Monday, October 23, 2006

Autumn

I can't remember an autumn like this one. It is mild. Few leaves are hungry for the wind and most are hanging onto their branches as if they are trapeze artists for whom letting go would be life and death. The bright red berries make suburban pyracantha look like steroid bulked body-builders.

In researching the spelling of pyracantha I discovered that the berries are edible; recipe suggestions here. I'd love to make more jams and jellies (and puds and cakes) but it seems to me that anything you add over a kilo of sugar to is not going to do much for your life expectancy. It is just about the only thing I could do with my crab apples next year though. This year we arrived too late and had to compost the lot.

I have now learned that the weather here is unpredictable, even by the BBC local web-site. If the rainy symbol appears there I now go to the animated map and watch how far away the rain clouds are and how fast they are travelling. This method meant that today, a predicted rainy day when I would normally have kept washing inside, has seen it blowing in the garden breeze until now (3.30 pm).

I'm enjoying living so close to rural even if I am in suburbia. Next piece of research needs to be mushrooms and truffles. Free food. Bit of a theme.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just managed to lose my long entry while previewing it so this one will be shorter!
I think this is a fairly average autumn. When we moved down from the midlands we found it much warmer down here. Autumn is later and spring earlier but everall we do get more rain. However it can pour in Clevedon and there be none in Nailsea and vice versa.
Look out for the tree colours on the hills behind the Wraxall road and on the raod from Failand down to Ashton Park. They are usually truly stunning.
Pauline