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

Crazy April

April - icy winds, torrential rain, brilliant sunshine, hail storms and the odd front of hot flushes coming in off the Atlantic - and that's just in one day!

That's Rocco - a rather naughty race horse

This month I have been mostly:-

Arty farty with a pair of scissors and a pritt stick

Buying a pair of comfy clogs and a very stretchy denim skirt - oh yeah....All hail elastane.

Watching an explosion on Neighbours!

Helping my fellow Bungalow Girl with her new gardening business

Singing in Romsey Abbey

Going to Bournemouth Jazz Festival and eating fish and chips at Harry Ramsdens

Putting the log basket away in the garage and getting the summer linen out - ready to waft, ready to waft....

Spring cleaning and washing walls with sugar soap (my new favourite household item)

Our amaryllis came to life - good job! I nearly threw it away, no patience.

We have gardened until we were soaked through to our underwear and also endured driving hailstones.

Moi - mowing a customers lawn.  What a woman!

These two just snuggle in the warm

It was lovely to sing in Romsey Abbey with some of our old singing buddies

Of course a visit to the pub was involved

We made the annual trip to see the bluebells.

Grovely Woods

and met up with our friend and old neighbour Chantal and her boys

April = layering.  Cold, hot, cold, hot - agh!

Talking of cold.  It was freezing the evening we went to Bournemouth Jazz Festival

Bournemouth

I loved the Bourne Valley Jemz.  Much jiggling about to keep warm. 

Oooh, purchase of the month - spied in Melksham by my charity shopping partner in crime, Hayley -

My very own hostess trolley!  We use it all the time.

I'm probably not going to be making so much soup now but this one was nice -

Jamie Oliver recipe from 'Jamie's America'

Rustic tortilla soup

This cake was yummy - 

Recipe from 'The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook' by Salma Hage.

Cardamom banana bread

We are appreciating the longer evenings, despite the unpredictable weather.

Big Dog enjoying a dip in between showers

Cowslips in the front garden

Bluebells

We narrowly averted an explosion one night when we discovered that one of Sarah's beer barrels was convex on the bottom rather than concave and was making a rather disturbing hissing noise!  It had got too warm and the pressure was causing it to leak from the seams of the barrel.  Luckily we managed to release the pressure and decant it to another barrel.  Phew...

This was the guilty culprit in it's infancy ('Festival Golden Stag') being transferred to the barrel

The cows have been let out from the barn and are once more staring at us over the fence

Pink bluebells in the back garden

Snake's-head fritillary - I adore these

Tulips

We also have six race horses behind the bungalow again - carrots on the shopping list

Beauties

Big Dog lolloping home

Rain on the way

Sarah's little babies are covering every window sill

It is so good to see colour in the garden again.

Blue Iris

Ranunculus

It's warming up now.  Supposed to be 21 degrees by the weekend!  I'm soooo excited - quick get the barbie out!!!