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Diary – 2013 October
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 October
I like maps but I prefer to read them at home and make my plans. This
one is in the bus shelter, with wind and traffic roaring past. I did not
want to be reading it and then see my bus whizz by!
In the afternoon we tidied up the garden. I had to have some help
cutting up the thicker branches.
I will have to pick these soon, they are Cox's Orange Pippin and have
ripened really well. This
cotoneaster is full of berries for our blackbirds.
3 October
At the garden centre, I thought at first that these ornaments were crows because of the
beaks, but they are penguins. This bird watering device looks like a
good idea. I prefer the real birds on the telephone wires nearby my
window, they are a lot more interesting.
These stone chip samples remind me of the coloured bead sets where you
can play games or make patterns. I always admire this hedge near the
garden centre and I have planted some pyracantha in my garden, but it
will be some time before they get to this size.
4 October
Here is all the garden rubbish going to the dump, where it will be
recycled in their giant composter into garden soil. Brown Teddy saved
all the bits of flowers and put them in a jam jar on the kitchen window
sill.
I took some more pears from the tree and scrubbed them all. Blue Parrot
found one just the right size for him.
5 October
These blue tits and great tits have been twittering around our gardens
for several days and at last I got a picture of them. They move away
very quickly so I had to take lots of photos to make sure I got one
with them actually in it.
In the park two swans have arrived. They stay for a bit and then they
might be gone a week later. This ladybird on the park railing is the
opposite of the normal black dots on red.
6 October
It was a very misty morning and we found this wet spider web in the
grasses in the boot sale field. When we came home, it was invisible again as it had dried off.
In the afternoon we went back to Well Hall Pleasaunce with Auntie (we
first visited
last
month). I will have to find out why the lions on the shield have
chimneys behind them! This
squirrel is eating a piece of our orange flavoured chocolate biscuit
bar.
Here is the leaning wall again, and we all took a turn at holding it up,
with Auntie using her stick.
7 October
This is Woody the wood pigeon after his bath, letting his wing feathers
dry in the sun.
8 October
We went to the garden centre at Ruxley. This big shrub is about 2 metres
tall clipped in cloud shapes like bonsai trees. These plastic chicken
ornaments look very real.
I really liked this marbled stone and I would prefer it without the
fountain and the slimy green algae - I prefer the rock patterns on their
own! Last
time I came this water feature had nothing in it, but now it is working
properly.
I always visit the fish and these are tiger barbs. I also got a good
closeup picture of the beautiful scales on one of the bigger fish.
I really liked these British Birds tea set things. I always take a photo
for Dino and he will probably ask why I did not buy one of the
chocolate button lollies as well!
9 October
I am hurrying to get all the new bulbs planted while the weather
is good. In the hole are Salome daffodils, and yellow and white crocus.
We will be able to see these from the kitchen window next spring, when
it is too cold to go out. The soil in this
bit is quite good so the daffodils should not die out like they do in
other parts of the garden where it is drier.
We replaced a piece of fence, rather than repaint it. The new fence
planks are a very smart honey colour and now the height is the same all
the way along instead of up and down.
10 October
I picked all the remaining apples on our trees. The red ones at the back
are Cox's Orange Pippin, the green ones are supposed to be Russet but
they don't look like it, as Russets should be a greeny brown colour. In
the colander are a few Spartan, the only ones that the tree has produced
this year. Dino offer to test them all for tastiness, especially as
there is always a dish of pieces from the ones that need to be eaten
straight away.
11 October
I always take a photo of rainbows when they appear but they always look
brighter in real life than in photos. In the evening we watched
the World's Strongest Man competition. You need a good armchair to see
it, as it is interesting but very tiring watching them pick up the big stones.
15 October
On the way back from a shopping trip, we went into Hall Place for some
more photos. I found another creature amongst the Chess Pieces topiary,
but there is no notice to say what it is supposed to be. I like the
secret garden gate as I know it is going to be all quiet with no-one
there!
Steps and corners are always interesting. In front of the seat is this
millstone, left over from when the estate had a mill on the river.
