Sun a-rise . . early in the morning . . .

 

 

A short blog today - no words needed, really :o)

 

This was the view from my kitchen door at 6am this morning.

 

 

 

If only we could paint as beautifully as Mother Nature :o)

 

When Autumn Leaves Begin To Fall

The nights are drawing in, the early mornings & late afternoons are getting colder & this year, Autumn has arrived before Summer  :o)  If nothing else, it's reinforced that good old British tradition - moaning about the weather :o) It's all part of our charm &, like queueing, it's *what we do* :o)

 

There is beauty to be seen in every season, but Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the rich, deep colours of the trees & bushes, that *nip* in the air when you first step out of the house in the morning & lazy Saturday afternoons when the rain is pouring down & you can snuggle up on the sofa to watch a good film :o)

 

Because it's now Autumn, I thought I'd change the pic for my blog header-doobery-wotsit & the photo I chose is one of my favourites. I took it about 3 years ago in Russell Gardens, opposite Kearsney Abbey, on a wet Sunday morning :o) It just sums up Autumn for me :o)

 

However . . .

 

With Autumn, comes that slightly uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. The feeling that Christmas is just along the road & round the corner. The feeling that, no matter how organised I am,  I am STILL going to fall headlong into a STATE OF PANIC !!!  Where will I find the time to make Christmas cakes, puddings, cards & presents ? What if I've forgotten someone ? Where can I hide things from the eagle eyes of a 4 year old who has already spotted Christmas bags on top of my wardrobe ?

 

 *Why are there Christmas bags up there, Grandma ? Is there anything for me up there ? Is there, Grandma ? Is there ? I'm REALLY trying to be a good boy, but it's hard . . * :o) 

 

I suspect  having a 2 year old brother doesn't help in the being-good-ALL-the-time stakes :o)

 

Knowing how I go so easily into full on panic mode, I've tried this year to do bits & pieces each month in preparation for Christmas. I've even resorted to taking my knitting with me to hospital appointments - I spend so much time in waiting rooms with himself, it seems a shame to sit & do nothing :o) I've made a few cards & next week, the cakes will be made. I don't like rich fruit cake, but the smell in the kitchen as the fruit is drowning soaking in brandy & then the cakes themselves being cooked, is just gorgeous :o)  Maybe I'll change the habits of a lifetime & try a slice. You never know, my taste buds may have altered since the last time I tried it :o)

 

My youngest grandson is probably the biggest Thomas the Tank Engine fan I've ever known :o) He can tell you which train is which, what the helicopter is called & all manner of other things about Thomas & his friends. So, with his train obsession in mind, this is the Christmas card I made for him the other day. Not Thomas, but I expect that's what he'll say when  he sees it :o)

 

 

So.

 

I may be in a slight panic, but my list of things to do is getting shorter :o)

 

Below are some other Christmas cards I've made. As usual, some are rubbish but there is the odd one or two that I'm pleased with :o) I told myself that I had to practice my stamping & every Christmas card I've made so far has a stamped image.

 

I love this sleepy little mouse :o)

 

 

 



 

I made this card today when we were waiting for the District Nurse to come to see himself :o)

 

 

 

Choir Boy or Angel ?  I really like this stamp. It's clean & simple & came with a magazine last year, along with a fair few others.

 

 

 

 This stamp is from one of the Penny Black collection. I LOVE those stamps :o)

 

 

 

This snowman was in the same collection as the Choir Boy, I just stamped him 3 times :o)

 

 

 

From the same stamp collection, this lovely tree was stamped with clear embossing ink, sprinkled with gold embossing powder & heated with my heat gun. In *real* life, it looks pretty impressive.

 

 

 

 Another Penny Black stamp. I just love those little mice & hedgehogs :o)

 

 

 

 

This little bear was a stamp I got on a magazine a year or 2 ago.

 

 

 

 

 The little mouse & robin again.

 

 *Is that a Penny Black stamp ?* I hear you cry !! Well, yes. How did you know ??!! :o)

 

 

 

 

 Yes, another Penny Black stamp :o)

 

 

 

And lastly, the lovely Penny Black snowman again :o)

 

 

That's the beauty of stamps, you can use them time & again. Other people have a better imagination that I do & when they use the same stamp, they somehow manage to come up with something totally different each time, whereas I just get one idea lodged in my head & it's there for the duration :o)

 

BUT . . .

 

While I wait for inspiration to strike, I suppose I'd better get on with knitting the hoodie grandson 1a requested. Once I've done that, it's on to hoodie no. 2 for grandson no. 1b & a Christmas card for grandson 1a. Because, after all, that's what Grandma's - even those who, like me, are FAR too young to be this old - do, isn't it ? :o)

 

 

The Last Blooms of Summer

When we went to the Secret Gardens - though they're really NOT so secret these days :o) - I took photos of the last flowers. If these are anything to go by, the Spring & Summer displays will be really beautiful :o)

 

 

This beautiful rose was in the border just after the Tropical Garden & looked so lovely with the sun shining on it.

 Not quite sure what this is, possibly from the Echinacea family ? Either way, the colour is gorgeous.

 

 

One of my favourites - the sunflower that really DOES do what it says on the box :o) Gardens with sunflowers in them seem to be brighter than those without.

 

 



A two toned dahlia, complete with buzzy bee :o) I can't, for the life of me, remember what this dahlia was called, but it had a lovely name &, judging by the bees, butterflies & grasshoppers around them, the wildlife really loved them, too :o)



 A white butterfly resting on the dahlia. There were loads of butterflies dancing amongst the garden, but this dahlia border seemed to attract the most.

