Summer's end

A photo of Ghengis, who treats as a personal slave and always wants to sit on me whenever I want to just rest!  He is a portly little chap, and Too Fat to reach any further down his body than this!    I couldn't resist nabbing this photo as he was carrying out his ablutions this afternoon.  He was really feral when he arrived, but it never fails to amaze me that once you gain an animal's confidence, and they learn to trust you, they become so loyal and loving.  He is a Lap Cat - though he never jumps straight up onto the sofa or my lap, he comes up by the Scenic Route, crossing over the coffee table beside me, and I ALWAYS have to rescue my cup or glass as he would walk straight across it otherwise!

A very late attempt number two at runner beans and dwarf French beans.  The slugs had the rest.  In spring, I had stupidly planted a small amount of seedlings - "just enough for me". (I normally plant up a whole pack of seeds, at 4 to a pole.  Well, the slugs obviously thought they were "just enough for them" and nobbled the lot.  These seem luckier and have been cossetted and fed within an inch of their lives.  I have my fingers crossed that they will produce some beans before the first frost.

I ate my first blackberries of the season today - not off this bush, which has a way to go yet.  One of the first signs of the approaching Autumn, along with the House Martins and Swallows who were swirling in an animated halo over the farm this morning, then forming a long line on the power line across the yard.  Just as their arrival brings me joy, their leaving brings sadness . . . marking summer's end as it does.

Another marker of summer's end.  A second flowering of a Foxglove cut back when they trimmed (trashed is more appropriate) the hedgerows back in June.  A friend once told me that Foxgloves mark the passage of summer.  Their first flowers show the arrival of summer, and their last flowers herald its end.

A few photos of bramble flowers, which are very photogenic, and very satisfying to draw as well.  I love the frosted pink icing colours in these ones.

The one above is keeping company with the seed "bells" of the Navalwort flowers.

Finally, a pure white one.  There are about 200 different types of Bramble apparently.

Just to prove I made it to the top of the hill, looking across to the Carmarthen Fans in the distance.  We had planned a walk up to Llyn-y-Fan-Fawr this summer but we have been so busy.  Perhaps when our eldest daughter and boyfriend arrive, we might get up there.

The view of the foothills at the back of the Carmarthen Fans.

Then the view across the valley, with Codlins-and-Cream growing in the hedgerow in the foreground.

A close-up of the ethereal flowers of Meadowsweet.

Above and below: back down the hill - looking up the valley.

Below: some Orpine which grows locally.  I have never seen it growing anywhere else.

Finally, what a lovely colour the Cow Parsley goes at this time of year.

Well, we are having our "annual holiday" this weekend.  Two nights away instead of the one which is normally our lot.  We are heading down to Somerset and then on to Dartmoor and the weather is meant to be good.

Unfortunately, the car chose this week to have a hissy fit and had to have radical surgery yesterday, plus a couple of normal maintenance things like an oil change and two new front tyres.  That made a hole in the exchequer, as did attending the auction next door!  Some worthwhile stock though - much needed as we have a spate of fairs coming up at the end of the month.