Friday – Home – Earlier in the week we had a new door fitted between the passage between us and the museum. An expensive but very well made piece of woodwork. Yesterday I painted on a coat of primer and put a second coat on today. A Nuthatch is calling from the trees. There is the frequent retort of Horse Chestnut conkers falling in the wind and bouncing loudly off the summerhouse roof.
Leominster – I cross the Grange and head down to the Millennium orchard. Despite the brisk wind of recent days, not many more apples have fallen. Genet Moyle and Ladies Fingers are still on the tree in good numbers, Dabinett are fewer. The sun is hot on my back as I walk northwards through the Millennium Park but ahead the sky is dark with rain-filled clouds.
Into the churchyard. A Nuthatch is calling. I have not heard many for some time but they are now both here in the churchyard and in our garden. A small patch of Borage is in among Stinging Nettles and whorls of Spear Thistle leaves.
Sunday – Leominster – It was a starry night with Orion glittering in the southern sky. The sun shines in the morning through wispy high cloud. There is autumnal chill to the air. Robins are in song and there is the ever present chack of Jackdaws. Onto the Grange. A Nuthatch calls from one of the Beeches. The Traveller’s Joy/Old Man’s Beard on the flat opposite the Community Centre has now reached the guttering. Along Paradise Walk. The River Kenwater remains clear and shallow. On to Ridgemoor Bridge. Something swirls the water but is hidden by the reflection of the sky. The shingle bank indicates that the River Lugg has risen just a little.
The market is larger than in recent weeks. As usual I purchase nothing. Back to Ridgemoor Bridge. Upstream Himalayan Balsam is still in flower. A few Snow Berries are on the bushes but not in the usual numbers. Into Paradise Walk again. A Kingfisher flashes down the Kenwater. Two Mallard are downstream from Priory Bridge. Through Bridge Street car park. The flower bed with the metal Ryeland sheep is still looking good with purple and white dwarf Canterbury Bells, Sedum, Thrift, Verbena and red and white Heuchera in flower.
Home – I rip out all the callaloo from one bed and dump it into the chicken run. The other large patch on another bed will have to wait. The bed is then harrowed. Tomatoes are left for one more week, then the will have to come out. The grass needs cutting but that job will have to wait firstly until it is dry and secondly after all the conkers have been removed.
The shingle bank indicates that the River Lugg has risen just a little.