Happy Halloween

The ghosts of
all things past parade,

Emerging from the mist and shade

That hid them from our gaze,

And, full of song and ringing mirth,

In one glad moment of rebirth,

And again they walk the ways of earth

As in the ancient days.



The beacon light shines on the hill,

The will-o'-wisps the forests fill

With flashes filched from noon;

And witches on their broomsticks spry

Speed here and yonder in the sky,

And lift their strident voices high

Unto the Hunter's Moon.



The air resounds with tuneful notes

From myriads of straining throats,

All hailing Folly Queen;

So join the swelling choral throng,

Forget your sorrow and your wrong,

In one glad hour of joyous song

To honor Hallowe'en!



-John Kendrick Bangs

Its snowing!!!

What a mixed bag the weather has been today... Firstly frosty start with sunshine, then rain and finally snow.

My OH calls me from work this afternoon and said go and look out of the window, on looking out of window all I can see is rain! OH said 'well its thick snow here' After a few more exchanges about the weather conditions we end telephone conversion and go about our business. About half and hour later the phone rings again and its my Mum...'its snowing' and so it was... so without further ado Mum and I wrap up and take Basil for his afternoon walk so we can enjoy the snowy conditions ... Mum is now 77 and still enjoying the snow although I have to keep an eye on her in case she should slip over.

Here are my efforts at attempting to record the first snow of winter......

Got home eventually, soaking wet and cold so had a cup of this.....

Had a nice warm by this.....

Sadly we don't have a Wood burning or Solid fuel fire... those were the days, nothing like curling up by a log fire. We actually have Calor Gas fuel which is delivered by tanker and they fill the 'bomb' thingy in the garden. I don't usually have the fire has high as this, it was just to give Mum and I an initial warm up.... once we had actually thawed a little it was turned down to a far more conservative setting!

I have just had a peep outside, its nine minutes past midnight and OH has not long got in after his shift at work.... and its absolutely freezing outside. Now I will be worrying about son travelling home at about 5.30am in the morning after his night shift.... When do Mums ever stop worrying???

I have been tagged again....

I have been tagged again.. this time by http://domesticepisodes.blogspot.com/

the rules..
1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up

Six more random things about me......

• I am petrified of wasps
• I adore using herbs for cooking, teas and medicinal purposes
• I used to go bell ringing
• I don't like heights
• I adore chocolate
• I am on a constant diet (and the chocolate doesn't help!!) but failing badly.... need to lose at least three stone so need some inspirational dieting tips.... and h--e--l--p!!

Now this time I am going to break the tagging rules. I am not going to tag anyone because I think most of us are all tagged out.... but if you want to voluntarily tag yourself then you are most welcome......

I have been tagged....

I have been tagged by Somerset Seasons and Dorset Days...... http://somersetseasons.blogspot.com/

the rules..

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Okay now where do I begin.... Mmmmmmmmmmm

1. I am frightened of spiders... I cannot bear to be near one. If one is in the bedroom I will not go to bed until its been removed.
2. I cannot sew, knit or crochet and yet long to do all of these things... Every time I make an attempt at either one of these things they end up as a complete disaster!!
3. I am passionate about organic gardening and composting. I love to watch the activity of an established composter and will stand transfixed watching all the individual insects go about their business. (try to ignore the spiders!! eek!!)
4. I used to have a wormery but sadly it was not a success. But I do like worms as they are so good for the garden. If I am digging a patch of soil I will pick a worm up and move it to a safe area so I do not harm it with the garden implement I am using at the time.......
5. I adore aromatherapy and although I am not qualified (would love to be) enjoy dabbling. I have endless books on the subject.
6. I am a bookaholic and have bookcases jam packed with books and piles of other books waiting for another bookcase to be put up by OH.

Gosh now I have gotten going with this I realise I have so many other things that I could mention. I really struggled to begin with.

Now who to tag (scratches head and ponders!!)

• The compostbin. http://compostbins.blogspot.com/
• swan songs. http://swan-songs.blogspot.com/
• The Sleeping Dragon. http://solorndragon.blogspot.com/
• moonroot http://moonroot.blogspot.com/
• The Cottage Smallholder. http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/
• The Domestic Episodes of a Rodeo Princess. http://domesticepisodes.blogspot.com/

I have tagged you all as part of the rules, feel free to take part only if you want to..... xoxo

When you can't sleep!!

