Not many will remember the Shirly joke from a film, but I do every time someone uses that word.
Twice this week we have woke up to ice on the car, surely (stop it), this is way too early? Busy Liz that were out in a pot have shrivelled up & died , some other plants are looking a bit poorly. Others are dying back as you will see or at least going into their Autumn colours. Way too early only just the first days of Autumn, not Winter and back in the Cairngorms they have had their first snow.
23rd.
Walked around our little garden and captured some shots of the flowers that were enjoying today’s sunshine.
Pampus Grass
A Sedum.
From green to deep red in one stem.
Looks like we will have some good variegated Holly for Christmas decorations.
Last of a Budlia bush flowers.
The Acer changing colours already.
Walked down to the village and the colours are definetly changing.
Seed heads are floating around.
Think this was long dead before the frost appeared.
Now two things that will soon be mysteriously disappearing from our garden on the next refuse tip run.
Sorry not for me.
28th.
As we had a bit of rain in the morning our afternoon walk was on the tarmac and we went partially up the drive to what our neighbours refer to as the “big house” . didn’t go far enough up their drive to see just how big it is but that is for another day. The house is owned by the new lairds of the estate, which again the neighbours tell me, was purchased for just under two million pounds so guess it will be bigger than ours.
The ground is very low lying and is just all scrub and wetland, as you can see it is very near the loch. Met three lads who had been Pike fishing and told me where to go, though they didn’t catch one, they said it was a good spot, so a bit of Winter sport for me.
The last shot shows the Bullrushes in the submerged ground, though we didn’t;t see much birdlife I would think the Spring it will be full of birds and the amount of seed heads we should see a few Winter feeders. Plenty of Wrens about though.
As we have a lot of wind farms scattered amongst the barren hills the community do well out of financial schemes set up by the farms to help with funding of local projects. Today was the opening of one such project a cycling track for all to enjoy especially the youngsters, though it was packed when we walked past it , I did not feel comfortable taking photos with so many children present. When we came back from our walk its had been closed so I took the shots below through the security fencing.
It is such a great track and will be ideal for teaching children road safety, with road signs zebra crossings stop signs the lot . Plus picnic benches all around for parents to sit on and the whole family to have a great afternoon or morning out. In the last shot you can just see two purpose built sheds one for maintenance and the other for bicycle storage as I believe they have spare bikes for those who do not own one, or maybe they just want to try a different type of bike to theirs. Wonderful initiative and just what the youngsters want to get them out in the fresh air.