This is the Princess Diana memorial seat with the plaque under one of
the six seats.
As we walked, the geese were following us but they soon realised that
there was no bread on offer, except for two young ones who we noticed
standing behind us expectantly. It is best to keep moving so that they
don't waste any further energy on following people. The geese keep this
grass very short.
On the way out we admired the ornamental crab apples. These and the
pyracantha in the model gardens will keep the birds supplied over
winter.
16 October
Starlings usually squabble over their perches but these ones have a
phone mast each.
20 October
Heavy rain with sunshine in between, obviously a day to spend indoors
and I think it would be a good idea to sort out the books and rearrange
them a bit. The sun came out in between the heavy showers.
22 October
We took a walk by the river. This felled tree is
sprouting leaves but I don't think they will grow into another tree because
there are no roots anywhere.
This rotting tree trunk is full of wasps and I am glad the Parks people
have put a ribbon round and a sign at both ends! The logs are left to
rot down for insects, so the wasps are allowed to stay.
23 October
I found a new footpath today, along the Kyd Brook from Locksbottom to
Petts Wood. There are lots of bridges along the way.
This part of the
path goes away from the muddy and crumbling edge of the stream and the
parks people have built
hurdles at each end to prevent anyone from walking along the edge.
Further along it opened out onto a field in the Riding Centre. The
horses all had coats on and several were munching the acorns from the
mud.
24 October
We took a bus along a very narrow country road near Cudham and the branches were
scraping along the window, with sound effects! We took a walk along this
road where it is all more open and sunny.
25 October
This is the road from Green Street Green. There is countryside all round
but the road is very busy. This sign on the bus stop should have said
"No stopping except for buses and flies" as a spider had made his web
right underneath.
We have had to get
some scarers to keep the cats from visiting the garden. It makes a
sudden noise that only cats can hear. It has worked very well and I
think the foxes can probably hear it as well.
We also got a solar
powered scarer which also has two flashing lights like eyes. I have hung
it on the parasol stand so that I can move it around. I spent the
afternoon in the greenhouse. While the mittens were being finished, I
got on with writing my lists of things to do and projects that I would
like to start, as well as shopping reminders.
26 October
This is called a vertical declining sundial, as it is on a wall. It is
on the Styleman's Alms Houses in Bexley Village.
"Tempus fugit" is Latin for "time flies".
At Hall Place
Gardens the wind was blowing these pampas grasses quite strongly. Gales
are expected within 24 hours so the staff had put out a warning notice
to keep away from trees.
There were a lot of
autumn coloured trees all with a circle of orange leaves underneath.
Brown Teddy is
reading the notice. It is a long list of what must not be done in the
gardens but it makes sure that everyone can enjoy the peace and quiet.
The Canada geese tend to walk towards anyone who looks as if they might have a
bread bag.
I like this
planting notice, it is better than nailing a notice to the tree! Here
are the stepping stones at the bottom of the long river overflow
channel. They are not very high and I think they just keep the mud off,
and would probably not be high enough if water was collecting in the
channel.
Brown Teddy and I
had our bits of snack bread round behind the trees, where the geese
could not see us! Brown Teddy found this big shrubby tree with lovely
perfumed flowers.
Berries for the
blackbirds, just checking! This mossy stone in the rock garden looks like
a big cliff with grass and shrubs going over the edge and a forest down
below.
One of the Queen's
Beasts was actually talking to me, or perhaps it was just the wind
blowing his mouth branch up and down! We went on to the fruit orchard.
It is laid out as an example from the past, with historical types of
fruit trees, and so the fruits are left fall to the ground. The snails
and birds have them all to themselves.
The cut flower
garden has a few plants still left, and these ones look like the
fireworks that we will see in a week or two, especially the starburst
fireworks.
We went on to the
wildlife corner. This pile of logs seems to be an insect home so they
can hibernate over winter.
There is a hide
with seats where you can watch the river wildlife and the birds on the
feeders.
There were no ducks
near this duckhouse, they are out eating and I expect they only use it at night.
There were plenty of moorhens and maybe this belongs to them.
