Chimney Tops and Clock Towers ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ A few days ago, I promised you more chimney pots ~~~ and here they are.  Of course, these are just a few more to whet your appetite.  I took a welcome, short, restorative walk today, around the valley, the longest I have walked since my back started to heal. Thank you all for your good wishes, healing thoughts, and prayers as this continues.  In the meantime, I am getting more and more frustrated as I can only watch things ~ that is to say weeds ~ grow out of control in the garden ~~~ one thing is for certain, there will be plenty of catching up to do!

So, I went off for my walk on a beautiful, gently warm and sunny autumn day, and taking my time and my camera, I enjoyed this long awaited freedom from the cottage. The air had that certain feel that only comes in autumn, so hard to explain, but one of those things you just know by instinct.  I took a lot of photographs, I gathered a big bag of conkers, or horse chestnuts, and was so incredibly happy to hear, as I walked along the drying river banks, the long silent bells of the cathedral, striking out fresh and loud and clear, signalling the hour.  You see, Gentle Reader, the clock has recently been removed and undergoing complete restoration and is now being returned, put back in its old, familiar setting.  I cannot tell you how much I have missed hearing the hour strike out, but it has been calling out the time for a few days now, an old friend returned.  One day I will capture the sound on a short video for you to hear, and also I will capture the sound of the campanologists at the Bell Tower too.

Here are two photographs I took, one a close up of the refurbished face and numerals, all pristine and new; the other is of the whole tower showing all the scaffolding needed ~~~

Moving on to the chimneys, another selection for you to look at ~~~ some are very similar, but each has its own individual character ~~~

Here is one that has a lot of pipes, there are many fire places inside, and this one is also finished with a rendering to protect the brickwork ~~~

I really like this one; it looks very old, and I love the curved edges instead of being squared off ~~~

Here is another unusual one ~~~ look at the slate ledge near the bottom ~~~ I wonder what its purpose is, and with the funny pointed guard on top too!

I just love these too!  The softly rounded stacks with arranged pipes on top is just so cute ~~~

Finally, two of the oldest chimneys in the Shire ~~~ two stacks from the kitchen quarters of the ruins of the Bishop's Palace ~~~ the site dates to the 6th century, although most of the ruins date from the 13th and 14th centuries ~~~






















I hope, Gentle Reader, that you have enjoyed your visit to the chimney tops and clock tower of my corner of the Shire today, and remember that ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Chimneys and Rooftops ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ as my back heals, very slowly, all too slowly, for I am an itchin' and a twitchin' to get out and garden on these gentle, mellow early days of Autumn ~~~ I am taking short and regular strolls up and down the road near my cottage.  Always with my constant companion ~ my camera ~ and just yesterday I simply started pointing the lens at all the lovely chimney pots I can see from the bottom of my drive.  I thought you would like to see them, so here they are, a small collection of beautiful old red brick and stone chimney pots.  Some of these are quite old ~~~ and there are lovely patterns of slate and lichen too, gorgeous colours ~~~

This is the roof top of an old local chapel, now a house and art gallery, but just look at the ridge tiles ~~~

Across to the fields and hills behind ~~~

A cheeky gull sits, looking across to the spires on the tower of the cathedral ~~~

An old Welsh farm cottage ~~~

another of the same ~~~

Finally, two photographs of the full Harvest Super Moon taken the night following the previous cloud covered collection here

I have enjoyed taking these chimney pots so much it gives me and idea to take more to show you, for there are many lovely ones in the village that I'm sure you'd love to see, so there is a plan~~~

