A very British Summer

Now here in the South West of the UK, we have had a strange Summer…as is usual!  Today it feels like that first day of Autumn.. although we have well over a month before the offical start.  I decided not to be too grumpy about the weather and grabbed my camera for some raindrop photos.

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside–

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown–
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Robert Louis Stevenson

Dahlia Time

This time of year, Dahlias really come into their own.  Here are a selection from my neighbours garden.  Jim is in his late eighties, but spends all day in his garden growing vegetables mainly, but also has a bit of a penchant for dahlias.

Pom Pom Dahlia

 

Some facts about dahlias :

1.  Dahlias were originally grown as a food crop, as they apparently have edible tubers.
2.  They are native to Mexico, but now grown all over the world.
3. There’s no such thing as a black dahlia. They come in just about every shade under the sun, except true blue and black. “Black” dahlias are actually burgundy.  You can see from my picture
4. Best time to plant tubers is May.
5. There are 42 species and about 20,000 cultivars of dahlia.
6. In the mid 19th century a London newspaper offered £1 to the first breeder to produce a blue dahlia. The reward has never been claimed and breeders are still striving for the elusive blue colour. There have been several near blue cultivars.

 

 

Autumn

Single leaf

floated in the wind

gently landed

like a bird on the wing.

 

Autumn colours

vivid and bright

lit up

in the evenings light.

 

 

 

Autumn

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: leaves

I have so many pictures of leaves and trees , I decided to just stick to leaves for my entry to Cee’s challenge on her blog ceenphotography.

Weekly Photo Challenge: “Inside” the tunnel

Inside an old railway tunnel over a mill stream.

Weekly photo Challenge: inside

Sunset tree

What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?
~ Pablo Neruda

 

Read it and reap

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap

but by the seeds that you plant”

Robert Louis Stevenson

Autumn of our lives

 

 

Into Autumn
Life is a dash