Saturday Morning Bike Ride

We've had a couple of chilly nights recently and I was hoping for a nice frosty morning for today's ride, but it was not to be. The rain, however, wasn't heavy and I didn't get soaked (unlike last week), and altogether it was actually quite pleasant, I saw lots of nice things...

Many sheep are dotted under the pylon today.

The tree at the corner.

On the bend - bird on a post silhouette #1. I like photographing birds on posts and there are more to come. There would indeed have been many more but sometimes I try to creep just a wee bit too close and end up scaring them away.

Fence post and rounded field.

Straw bales getting wet.

The road ahead.

Horses with fancy jackets.

A face!

Bird on a post #2.

Lone tree and telegraph pole silhoutte.

Found some & couldn't resist.

Glossy wet bramble leaves. The berries themselves now definitely look like the devil has spat on them, not at all tempting to pick, so that's it for this year's bramble jelly effort.

Bird on a post #3.

Oh look, another one! I like the effect of the silhouetted leaves and branches far above.

A little view across a field to cows on a hill.

And yet another one.

Breakfast for two.

More sheep, I like the row of trees in the middle distance.

View from a bridge. I'm afraid these are the most colourful Autumn trees I found today.

A dilapidated farm. There is a walk signposted through the farmyard and up to the hill. I must try it one day.
Highland cows.

A little flock of sheep. Lovely colours on the land and some nice tree silhouettes topping the ridge too.

Someone didn't notice the corner - skid marks lead through the fence to the crashed car in the field.

If you look very closely you will find bird on a wire silhouette #1 just past the first telegraph pole. The road bends round to the right and you can see it disappearing up the hill below the ridge of trees.

The little isolated black dot on the ridge is a bull, we'll see him a bit closer soon.

Drippy berries. There seem to be far fewer berries in the hedgerows this year than last.

I like the tree shapes and the bend in the road. Looking further to the left here...

...we see the bull from the other side. He doesn't appear to have moved at all. There is a field of cows nearby and they're making quite a racket bellowing away, which reminds me that we were kep awake much of the night by one of the cows in the field opposite our house mooing through the night.

A final view, heading towards the trees and past more noisy cows on the left.

Altogether I did 17 miles, at a rather slow average of 8 mph - too many stops for umbellifer photos and too many attempts to creep up on birds. I did take lots of silhouette photos, I was going to apologise, but, hey I like them, so won't! There will be plenty more I'm sure. As Autumn then Winter take hold the silhouettes often become the most striking feature in the landscape. Despite the gloomy weather I did enjoy today's ride.

Craft Books and Sunshine in the Garden.

A beautiful burst of late afternoon sunshine had me touring the garden yesterday, camera in hand.

Green man.

Rose. Earlier this year I dug out all the roses in the front garden as they were loosing the battle with the grass in the "flower bed". I later bought another one for a pot and it's thriving, so far...

Aster. Bought as an unknown thing in the sale section at B&Q. So glad I did give it a home as it provides a reliable and welcome show of late colour.


I varnished the gate, woohoo! I did this last week during the "heatwave". Although we didn't share in the very hot and sunny weather experienced further south in the UK, the week was generally dry and mild - most pleasant. A painter dealt with the eaves and downpipes of the house, a roofer sorted out the damaged flashings and loose slates, and I got some varnishing done. I'm starting to feel a little more prepared for winter.


Back inside...
The brambles have all been turned into jelly. The harvest was pretty poor this year, a lot of the berries never seemed to ripen and those that did were small.

I made seven full jars and two half jars in total. Some have already been gifted or eaten but I have five full jars safely tucked away.

Continuing with the red, white and blue colour scheme, I finally won a dala horse on ebay. I've had my eye on one of these for a while and found a pair in deep red (as opposed to the more common orange), one is living upstairs and this one is downstairs (shown here next to a print by Julia Crossland).

More artwork: A's latest - a rather exuberant mountain goat, made me laugh.

I picked the last of the rhubarb from the garden and made a rhubarb, apple, plum and blueberry crumble. It was unexpectedly delicious. I'd overstewed the rhubarb and apples, and when I added them to the plums and blueberries it looked like a cat had puked in the dish (sorry!), but it made a lovely thick fruit sauce. I then didn't have any rolled oats so added oatmeal to the topping instead, it turned out beautifully crunchy so I will continue to use oatmeal in future.

My current favourite type of chocolate. I can't keep any in the cupboard as I just end up eating it all. Available in handy 40g bars from your local Co-op for 60p.

Muffins! They're all the same recipe, the darker ones are just the 2nd batch which I burnt - too busy chatting. I managed to catch them before they were ruined though, the children don't like them but I do.

The Book People currently have some lovely craft books for sale at excellent prices. I recently bought two by Jane Brocket - The Gentle Art of Knitting and The Gentle Art of Quilting, both for just £6.99 each.

Of the two, the knitting one is the one I'm most likely to actually make something from, but both are lovely to read and look at. "There is nothing nicer on a cold, rainy, blustery winter evening than snuggling down on a comfy sofa, a fire to one side, a glass of red wine to the other, ... [with] a good book, [and] some knitting that can be picked up and put down." Well if that quote and the lovely patterns (I've shown below the ones I'd like to try first) don't get me to have another go at learning to knit then nothing will!

Hot water bottle cover.

Plain sock pattern.
Gloves.

Slouchy hat.

I've just had a quick look at the craft section on the Book People site and they also have "Cute and Easy Crochet" by Nicki Trench (see Attic 24 review here) for a mere £3.99.

The Knitter's Year by Debbie Bliss (£4.99) and Christmas Crafting in No Time (£3.99) are also catching my eye, uh oh, perhaps it's just as well I have to step away from the computer right now as I need to collect A & N from school & nursery!