This pond has been
made so that you can walk down and get level with the water. Just
outside the hide is a giant egg-shaped seat. It is made of reconstituted
stone that looks like marble with bits in. Dino will just love this
photo and we will have to take him another time so he can try sitting on
it.
27 October
The winds will be very galey tonight so I think this might be the last
photo of the autumn leaves on the tree that I can see from my kitchen.
28 October
The weather was still stormy when we woke up. On our walks we found one
or two trees that had blown down.
29 October
We went on a country walk near Green Street Green. I like to see interesting
footpaths but this one was very muddy. The hedgerow had plenty of
rosehips. These pink berries are from the Spindle tree, a type of
Euonymus, and they are poisonous to us.
Between the trees
were sunny green fields and horses at the equestrian centre. I was not
planning to walk to Sevenoaks, and we shall be bussing home afterwards. When
the milestone
says London, it really means the centre of London, not the outskirts
near where we live.
In the afternoon I
did some work in the warm greenhouse. Dino came in as well. He spent a
lot of time checking the red chocolate container, but it has been empty
of sweets since last Christmas and only contains the knitting!
Back indoors, I was
just in time to get a good photo of the sun going down behind this
stormy looking cloud, with all the sunrays streaming out.
30 October
We went to Tarnwood Bird Sanctuary, which is a park in Eltham with a
lake in it and lots of trees, where the birds can all live quietly. At the entrance is
this Ice House. Long ago, ice was collected in winter and stored packed
in straw in a cool shaded hole in
the ground, to be used during the rest of the year. I am glad
about the wire mesh over the top of the hole!
The lake was very
quiet with lots of birds, ducks and geese. These two geese followed us as we
walked along, so we thought they deserved a bit of our snack bread.
There are
information signs
everywhere about the birds, frogs, bats and other wildlife. At the end
of the lake is a bridge.
Back near the
beginning is the toilets building. The posts are tree timbers that have
been left in a tree shape and not cut straight, but I think the short bits at the top
have been added in, so that they are all the right size and angle. I
like it much better than straight posts, as they hide the building amongst
the other trees.
Back in Eltham, we
found this very old drinking fountain from 1886 on the outside of the
church wall, with a dog or horse drinking container at ground level.
We carried on to
Well Hall Pleasaunce. It was a bit sad to see this really big tree blown
over, and we were glad it all happened at night when there was no-one
there. This sign says "Can you find these leaves?" and I am sure they
were all there, but we wanted to get round for our photos before the sun
went in.
The bog garden pond
is covered in duck weed, but I was pleased to see the moat is now clear
water, although it still had a lot of fallen leaves in it.
I was very puzzled
by this wall, with the line of bricks dipping down at an angle. We went
round to the garden on the other side and found the same thing. My guess
is that the bricks had to be built going upwards and over a water
channel or pipe. I wonder if there is secret tunnel underneath?
This bell is at the
top of the roof on the Tudor Barn, which is now a restaurant. I think it
would be fun if they rang it as a dinner bell, when lunch was ready to be
served! In the children's play area, if you look closely you can see a
piston at the right hand end of the logs, so that they sway up and down when
children walk along them.
31 October
The weather is getting colder now and I have decided to put some of the
frozen pear pieces in my porridge. Hot pear and oats is very delicious
and it's nice to know the pears are from our own tree.
In the park, the wind has blown this branch through the goalpost, not
the sort of goal we really want, though.
Coming out of the
park is a footpath behind some gardens where I found this scented
honeysuckled growing down on our side. I am glad the owners did not chop
it back too much.
Back home it was
time to pack up the pile of knitted mittens, especially my favourite red ones, and take
them to the charity, along with a big box of bubble wrap. The box was
very light but difficult to keep hold of, so we used the shopping
trolley. I hope some more red mittens like this get made, and I think
they will, now that we have a photo of them. I wonder if there will be
time to make me a hat like that as well, for when it snows?
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
Where to report a lost or found teddy or
toy in
the UK:
https://www.facebook.com/LostboxTeddyBears
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