Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Bruce. He was looking through his archives and came across this picture of a hotel in Blackpool where he had stayed last year. He wondered whether they had felt the need to change their name this year. (I checked and they have kept the same name.)
The autumn equinox has crept up on me this year when I wasn’t paying attention. The weather has been so generally gloomy for some time, with the exception of this last week, that it has felt a bit like autumn long before the real autumn arrived.
Still, it arrived in style today with a grey, windy and blustery day which no one could have mistaken for summer.
I took the opportunity to give my back a rest from gardening, walking and cycling but as I spent a lot of time hunched over my computer, it probably didn’t do me much good.
I put a week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database, using the excellent new program which our son Alistair wrote for us. It is much more forgiving for dim eyes than the older version so I was grateful for that.
I also transcribed a Canzone written in 1612 by Giovanni Battista Riccio onto the computer so that I have got something to play along with during the absence of communal music making.
So it wasn’t an entirely wasted day.
In one of the moments when it wasn’t raining, I went out into the garden and tried to take a few bright flower pictures to cheer up an otherwise dull post.
The Special Grandma rose has nearly made it out but I have my doubts about the chances of any of the other buds making it.
Perhaps the most depressing thing about the day was the Scottish Government’s announcement that visits to houses are banned. This means that as things stand, our daughter Annie will not be able to bring our granddaughter Evie back to visit us in October as she was planning.
Even a delicious evening meal of mushroom risotto cooked by Mrs Tootlepedal could not restore my equanimity.
The birds took a dim view of the day too and these two chaffinches were just about the only visitors that I saw all day.
The seed in the feeder hardly went down at all. I had to look up into the early evening sky to find any flying birds. Some rowdy rooks were passing overhead.
I am going to end on a more cheerful note by putting in a dahlia beside the feeder that I shot while waiting for some birds to arrive.
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Your header picture fits beautifully into the theme of autumn which is, no doubt, why you chose it! Thanks for the fuchsia too.
Then sunflower looks sunny even in the rain.
The last dahlia looks as good now as it did with its first bloom.
It’s too bad that your daughter and granddaughter won’t be able to come when they wanted. It’s too bad that a few can cause hardship for the many.
It is too bad but they have been set a bad example by our leaders.
I completely understand your dismal mood… and, as Susan Poozan stated, the guest picture says it all.
Darn that Covid-19 that keeps our families away from us! How disappointed you must be.
You cannot plumb the depths of our disappointment.
The flowers look beautiful even in the gloom and rain. I am sorry you will not be able to see Annie and Evie again in October.
It is still relatively warm here, with rain in the forecast for tomorrow. I brought in a lot of tomatoes to ripen that were just beginning to show color. I think our pole beans are done. The dry air and smoke got to them, and they have ceased blossoming.
Our runner beans continue to do well and what is even better is that they are tasting as fresh as they did when they first arrived.
Enjoy those runner beans for me. 🙂
We will.
I hope that if everyone complies, the restrictions are not going to last for too long – we are only now being allowed to visit (not that we have leapt at the opportunity to do so) friends and family. The separation has been v-e-r-y long!
I don’t have any confidence in the ability of either the authorities or some ordinary people to be able to do what is necessary to end this quickly.
Sadly, you are probably right!
Same here, sadly.
Your colourful flower pictures brightened up a sad news day.
I hope the hunched rest has helped your back
As much as could be expected. 🙂
i think the rain has come across to us today. looking at the forecast for the weekend it looks like gale force winds – yuck
We had a reasonable day here for which we were grateful.
Thank you for the sunny (but damp) sunflower..good enough to brighten everyone up on a day with negative news again! Very smart and tidy chaffinches…go well with the neat petalled and prettily coloured dahlia.
Very negative news indeed. It was hard to be cheerful.
Im so sorry it looks like Annie and Evie’s visit will be postponed. Getting some people to “get” the part they need to play in stopping it seems to be an insurmountable hurdle.
It does indeed. Boris hasn’t helped by changing his policy every ten minutes. It is no wonder that some people don’t take the thing seriously.
Oh, I am so sorry that Annie and Evie won’t be able to return in October. That is such a blow. The gloomy weather and raindrops suit the mood about that. 😦
We are very sorry!
The flowers look beautiful even in the gloom.
Thank you.