Oh my god the Ladybirds are coming!....

And despite Summers hazy lazy relaxed days,

Autumn takes over, slowly, subtlety in so many ways.

As indiscernible to perceive as the movement of a clock

whose hands steal our time away seemingly as still as a rock.

Don't be fooled by the resurgence of the rose,

It's colour and scent the essence of the garden prose.

Don't be fooled by the Ladybirds, Butterflies and Bees,

They'll all be gone soon and the message they send is but a tease.

The apples are dropping onto the dew dampened lawn,

whilst the herbaceous borders are looking weary and forlorn.

The Brambles are rotting and the silken cobwebs glisten in the cold sun,

It will not be long now, the signs are there that Summer is all but done.

So mow your last cut and prepare to battle the carpet

of brown, red and yellow leaves that will fall to mark it.

For Autumn is coming with more gust than you'll know

and tomorrow you'll be lighting your fire and comforting in the glow.

But don't be despondent all full of gloom and piteous sorrow

for there is always something to look forward for tomorrow.

The dappled sun through the conker coloured trees

and even the freshness of the oh so sharp breeze.

Filling that awkward gap between the yellow of the sun

and the cold frosty snow when we know winter has begun

Autumn serves us well and allows us to manage our seasonal shock

for whatever happens there is no stopping that slow, ticking hand of the seasonal clock.

M.Thomas

And so it is that Autumn has arrived and we have been forced into many tasks that I could really have preferred to have done just a few weeks later. Like the apple picking, one of our trees was so heavily weighed down and so many apples were jumping off in protest at not being picked that we just had to get on with it. So Claire and I set about gathering them all in and when we had finished we had over 110 lbs of fruit and a whole load of work cut out for us in the preservation of the apples.
We also had to ensure that we got our fire wood bought in and this was delivered and man handled to a temporary position in the garden , under a tarpaulin until I can build a proper wood store to move it to.
There is a massive amount of cob nuts and Hazelnuts and the Figs have gone into a frenzy of ripening, the Cox tree will need harvesting next so we are not finished in the garden by any means.



The garden looks really nice at the moment and today's warm sun added to that rustic rough edged beauty. The roses scent is particularly heady and some of the blooms are magnificent. 

But you can't be fooled into thinking the place is all at peace with the world for as I wondered through the garden I noticed that one of our many thousands of Ladybirds had been captured by a mean looking spider and the spider seemingly was sucking the Ladybird to death, quite, quite savage.

 




That night I went out to look at the jet black night sky. It was one of the best that I had seen since we have been here (and I've seen some good ones). There were just thousands of little pinpricks of light filling the whole vista of the dome-like sky. It honestly made me physically take in a breath as if I was trying to taste the star show for some mad reason. Simply astounding, I turned my body around and around on the spot desperately trying to engulf my self in its entirety which was (of course) just impossible as it was far too big to do so. I have not checked the following out and as such I am probably wrong but I saw two very distinctive planets, one was bright as a torch and I assumed it to be Venus and the other was far smaller and distinctly red (even with my bare eyesight) which I assume to be Mars. As I continued to walk around the dark garden in my socks I felt all gooey. This was not a sentimental sort of gooey. No. This was a "bugger", I've just trodden on a slug and its remnants are oozing through the weave of the sock kind of gooey!
At this point I went back in doors.


The next day I came across the said slug and it had the appearance that Clint Eastwood had indeed had his Day made with its head end blown away. Sitting on top of the remaining carcass and seemingly to be also sucking the juices of it up was this little, wouldn't say boo to a goose, Ladybird. I really did not see this insect as such a callous beast, but why should I categorise it in such a way I cannot say. I suppose that it normally looks so innocuous and they seem to love to walk over your hands and skin...... Oh my god the Ladybirds are coming!....

I have to lay some lino in the Annex bathroom soon and it is going to be a really awkward shape to cut as all the fixtures and fittings had to be put into position first so the concrete floor could dry. To assist me in laying this lino I decided that I would make a template out of newspapers first, cutting them all to size and shape in situ I then stuck them together with tape. When my knee is better at bending I shall take the paper up and place it on to the lino and cut out the right shape, hopefully!

But the ladies of the house have complained. Why?   Well it appears that I have not stuck all the newspapers in a position that they can all be read whilst,    er, how can I say this? Whilst they are sitting contemplating. The bloody cheek.


We went to Bookers Cash & Carry today and bought a massive sack of Broccoli for just £1.50 and a whole retail tray of mushrooms for just £3.50 and Claire has spent her day firstly making Apple & Rose-hip juice in bulk to turn into a jelly tomorrow and then she made Broccoli and Stilton soup by the gallon and followed by a massive crock of Mushroom soup. She has frozen this and we will use it for bird watchers that stay with us, filling our Thermoses so they can stay warm out on the reed marshes.

We are really pleased with the feedback from our customers and about 50% of them have actually written thank you letters back to us after they had got home! I don't think we have ever done that, although Alison always writes a good review on Trip Advisor site if the place was good. We are naturally really chuffed at this and although I will not write about customers as such I would like to share the last letter with you....


Dear Alison, Mike & Claire,

We just had to write to thank you for such a wonderful weekend. 
You thought of every little detail, we felt very spoilt.
Your breakfasts are delicious. We are missing your jams already!
We wish you great success with your B&B, it is a little bit of Heaven!


Best wishes from a very relaxed ......


Yes it is probably a bit big headed to reprint it, but we are just so pleased that the people who have come here are so generous with their praise, one couple even over paid us because they enjoyed it so much!
Here's hoping that we can continue in the same way......

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