardens look good to visit too. I had forgotten there was a new Kate Atkinson out so thank you for reminding me :) The other books look good too :)
Thank you RR, I cut the stems of mine right down as they had gone soft in the water, this seemed to keep them going far longer, they have gone in the garden bin this morning as they really had lost the will to live. I'm looking forward to reading Big Sky, it seems a long time since the last Jackson Brodie novel:)
DeleteA lovely miscellany. Gorgeous garden shots and I love the light on the sunflowers. Just finished Big Sky and loved it. I’ll have to look for the one about The Bookseller. B x
ReplyDeleteThank you Barbara, I'm looking forward to reading Big Sky. The Diary of a Bookseller is quite amusing and easy to read:)
DeleteThank goodness, your copy of Big Sky has finally turned up! I love those sunflowers and your garden photos look beautiful especially the Fox peeping cautiously out at us. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen, it shot down from five to one in the queue in a couple of days and then was avaialble a few days later, I began to think I'd stay at five forever:)
DeleteI'm totally with you on the "opulent beauty" of those sunflowers, they look as if they have been to a party, had a wonderful time and have no regrets! Sugnall Walled Garden is looking very decadent - do you know that Shropshire Lavender is closing for ever at the end of this month? I am going to try to go this weekend as it's my last chance. x
ReplyDeleteThank you Mrs T. Yes, such a shame about the Lavender Farm, when we were there last year the owner said that he and his wife were struggling a bit to cope so when I saw the news - I think it popped up on facebook - that they were closing I wasn't surprised but was sad that there didn't seem to be anyone wanting to take over the business. I hope the weather is okay for your last visit:)
DeleteThe sunflowers look very Vincent van Gogh! I like the little snoozy fox. It looks very healthy unlike our urban foxes we have here. x
ReplyDeleteThank you Simone, the little fox looks very sleepy doesn't he? I think quite a few people put food out for the foxes especially in the winter:)
DeleteJust doing some catching up after being off-line for a few days. Your visit to the lovely garden & house was interesting with the garden a tad better than the one we visited on Monday at Nostell Priory. The veg garden needed some attention & the produce picked & used. I love the fox cub. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan, What a shame that Nostell Priory's garden wasn't being well tended, perhaps they were struggling to keep volunteers for some reason. Our nearest NT property picks vegetables and bags them for a stall and honesty box so people can take produce away otherwise most of it gets used in their cafe. The gardens at Lyme Park were flooded a few weeks after we visited so lots of those plants were uprooted. such a shame. It's not good weather at the moment for getting out and about. Have a lovely weekend:)
DeleteLove those big sunflowers! The fox family is doing well. It must be fascinating to see the cubs growing and getting bigger. Our library service hasn't even got copies of Big Sky the last time I enquired on line. I shall have to try again to see if they have a copy now and get on the reserve waiting list. Enjoy your reading!
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda, the sunflowers are gone now but they did look lovely almost to the end. I've never waited quite so long for a book before staying on number five in the queue right until the last week when it became one in the queue. I guess there were four copies around the library service and all returned at the same time. I hope you can reserve it from your library now. Hve a lovely weekend:)
DeleteI too had some sunflowers in the home - a gift from my daughter.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your books, if you've had the rain we have I bet you have got a lot of reading in this week.
Thank you Julie, sunflowers are lovely to have in the house and last for quite a while too:)
DeleteI love the Sunflowers, they would make a good painting!! I've added Diary of a Bookseller to my list, it looks quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you Pam, the sunflowers were lovely right to the end. The book is mildly ammusing, I've been reading it alongside the other books, just a few days at a time:)
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