autumn colour 2

Endsleigh House surrounded by its autumnal clothes (see link for a Spring view), taken from the peasant's side of the river.

autumn images 1

a deceptive and beautiful image from a long walk by the Tamar today. It was raining leaves, but it is very difficult to capture that image.

from mariners to midges

this little midge is about an eighth of an inch long (3 or 4 mm), what struck me in the grand scheme of things is that he consists mostly of fluffy or plumed antennae. Detecting chemicals in the air must be extremely important, or maybe lady midges prefer lads with big plumes

on the subject of interesting things 2

and 42 years later, aged 50, he has made it to coxswain of the launch (I am not sure what this means in naval terms). I suspect 50 was a good age for a seaman. This is a sort of identity card before the days of photographs.

on the subject of interesting things

these are the indenture papers of Spot's best friend's great great great grandfather, born in 1795, and apprenticed at the tender age of eight on 8 December 1803, two years before the battle of Trafalgar. Painter was, I think, a seaman trade in the merchant navy. By the strange path that these things follow, his grand-daughter met and married the son of a Naval boatswain, presumably because they moved in sea faring circles (lots of tacking?). Her husband went on to design the great battleships of the late Victorian era and the first world war. I showed this document to a friend today, who visits the web site occasionally. His grandfather was a Naval constructor and helped to build several ships, including HMS Indefatigable; his family tradition has it that most of them were sunk at the battle of Jutland. When I checked out HMS Indefatigable today, who should have designed it but my very own great grandfather. It is odd to think that our (g) grandfathers must have spent many hours working together and that a hundred years later, after a multitude of life events and moves all over the world, their (g) grandsons found themselves sitting around discussing life and philosophy, and examined a document that was to link them together in a most unexpected way.

Great GP also went on to write a English Italian dictionary of Naval Terms, the only available copy of which is in the Congress library; can a love of things Italian be genetic? And his son Stanley, my great uncle was a midshipman on a battleship in the battle of Jutland. The ship was beached on the Goodwin sands, and all escaped including the ship's cat. I do not know whether to attribute his escape to good design or sound construction. Great grandpa made a fortune out of it anyway, which he dissipated on the French Riviera, and on an annuity, dying shortly after the purchase of which, thus setting the family on a new and entirely unjustified path of poverty, and proving the old saw of rags to rags in three generations.

More interesting things another day (and see this link to amongst the oaks which set me thinking).

autumn colour

One of the beech trees in our garden, the leaves are a nuisance on the grass, but look stunning in the pale winter sunlight seen against the dark bark.

Poor Spot has had a nervous breakdown following Bonfire night (see this link for an explanation of this 400 year old ritual), and fireworks all week and especially on Friday when we made the mistake of going out. He tried to eat and scratch his way through the front door, and then disappeared for three hours because everyone else thought he had been a bit of a wuss. He has recovered now. Fireworks and dogs don't mix.

election result special

the poll of the world for lurcher of the year, and most attractive dog has now closed (see side panel). The result is an overwhelming vote for President Spot (the hairy, black one), with 77% of the vote cast (by 7 to 1 !! (one spoilt vote)). Provided that there are no sudden changes in the count, or vote rigging by GOP (friends of Harriet, the smooth brown one) Spot is declared the winner. May he rule wisely and kindly. And we wish whoever wins the other little election good luck and a fair wind; none of us can afford for you to fail, or to let us down.

dryad's saddle

the top two photos are of a bracket fungus or of Dryad's saddle (the little people and wood nymphs presumably use it for riding on unicorns), and the bottom photo from 2002 and just downstream is definitely a Dryad's. And we found a white feather on our walk.

beals mill

meanwhile, back at the mill there has been some progress (again see earlier pictures by clicking on the label for Beals Mill). The foreman on the site told me that there is evidence of buildings even earlier than the twelfth century, so there may have been a mill on this site for more than a thousand years. I wonder how long it will be before it becomes a mill once more.

