Leaves

The weeping willow was the last to lose its leaves and now they are starting to come back.  Lovely to see them but it does feel a bit early and they’ll be vulnerable to frost. 

We had a frost first thing actually, and looking out at the sparkling sunny garden saw a fox prancing across the lawn.  We also saw a rat, for the first time since we found out they were nesting in the thatch so that wasn’t so good. 

Annoyingly after that it rained for the period of time when I wanted to do a bit of gardening but I gamely planted out winter aconites in the drizzle.  Made soup and then in the afternoon as Vikram and his sister Anu planned a trip for us all in the Autumn I planted out and cleared up a few pots. 

We’ve empty the birdfeeders whilst we get rid of the rats but the last few peanuts were being eaten by a few birds when a sparrowhawk swooped in and snatched a little blue tit.  Death in the Afternoon.   The last I saw was the hawk flying over the garden shed with the bird in its claws and one lone feather drifting down to the lawn.  

In the evening we went out for a delicious dinner at Tillington and Vikram and Anu posed for pictures by the phone box in the village in the light of the full moon and a new frost starting up.