 

 

 I think this grasshopper needs lessons in camouflage :o) A few inches to the left & he'd have had a better chance of not being spotted.

 

 

 I just loved this dahlia - the colours are so bright  cheerful.

 

 

 The bee liked this one, too :o)

 

 

 The cosmos were blowing about gently in the breeze. The borders looked so lovely with them all swaying from side to side.

 

 

 This pink dahlia was lovely with it's deeper pink centre & each layer getting paler & paler.There was a real cluster of flowers on this plant - & best of all - NO earwigs :o)

 A sunburst, fireball or flower ? Definitely a striking dahlia :o)

 The cosmos were so paper thin & delicate. The colours were beautiful.

 Each flower was slightly different but they all had a fragile beauty to them.

 

 



 Photos really don't do them justice. The colour around the edge of this cosmos was so rich & deep in comparison to the rest of it.

 

 

 So many different shades of pink.

 

 

 But - most importantly of all . . .

 

 

 STRIPPITY STRIPPAGE :o)

 

You can't get better than that, really :o)

 



A Morning Out

After having a fairly hectic summer, what with things breaking, family worries & the general pace of life these days, we met our lovely friend, Val, in Sandwich for a mooch about in the Secret Gardens.

Val has been many times & it's been on our *Must Visit* list for a few years, so when she suggested meeting up we jumped at the chance. Well, *I* jumped, Shaun sort of did a wheelie in his wheelchair !! :o)  No, not really . . . he just agreed it would be a nice morning out :o)

 

The gardens surround The Salutation House, designed by the famous English architect, Edwin Lutyens & built in 1911 in the Arts & Crafts style.  Lutyens was commissioned to design the war memorials in the larger cemeteries & is also responsible for the design of the Cenotaph in London, built as a permanent reminder of those killed in action during WW1 & now also for those killed since.

 

The gardens were designed by Lutyens & planted by Gertrude Jeykyll, one of the most famous female gardeners of all time. The original woodland area, White Garden, Yellow Garden, wild meadow garden & the bowling green, are still in evidence today, along with more recent additions such as the Tropical Garden.There is also a small lake - Lake Patricia, obviously named after me !! :o) - & an island, which were reinstated in 2007. Dotted about the 3.5 acres are metal animal statues which can be bought from the artist - if you're rich enough :o) We saw a foal, a really lovely giraffe, a mother pig & her piglet - so sweet !! - & some pumpkins that were brilliant. They really looked good because they were among the pumpkins growing in the veg garden :o)

This is the first proper view of the house. When you enter the gardens, there's a small hut where you pay the entrance fee. To the left of that is the entrance to the gardens & after you've walked a few yards, this is the view to your right.

 

 

This is the path through the Tropical Garden. Because it's the end of the summer, everything is dying down now, so it wasn't at its best for our visit. The path was difficult to negotiate pushing a wheelchair, but we managed. Next time, we'll take the mobility scooter :o)

 

 

A view of the house from the far side of the gardens. It really is a stunning place.

 

In the woodland area, there are a couple of seating areas. This chair thingy caught my eye - it looks like it's made from antlers but is all wood.

Part of the woodland area with a shaft of sunlight coming through the trees. It's only small but it's peaceful & very whimsical. You can almost imagine a playful elf or gnome darting about playing hide & seek with you. Or, maybe that's just me !! :o)

 

 

 

This is one of the flower borders. The orange of the Chinese Lanterns against the yellow of the Golden Rod is something to see. It gives off a warm, Autumnal feeling &, in *real life* is beautiful.

 

In the Spring & early Summer, this woodland garden is covered with wild flowers. There were only a few cornflowers left but the statue of the foal was still there. Val said there had been a bigger *Mummy* statue there a few weeks ago, but it must have been sold because we didn't see it anywhere else in the gardens.

Now, I LOVED this statue :o) A headless ghostly woman.  I don't know why I loved it, Val doesn't, she finds it creepy, but I just thought it was fab. I also love the area it's in - a corner of the bowling green, with St. Clement's Church tower hovering in the background :o)

 

 

 Here she is again, posed as though she's pointing to the church :o)

 



 

This is the house from the bowling green. It's beautiful & very impressive, but, unfortunately, it isn't open to the public :o(

 

 

If I remember correctly, this cottage can be rented for holidays.  It overlooks the Yellow Garden & is pretty big for a cottage :o)

 

A view of the gardens. Because the borders are quite high, it's almost as though the gardens are made up of individual rooms.

 

Amongst the bird song, we could hear chainsaws & other machinery as the gardeners were busy cutting back & tidying up, getting the gardens ready for bed over the winter.

 

 

The island & Lake Patricia, complete with visitor :o)

The crocodile or alligator - not sure which, sorry - is HUGE. It's beautifully made & looks pretty ferocious :o)

 

Looking at the little patio area - where I took the photo above this one  - from the island. It's very small but has room for a pergola with  table & 4 chairs inside. A beautiful spot to just sit & be quiet for a while.

 

A view of the lake from the island.

 

 

I took a fair few pics of the flowers & plants around the gardens, but I'll save those for another time.

We will definitely go back again, hopefully before Christmas, because I think all the seasons have something to show us in a garden. Autumn is my favourite time of year, so maybe we'll get there sometime in the next couple of months.

 

Now, though, I need to ring my Mum & wish her happy birthday & I need to finish icing a cake for grandson 1a who is ALSO celebrating his birthday today :o) He's 4, but my Mum is a wee bitty bit older than that :o)

 

Have a great Sunday, whatever you're doing.