I already have another diary entry typed and ready to share, but will wait a day or two, so I hope you will stop by again ~~~ in the meantime, remember ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

~~~waving~~~at the Harvest Moon

Gentle Reader ~~~ Wasn't the full Harvest Moon splendid last evening?  I do hope you saw her, shining down in all her ethereal glory, silvery shimmery ~ gossamer clouds, as a cloak of invisibility, draping her, half hiding her, here in The Shire ~ 

I took some photographs, I always record the full moon ~ that is, when not scuppered by cloud cover, as so often happens here in The Shire ~ even though the composition seldom changes as she rises high in the midnight sky ~ unless, perchance, she loftily glides majestically over the lowly branches of an earth~bound tree or skims a tiled rooftop ~ The Man in The Moon smiles down from above {so why do I call her a 'she'?} 

So, here 'she' is, half hidden by her raiment of clouds, shimmering, slipping silently by with a ghostly, silvery sheen ~~~ a perfect picture for Hallowe'en ~~~ 

Did you see all the subtle changes, as the clouds moved across her face?  Here is one final image, difficult to focus with so much cloud, the lens pulled back, so you can see the halo that surrounded her last night ~~~ there was an eerie, amber glow that does not quite show here, I half expected to see a wild Welsh witch on a besom flit across the spooky scene ~~~  



I do hope you were able to see the Harvest Moon last night ~~~ and remember that ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work is Never Done~~~

Carrots and Beetroot for Tea ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ Thank you all for your very kind comments made on last week's entry.  I was very touched by them. 

A few months back I started an experiment with carrots.  They are not something I have grown before because when my late father grew them so much of the crop was ruined and wasted due to the omni~present and dreaded Carrot Fly.  If you have ever seen a carrot bed decimated by this horrible pest you will understand why I have never bothered with carrots.  If you have never seen carrot fly damage, then the RHS information page on said pest will show you why I have not bothered. 

I am on a steep learning curve with my garden, and I chat whenever I can to other gardeners, and recall what my Dad said, and looking things up on line too. This tiny, but highly destructive pest, it seems, has shark like senses that can sniff out one particle of eau de carrot from miles away {I jest, of course, but you get the picture} and apparently, once you have had carrot fly infestation in your garden it is very hard to rid yourself of it, for it will return as sure as eggs are eggs, and as such I could not see the point in giving over valuable growing space to a crop that I knew would end up in the compost bin.  

There are ways to rid yourself of this pest, chemicals being one, but that is not acceptable to me as I try to garden without the use of any chemicals.  I know a lot of people who have tried several methods, such as inter~planting the rows of carrots with strong scented marigolds ~ the pungency of the marigolds is supposed to mask the equally pungent scent of carrot tops wafting on the wind and confuse the carrot fly, but I have yet to find someone who says this method works; it certainly didn't work for my Dad.  By listening and reading, I have learned that a good, non~chemical way to deter carrot fly and get a good harvest of delicious, edible carrots is to use barriers. Another method is to grow your carrots after the carrot fly season, but this means aiming for a very late crop as the season does not end until late Summer or early Autumn.   I wanted my carrots earlier, so I decided to try a barrier.

I read of two methods using a barrier, which is either to completely covering the carrots with a horticultural fleece and not remove it until ready to harvest the crop, or seeds are sown in a raised bed that is at least twenty inches high {for the fly cannot, apparently, fly above twenty inches off the ground} I filled a disused, clean rubbish bin with a mixture of garden soil, compost, and Grow Bag contents and sowed the fine, brown seeds on the top.  In a couple of weeks they had germinated, so now all I had to do was wait.  Over the following weeks, the green carrot tops grew and grew, getting taller and filling the bin to overflowing.  I was worried now, with so much fragrant greenery billowing in the wind, that the fly would be attracted in. However, I kept my faith, and just a day ago I harvested my first, perfectly pest~free carrots! 

They aren't very big, but they are reasonably good in shape, and are not forked or split, so I am very happy.  They tasted so good!  I do not remember the last time I ate a carrot that tasted so carroty! It makes me wonder how much water and what nutrients are given to the mass produced, perfect carrots sold in supermarkets and greengrocers around the country, for by comparison they have a perfect shape but are watery and tasteless.  I know which I prefer!

So, I have learned much from this experiment.  Not only that the twenty inch barrier works in deterring the carrot fly, but that carrots can be successfully grown in a deep bin or container.  Next year, I will plant more containers of carrots, and maybe try some parsnips {which I love} as they are susceptible to the carrot fly too.  I will put more soil in the bins though, as this bin was about three quarters full when I began but the soil quickly compacted down to just over half and this meant that the green tops had to reach upwards and stretch for the sunlight and became slightly leggy.  I don't think it has affected the crop too much though and I am looking forward to harvesting the rest over the coming weeks.  

My back is still bad, and I'm desperately sad to report that I have lost an awful lot of potted plants because I have not been able to water them.  I am trying to put on a brave face, as most can be replaced, but some were gifts, like the double geraniums and roses. It is also jolly annoying that the weather is very good and I cannot enjoy it!

Tonight, for supper, there are carrots and beetroot from the garden, oven roasted with some butternut squash, and apples fresh from the tree ~ yum!  Aren't the beets pretty?  I had forgotten that I'd planted some that had variegated rings!  I put the three vegetables, tossed in olive oil, in a high oven for about 25 minutes, until nearly cooked, and then tossed in chunks of apple for the last five minutes.  It makes a simple supper, and is delicious with crusty bread and cheese.

Meanwhile, here are some more photographs taken in the last month, as Autumn slowly moves in ~ for I am finally working out how to operate the new Windows 8.1 on this laptop!

The apples are rosy red and juicy sweet ~~~ best eaten warm from the tree in the morning sun ~~~

Meanwhile, along the edge of the drive, poppies are going to seed with gorgeously brown and gold coloured seed heads ~~~

Some late~to~the~party raspberries {these are not my Autumn fruiting ones, which are making no sign of fruiting this year}

I love the patterns created by the different tones as the fruits ripen and I think of zentangle patterns to fill in ~~~

The first fall of leaves on the drive ~~~ crisply crunchy and begging to be stomped through ~~~

Haws, reddening and ripening to feed the birds as they fatten up for the leaner winter months ahead ~~~

Finally, I am at last able to load videos once again ~ although I am sorry that it is via link to Youtube ~ something that I could not do on my old laptop and so have not shared any for over a year ~~~ this one was taken during the week, a windier day, but I thought I'd share the sound of the winds through the leaves ~~~
{sorry for the shakiness, but my hand is not very steady}

Wind in the Sycamores

Gosh, would you look at all those golden brown helicopters, just waiting to fly away and seed ~ growing into saplings in my garden to be weeded out in their hundreds! This, Gentle Reader, is why ~

~~~A Gardener's Work is Never Done~~~