A walk in the park

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns George Eliot

Yesterday, still feeling vaguely unwell and grumpy from my bout of 'flu, I couldn't face another day of sitting about with no inclination to do anything except watch TV.  I felt that if I didn't break the chain then this is how I would spend my days for the rest of my life. No thank you!  So, at around 11.30, I forced myself off of the sofa and decided that, despite the weather which was cold, drizzly and dull, I would use the membership I took out a few months ago to visit Savill Garden, set in Windsor Great Park and beautiful to see any time of year.  Added to that, there's a decent cafe attached so it seemed the sensible thing to do.


But first:  what did I do with the ubiquitous piece of plastic that I needed to get me in the car park and garden?  Wasn't in the obvious places (my purse or the little wallet where I keep all of the other 10,000 pieces of plastic that seem to be necessary to live our lives these days).  So I looked in the less obvious places - in a file marked 'miscellaneous', in the heap of stuff on the desk, in drawers, everywhere.  Well, obviously not everywhere because eventually I found it in a bag not used since about May which I though was empty.  This whole episode had taken about 45 minutes but I persevered with my slowly diminishing resolution to get fresh air and, at last, set out in the direction of Virginia Water another great place for a walk on another day.


I drove about 100 yds then got caught up in roadworks.  This wasn't doing my grumpy mood any good at all!  But I managed to turn around and took the less pretty route (which was also twice as long).


Once the dog/toddler walkers in the Great Park were left behind I had the whole of the garden to myself; I saw 3 other people and they were all gardeners.  How many flowers would I find still in bloom? - Loads. Had the dampness and drizzle spoiled the colours? - Definitely not. Would I be bored? - You kidding?  
The delicious soup and crusty bread was a welcome finale to my visit and I headed home looking forward now to my evening out, planned some weeks ago, to see Chicago at our local theatre.  Had  to sort the damp hair out first, though ;o)

Well worth all of the effort and here are some pictures to prove it: 



Murky start

 

But these cornus (Dogwood) soon cheered it up.

     physalis (Chinese Lanterns)

and, finally, begonia

 More pictures on the flickr link in the side panel

Saturday Photo Hunt - Smelly

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Quick (and late!) one this week - I'm very busy with all things dramatic.

These are a couple of lilies that were filling my garden with their glorious smells this summer. For me, lilies are the best smelly flowers ever; sensual, exotic, heady, aromatic, fragrant, sweet, evocative................... wonderful

Saturday Photo Hunt - Dirty

Photo Hunt

We recently had to clear our garden pond from weed and a giant water lily that had taken over. This is half of the plants, muck and detritus excavated:













This is George, who sits on the back doorstep smelling the flowers:






















He doesn't eat much so is easy and cheap to keep, but he is a bit grubby!



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These are 'specially for Carver, as promised to her last week:














Hypericum calycinum, known in the UK as the Rose of Sharon. It is also called St John's Wort which is used as a homeopathic remedy for mild depression and problems with the circulatory system & nervous system.

The one on the left is a low growing, spreading shrub which does well in the sunny side of my garden, whilst the one on the right belongs to my neighbour but is climbing up a chain link fence, in the shade, so I luckily get the benefit of its lovely flowers.