The clocks went back on Sunday and suddenly we're on the slippery slope to winter. Slippery as in rain on fallen leaves, thick mud and puddles. Not slippery as in ice - not yet anyway.
At the moment my obsession is mostly house-related. So much to do and so little interest from workmen in doing it! I'm trying simultaneously to get a new front door (on my to-do list for several years now) and a lick of paint on the gutterings and downpipes. A local chap is supposed to be giving me a quote for a door and the man who made a lovely job of next door's guttering is meant to be doing mine too. No sign of life from either.
In the meantime, ever optimistic, I attacked the honeysuckle and the climbing rose at the front with the wonderful loppers Faye gave me. I meant to just clear them away from the downpipes, but went a bit mad and cut the whole lot down. Ooops! Faye assures me they'll probably grow back. I hope so. It looks very bald out there.
Other plans, DIY this time, include replacing the strip light in the kitchen (held together by gaffer tape at the moment) and fixing up the peeling patch in the ceiling that dates from the time the bathroom leaked.
Then there's the garden. I have great plans for the garden. At the moment it's a jungle - I missed a couple of crucial lawn-mowing opportunities and it's been raining since, so the grass is a foot long or more front and back. I want to put in some raised beds, mainly to keep them out of Bertie's reach, and I want some fruit trees, a plum tree at least and maybe an apple as well. I don't think there's room for everything. Out the front, I'm savaging the rose bush as well as the climbers. It looks like two rose bushes, but I think what happened was that the rootstock on the original got out of control, so there's an ailing hybrid nearly choked out by a vigorous rosa. I'm cutting out all the rootstock suckers and pruning the hybrid back. I'll feed it in the spring and see how it goes. It's quite a pretty one, deep pink. I'm also planting more lavender - it does well and of course smells wonderful. The funny sickly little daphne bush has put on a growth spurt so I'll leave it even though it still hasn't flowered.
Out in the wider world it's been an amazing few weeks for fungi-spotting. I've never ever seen such a variety. The beginning of the month was warm and wet so conditions were perfect, but I wonder where the fungi were last year. Does the spawn lie dormant until conditions are right? Is it blown in from elsewhere? I've been taking loads of photos of them, they're fascinating.
I've been doing a lot of walking and enjoying it. Yesterday Faye and I went on a long ramble around Holyrood Park, which was just great. It was a blustery day but not wet or cold (yes, I should really have been mowing the lawn). Bertie had a fabulous time too. We had a look at the Parliament too, and then had dinner at Faye's place. She's settling in well, has her flat looking lovely and will be getting the phone on any minute now - she has her mobile but is missing being able to keep up with emails.
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