Wednesday 29th September 2021 - Empty Cylinder, Pink Foots and Our Garden

Following on from my last blog, our Saturday evening BBQ may well have been our last – the gas ran out. As cooking progressed, the flames from the burners diminished until there was just enough left to finish cooking our lamb chops. Two other burners cut out earlier but not before they had cooked the corn on the cobs. We have a spare gas cylinder but this is kept for the heater, purchased in case we have a problem with our heating system. So as to whether this is the last BBQ of 2021 depends on three factors; the weather, whether we can purchase a replacement cylinder (given that currently it’s a bit hit and miss as to whether the fuel stations that stock them are open), or whether we relent and use the spare.

We are seeing more and more signs that autumn is upon us. On Monday morning, we watched skeins of chattering pink foot geese fly over the village on their way to feast on the fields. On the other hand, I was surprised to see a humming bird hawkmoth yesterday afternoon, visiting the clusters of pink blooms on our clerodendrum. I usually associate seeing them when the red valerian are in full flower, during late spring and early summer, so this was indeed a bonus. The days are shortening fast, we are now lying in bed more or less waiting for it to get light, currently around 6.15, before we get up and at the other end of the day, by the time we have finished eating dinner in the conservatory in the evening we need to put the light on. I have to confess, as I suffer from cold hands, to wearing gloves when walking Barney first thing.

While Peter continues to fork and pick vegetables and apples as well as generally tending his plot, I am starting to relocate plants and purchase some new ones so as to give a border at the front a bit of a facelift. Last autumn I concentrated on the back border where I have been pleased with the effect, despite the slugs doing their best to annihilate some of the plants. On the subject of slugs, for the past few weeks we have not had to go out each evening on a slug hunt. We still see the occasional one but they are no longer the pest they were, but I am not going to be complacent as I am pretty sure they will be back in force next year.

Today’s photo was taken on Monday afternoon. The various shades of blue were stunning, with contrasts between the sea and the sky. The sandy coloured areas in the sea were just that; sand. With a good southerly wind in the morning it brought in swathes of sand to deposit on the beach.