What do you do when you cannot sleep.... in my case its a cup of tea, burn some soothing lavender oil and do a posting on blogger!!

I always try to take my camera with me wherever I go and yesterday was no exception....

First thing to catch my eye was the patterns of the clouds, they looked so pretty in the bright blue sky.. yes it was another lovely day!!

Trundling along a bit further discovered the sheep are in a neighbouring field once more! I love sheep and I especially adore the lambing season. The farmer uses this field for his sheep on a regular basis., so we are fortunate to be able to see quite a lot of them. They will be taken out of this field if the weather becomes very bad during winter or when the lambing season begins. Thankfully after lambing season the sheep and their lambs are usually returned to this field and I will have the opportunity to observe the lambs and their very sweet antics... that will be some great camera fodder!! so watch this space.....

As usual Basil is waiting patiently for me to finish my photo taking session so we can continue on our way!

So carried on blundering around the edge of the ploughed field. Blundering is sadly the key word here because Mr Farmer has utilised every possible inch of field this year. Usually Nice Mr Farmer leaves enough terrafirma to walk around the edge of field but not this year.. Mr Farmers plough has been in overdrive and its impossible to walk around field without blundering over ploughed dirt. Not too bad whilst its so dry but when the weather sets in and the soil is wet and muddy it will be a no go area. So will have to look for new walks.

Further along discovered a small white feather and another and finally another... now I was always told that to find a white feather an angel is looking down on you, but some say its a sign of good things (that would be nice!!) and other simply say we have a moulting bird flying around... I prefer the angel version myself!!

That concluded our morning walk and then the late afternoon walk began with a unexpected hot air balloon slowly passing by.....

Then nipped into another neighbouring field and Basil decided to go to the loo in middle of said field and I been a conscientious dog owner followed behind Basil with my pooper scooper bag. And this is when I made my discovery of a lone mushroom in the middle of the ploughed field!

I tried to take a photograph with a wider angle so you could see how lonely this mushroom looked but sadly my camera was not up to it as it was becoming too dark and even with the flash it did not show it up enough.

On the way home the night sky looked like this.....

And finally on my late night walk in the moonlight I took this picture.....

Not the best picture I have seen of the moon but the best my camera can manage.... The moon lit my way around the dark field and I did not have to use my torch once.

Anyway time for me to try again to get some much needed sleep. Its 4.08am so its goodnight and good-morning!!

Garden adornments....

Just a few of my items that I have strategically placed around my garden...

They all mean a lot to me and some of them have been purchased by me and some given by family or friends with love......

Meet Gary:-

Such a nice friendly gnome and he has the job of looking after a tiny patch of my garden. The girls in the shop where I brought him from because he looked like he needed a home... had nicknamed him Gary... so Gary it is then!!!

Then we have Quackers.....

My daughters partner gave me this.. I fell in love with it when I was having a look around his/their garden and when they next visited ... he came in with Quackers for me!!

Then we have my lovely sun and moon clock...

My alternative mode of transport (well that's what everyone else calls it!!) For me, well its my much loved broom that holds special memories of things past!

Mr Chuck... a Christmas present from daughter and partner

Memories of my childhood... just love watching this on a windy day! The picture also includes Mr Chuck and few of my other friendly garden gnomes... more pressies from my Daughter.... I am a very lucky Mum!

And finally my weather vane a gift from the OH....

So many more garden adornments to share with you but will save those for another day!!

Garden snippets

Madly trying to sort out and complete garden projects... (hope the rain stays away!!)

Yesterday Basil decided to help me out in the garden.........!!!!!

This is the view from my back garden gate, it looked lovely yesterday with the sun shinning across the fields.

Found this lurking at the back of the greenhouse.... have no idea where it has come from, but it is gorgeous. I think it may be some sort of a geranium?

Noticed two berries on my holly bush. My late Father gave it to me many years ago and it began to mature and berry then we had to move it and I thought I had lost it because all the leaves began to fall off it. I was so upset but decided to nurture it a bit and slowly the leaves began to return and up and till now I have had no more berries. Yesterday I found two so I think its happy again. I know I am!!

Finally Basil has decided to give me a hand.. think he might be in the process of burying a stone!! He's certainly trying to tell me something as I take his photograph.........