Spindle

Today's been a busy day - we had friends visiting, which meant a morning flurry of shopping, cooking and cleaning.

Ross and I have known each other for many years - we both home-educated our children, and although hers are now both at college, we still see her and her younger daughter every month or so.

This photo of spindle was taken while Ross and I were out walking the dogs this afternoon, under more heavy grey skies. It certainly isn't technically perfect, but it will provide a nice reminder of their visit.

Spindle is one of my favourite trees, and is quite frequent round here, as it likes to grow on calcareous soils. For most of the year it is completely unassuming, with rather ordinary oval leaves, and small greenish flowers in late spring.

However, come October, it burst into a blaze of pink and orange. The pink part is the four-lobed seed capsule, which eventually splits to reveal the orange seeds.

It gets its name from the fact that the wood was often used to make spindles for spinning wool.