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turning

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It's autumn, and leaves are on the turn. I took this photo of an Acer (I think) in my favourite park. It's definitely responding to the shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures and is on the turn, changing into its autumn apparel. As the tree withdraws the supply of chlorophyll from the leaves, the green colouring that that chemical provides slowly recedes, and it happens by degrees along the length of a branch. So, the leaves on the outer tips of the branches can be the bright red seen in the photo, while the next set of leaves further up the branch can be part red, part green, and the leaves closest to the trunk retain, for the moment, their bright green colouring. This is Autumn arriving slowly; leaves turning by degrees. This coming Sunday, the last in October, here in the UK, we'll turn the clocks back by one hour. Always an adventure in time, and space, when this happens. The change officially marks the end of British Summertime, and the beginning of winter, at ...
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dugoni, balle, greene

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I've just reached the final chapter of the 17th book from my 26 in 26 list - a list of the 26 ebooks on my Kindle that I intend to read before the door finally closes on 2026. The book in question is The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni. All I knew going in is that it had been compared to the work of John Irving which was recommendation enough. I've read half a dozen Irving novels and loved them all. He takes the reader on a deep, deep dive into the lives of his characters; often from childhood, through adolescence and into world of the adult. And so it is with Sam Hell, actually born Samuel Hill, who is also born with red eyes, hence the nickname that stays with him throughout his life. I'm going to rate it four stars. I've really enjoyed it. Two other books I've recently read, from the list, have neatly dovetailed with my other, and ongoing, reading project about railway journeys to different European countries. The first of those books was On the C...
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cob

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Further to my last post, talking of curiosities, I offer up this photo of these peculiarities. The nearby pavements have been littered with them in recent weeks. I'm assuming the succession of heatwaves we're currently living through, and the on-going drought we're enduring, has traumatised the trees and they all seem to be dropping their leaves, fruits, and nuts much earlier than usual. These curious looking fellows, encased in their ferocious looking defensive spikes, are obviously nuts. I'm guessing they are some form of cob nut, also known as hazel nuts, sometimes known as filberts - they are all closely related, with only fine margins of difference; some geographical, some botanical, and some merely semantic. I do believe that the word cob, in this context, is specifically British. But it can also be curiously unfixed in meaning. It can refer to the cylindrical woody part of an ear of corn. It's the name for a male swan. It's a round loaf of bread. It's...
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a world of curiosities

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I just finished reading A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny. It's Book 18 in her Three Pines/Chief Inspector Gamache series. I love Penny's Three Pines novels. I love Three Pines. If you don't know of it, it's a small fictional village in a forest in Quebec, and it's peopled with quirky characters. People who are searching, because they are lost, find their way to Three Pines, and I don't mean because they are lost in the forests. The village has a bookshop, a cafe, a bakery, and a bed and breakfast, plus characters to greet you warmly and keep you entertained. It also has a duck with a penchant for swearing. This village has everything that a tired and hungry traveller could possibly want. It also has a mortality rate that is quite alarming, much like Midsomer in the UK - if you know you know. In this story there's a psychopath living amongst the villagers, and also a serial killer is on the loose. I've read almost all of Penny's books featuring ...
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all aboard

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Recently I've written about a reading project I have bubbling away in the background - see my 26 in 26 post back in January. The idea of it is that I'll read the 26 named titles across the year. It's going really well, so far, and I've read 11 from the list, and I've also interspersed a few random books amongst those. So it's been a good reading year. It's been so good that I've been planning another reading project that I'd like to have running in the background alongside the above mentioned 26 target, but this one will have no set titles or timescale. This new project has been prompted by  a train ticket I never bought, and  an adventure I never had, back in the 1980s. Let me explain. When I was in my mid-twenties, in the mid-80s, there was a train ticket available that gave a young back-packer/traveller/adventurer one month of unlimited 2nd class train travel across the rail networks of 21 European countries. This ticket was called the Inter-rail ...
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blooming lovely

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We're half way through May, and on some days you could almost believe that it's high summer. The sun is hot, when it shines, the soil is baked dry, and there are plenty of colourful blooms in the garden to lift the spirits. Here are two of my current my favourites. A clematis, and some crazy colourful, delicate, and very fancy, aquilegia, or columbines. My spirits need lifting at the moment, because my health isn't great, and I'm struggling to remain positive about things. I believe that my state of mind has a direct effect on my physical well-being, so anything that can put a smile on my face is very welcome. Just look at the velvety richness of the reds, pinks, and purples of this clematis. How can I not feel better after spending some time in its company?  The photos are the author's own.  
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asunder

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I like visiting graveyards, churchyards, cemeteries, call them what you will. I find them fascinating. They are full of stories, if you pause long enough to witness them, and I find that inspiring. I've posted photos of headstones, and gravestones here before. They have often had a quirk to them, of size, shape, or style. This one is different in as much as it's been cracked wide open by the tree growing through it. The tree roots have shattered the stones. I mentioned, in a previous post, that it wasn't unknown for people to be buried clutching an acorn, so that even in death they might feed and nourish an oak tree to grow out of the heart of them.    Photo is the author's own
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