Blogtober - Day Thirty

It's the last Sunday in October and the clocks have gone back to Greenwich Mean Time and we have left British Summer Time behind.  A couple of the clocks were put back an hour last night also the heating. One or two more still need to be done.  Not that we've got that many.  

It was grey but calm this morning so we went out for a walk locally.  Home made soup when we got home, with homemade rolls.  Very warming and tasty.  Although not much warming was needed as it has been so mild over the last couple of days.

Leek and Potato

Yesterday the leaves were raked up from the lawn but of course, there are more there again today.

They are now in the compost bin.

 

I didn't take many photos on our walk today so below are a few I took on a walk earlier this week, just from home to the local park where the trees were looking autumnal.

 

All for now.

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

The sunflowers bring a little bit of sushine on a day that is more like Autumn than Summer.

The laundry is drying inside, warmer clothes have been fished out of drawers and warming onion soup has been made for lunch; this evening the heating has been switched on. It seems ages, although only a few days, since we were walking on Crosby Beach in the sunshine.
Where has Summer gone?

(Edit 20/7/09 - I've just realised that I made it sound as if our heating had been switched on indefinitely when it was really just for an hour to take off the chill caused by the rain and to dry out wet clothes etc. This morning the sun is shining again with only the wet garden to give any clues as to yesterday's deluge.)

Wild Garlic

The wild garlic which grows at the top of our garden, under the hazel tree, is flourishing at the moment, spurred on, no doubt, by the spring like warmth we've had for the last few days. I've been thinking that I ought to use some of the young leaves for a salad and I found a good recipe in one of my books which uses lettuce leaves with the wild garlic leaves and also radishes and spring onions. It is then drizzled with a lemon dressing - it sounds lovely and refreshing. I was going to make it this weekend but now the weather forecast is for snow and wintry showers. With this in mind we have this morning bought leeks and intend to make hot, warming leek and potato soup instead. The spring salad will have to wait for a while.


This photo was added Sunday - it did snow! By the way, the leek and potato soup was lovely.

Up on the Downs

This morning we took a long walk on Barlaston Downs. We hadn't been there for a while and soon discovered that quite a few things had changed. The Downs Banks site is owned and maintained by the National Trust and as we made our way around the waymarked routes we came across groups of conservation volunteers putting up fences and clearing paths whilst at the same time having great fun.



All the gates, stiles and route posts have been renewed and a new innovation allows cattle to graze on the downs to keep the vegetation under control.



It was cool and dry; perfect weather for walking and just the right light for taking photos.



After our walk we returned home for lunch which was a delicious bowl of homemade courgette soup accompanied by Paul's tasty tomato bread.