October - let the fungi season begin.....

October - 

This month I have been mostly -

- raking leaves

- stacking logs

- carving pumpkins

- making soup

- reading

- watching films

and generally enjoying the colour and misty mornings.

Sunrise

Ghostly layer of mist behind the bungalow

Spellbinding skies

Still lots of colour in the garden.

Golden Rod

Cosmos

Echinacea

The bungalow has had cosmetic surgery.

The drive, in all it's muddy glory, waiting to be made pretty

My fellow bungalow girl was unusually spontaneous and drove us to Southbourne one Sunday.  We ate our picnic in the car as the heavens opened...

but the rain soon cleared

and breathe........

Not the same without a dog though!

I have enjoyed the last of my post work sunset walks.  Now the clocks have changed it will be dark by the time I get home (blows raspberry).

Down by the river Ebble

We borrowed Basil yesterday for a walk to Martin Down nature reserve.  At 336 hectares, it is one of the largest areas of chalk grassland in the country.

Basil exploring Martin Down

It is impossible to wear Basil out!

Fungi time!

Could be an amethyst deceiver

Basil found a ball in the leaves

Puff ball

If I knew it wasn't going to rot and smell, I would have taken this home

Is it odd to want to be shrunk down to the size of a thimble and sit under one of this mushrooms?

Or am I just weird?

Glowing autumn colour, even in the murkiness

Gorse

I made the usual pumpkin soup last night.  I discovered it is even nicer with some Parmesan on top. Sarah made me some ciabatta to go with my butter....

Pumpkin soup

Waiting for the trick or treaters - notice new drive..... 

This year our pumpkins (many but small) were ready a month too early and after leaving them in the shed they were so hard I couldn't get a knife into them!

I gave up on this one as I was worried I might give myself a fatal stab wound in my effort to carve it.

Raised beds ready for planting

Well, November tomorrow. 

 I'm thinking.... 

- charity shopping for knitwear

- looking for some new soup recipes

- watching a black and white film 

- finding a good spooky read for the dark evenings

- being thrifty

- Oh, and hoping a dog will come our way

"Dogs are here to remind us life really is a simple thing.  You eat, sleep, take walks, and pee when you must.  That's about all there is.  They are quick to forgive trespasses and assume strangers will be kind."

- Jonathan Carroll, The Marriage of Sticks

The Hunt for Red October

This month I have been mostly:-

- Digging the garden - with a toad and shrew for company.  Frank, you missed one!

- Dreaming - lots.

- Drinking red wine (cause of above?).

- Doing restorative Yoga in a darkened room and trying not to snore.

- Daring to try new things.

My fellow Bungalow Girl has been to Paris on a work trip and texted me these snaps.  I wasn't jealous in any way, shape or form.

I wore Big Dog out one Friday morning by going on a three hour walk!  Pics below.

Puff ball fungi

Spindle tree

We've been on fungi forays in the woods.

Grovely Woods

Common Stink-horn - was so chuffed to spot this!

Jelly Fungi

We've seen a sculpture exhibition by Jenny Pickford entitled 'SuperNature' at The Courts - a National Trust Garden.  The exhibition comprised of 17 sculptures made of forged steel and hand blown glass. Lunch in the old billiard room wasn't bad either.  

Two soups.....

The kitchen garden was cute.  Still lots of colour.

I've been making lots of different soups and cakes.

Carrot, apple and celery soup

Autumn skies are the best......

Eerie

Moody

Spooky

Last Friday it tipped down but rain and gloom doesn't put Big Dog off.  

Hare Warren

This white foam can sometimes appear after a dry spell and subsequent torrential rain.  As the rain flows down the tree it mixes with the salts and acids in the bark and forms a crude soap.

Strange tree foam

I've enjoyed kicking through the leaves

And then snuggling under 'blankie' with my book and a mug of tea.  Simple pleasures are the best.

This is the time of year for lit rooms at dusk.  I used to linger over the chapter in The Wind in the Willows in which lost, homesick and frightened, Mole looks wistfully at the 'squares of a dusky orange-red on either side of the street, where the firelight or lamplight of each cottage overflowed through the casements into the dark world without'.

Mirabel Osler 'In the Eye of the Garden'