autumn has arrived

one of my favourite spots on the Inny meadows (see earlier pictures as well).

autumn's coming

It hasn't been a good year for mushrooms so far. Unfortunately, we can never sort out what sort of mushrooms we are looking at, milkcaps, honey fungus or something deadly. Every year we try and identify them, and we have always forgotten by the beginning of next autumn.

spike's place

the sun always shines on Spike's house, home of Venterdon's second most famous canine blogger

a visit to eden project 3

I love the imagery of the Bacchanalian orgy in the mediterranean biodome (nothing new then on the planet), and the torpid heat and steam of water vapour in the jungle

a visit to eden project 2

I love the mixture of real and surreal throughout the project, and the juxtapostion of the materialist landscape with the floral landscape. It reminds me of the work of an artist friend called John Howlin. he would have loved the man of parts

a visit to eden project 1

the first view of the biodomes at Eden Project is always impressive simply because of the sheer scale of the site. The middle photograph shows the site on our first fleeting visit in September 2000. We take our visitors there quite often. It has transformed the local economy. And one of our neighbours is on the poster welcoming you to the site. I think the logos might well be just as apt for our blogs

cyclamens in bloom

the garden is full of cyclamens; our dog bronze was clearly modelled on Harriet.

St Agnes in Cornwall

we spent a very pleasant day in and around St Agnes (another name on the long list of obscure Cornish (celtic) saints. St Agnes (see link)seems to be a very busy village, with a carnival that goes back a long time, and in our opinion a place that manages to look after one's spiritual needs very satisfactorily.


There is also this fascinating mining landscape (see top picture above) with mine workings all over the place. Perranporth beach is in the far distance (to the left). In the lower of the two pictures one can just make out some giant wind turbines on the horizon. Wind turbine farms are starting TO dominate our local landscape; we are not sure if they are for good or bad.


And a very pretty comma, there are two generations each year, and this butterfly will probably over winter looking like a dead leaf hanging on a twig. The second generation is darker. Usually they look a lot more tatty than this rather smart specimen.

a carefree life

while the world around us collapses into bankruptcy and recrimination there are some who can still enjoy themselves and have not a care in the world.

lost gardens of Heligan 2

three images from the stunning and exotic lost gardens of Heligan (see link). The tropical plants are in an area called the Jungle. It is a surprise to discover that the Cornish climate is mild enough to support sub tropical plants in the open in such profusion.

lost gardens of Heligan 1

there is an abundance of wild birds at Heligan (see link), including these white doves. There were very few geese on display at Tavistock yesterday so we have included this handsome American buff goose who guards the orchard at Heligan. We did not have goose for supper.

Tavistock Goose fair 6

the local lad who did well on the merry go round of life.
for more about Goosey Fair see this link

Tavistock Goose fair 5

the town crier and his fair maiden, (in fact he is from Saltash but it is all the same). No one offered to read our paws even though we are famous the whole world over.

Tavistock Goose fair 4

buy anything you want, eat and drink all day, make merry in the evening

Tavistock Goose fair 3

caught in the act, another handbag, another £20 note, another bubble, another bottom

Tavistock Goose fair 2

all the fun of the fair, beneath the imposing façade of the guild hall.

Tavistock Goose fair 1

This morning we went to Tavistock to see the Goose, or Goosey, fair (see this link for more local information). It was a lovely soft warm sunny October day, the best of autumnal days.

hope springs eternal

the new kid on the block, with friendly human and mum. Filly is about two weeks old. She was an unexpected arrival in autumn, everyone thought mum was just getting a bit fat.

nuthatch

a pair of nuthatches have taken residence in the garden. These entertaining birds spend much of their time upside down (see below). They look like drab kingfishers, and behave like blue woodpeckers.

St Ives 4

the beach at St Ives just below the Tate gallery, unfortunately the Tate was closed for rehanging, very frustrating.