the running wave

On the way back from the school bus yesterday I encountered a couple of Vikings, slogging it out with their terrible weapons! It was probably a little local difficulty concerning a conker.

This is my second Autumn this year!  Australia provided lots of autumnal colour during May and now I am enjoying the gentler, golden colours of October in the northern hemisphere!  Scotland can match the rest of the world with scarlets and but, as I have said before, I love our beautiful tawny colours.  Beech trees are my favourite, any time of the year! The hedgerows are a tangle of berries and the holly is revving up for Christmas! We have had some very misty, grey days this week but amid the murk and gloom this stand of rosebay willow herb have really glowed.  Yesterday the sun came out and although the plants still look great, I admired them more in the mist! On clear days the early morning light is now golden. And the evening light is soft and rosy.

I thought that the sight of this cow sleeping so soundly in the sunshine was very endearing!  I don't think I have ever seen a cow so totally out for the count!

My cousin from Devon has been staying this week and because the weather has been pretty good we have been outside most of the time, which has been great!   On Monday we drove down to Northumberland to visit The Alnwick Garden.  Mr Gaucho and I visited when the gardens were in their infancy and I was mightily impressed by how much has happened since then!  The bamboo and beech labyrinth was fun as was the Serpent Garden with it's amazing water features illustrating all sorts of watery scientific principles.  The visiting troupes of school children were loving them!   My cousin and I took photos of each other from either side of a curtain of water!  The whirlpool was rather beautiful too. The Grand Cascade is just wonderful.  It plays a symphony of water every half an hour.  I loved the criss cross water spouts. There is water performing on a grand scale and also delightful little rills, water bubbling over pebbles and granite and now catching the leaves as autumn b