the running wave

Our tiny garden is remarkably colourful at the moment, with some pink cosmos, asters, rudbeckia, nepeta, gaura The Bride , and a few afterthought roses, but for today's vases I have picked out the summer's last hurrah.  A gentle little collection which we have been enjoying all summer long.  We had our first frost last week so I don't think it will be long before these pretties get knocked on the head by Jack Frost.  Therefore, in the spirit of 'gather ye rosebuds while ye may', here is our garden's offering for this week.  Thank you to these little beauties, for all the joy they bring.

On a murky Friday morning I thought I would remind myself of a glorious walk in the sunshine on Wednesday.  Our walking group enjoyed a five mile walk around Belhaven Bay and its hinterland.  Wonderful views across the Tyne estuary and further inland, we saw a handful of swallows and martens.  Still swooping and zipping through the air.  Our collective response was "What are they doing here?"  By rights they should have been somewhere over Morocco by now.  It was magical to see them, little miracles that they are, but they better get a move on if they want to get to their winter home in good time.

The hedgerows are so full of berries and autumn delights at the moment that the birds must think Christmas has come early!  I hope there is still plenty around when we are in depths of winter, because they will be in far greater need then.  I trust in their innate intelligence to pace themselves! A walk round my favourite field this weekend has provided material for my vase today.  Wild rose hips, hawthorn, blackberry and elderberries, and some cheerful yellow ragwort. I tried photographing the vases, including my little sweetie treats of course, in yesterday's bright sunshine as it poured into our kitchen, but it was just a bit too much.  So I include a couple of sunlit photos and the rest are just a little easier to see in the more subdued light of Sunday morning.

The dogs and I hadn't visited Gosford for several weeks, which we did on Friday and, as always, there was plenty to enjoy as the gardens move into autumn. This mushroom is Coprinus comatus , the shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig, or shaggy mane.  It can be eaten, cooked, when it is very young and still snowy white.  The inside of the mushroom is a wonderland of colour and design. There is talk of a bitterly cold winter ahead.  Certainly there are plenty of berries on the trees, and I think I would put Mother Nature's intelligence ahead of any other, so probably a good time to stock up on bird food because it will be needed when the ground is hard iron, and water like a stone.

My lovely roses, in their endeavour to keep summer going, are having a second flowering.  Not so many blooms, but they are so welcome that they seem to be twice as beautiful as the first time round.  I can't remember the name of the paler rose, but the darker pink is Gentle Hermione, who has been an absolute star this year. And of course, summer lingers on in the sweet peas, just for a little bit longer. Autumn is ushered in by the horse chestnuts.  I might be able to look back on an awful lot of autumns, but I never cease to be excited by finding a shiny new conker, nestling in its pristine, creamy kid-leather casing, with sputnik spines on the outside.  Nothing shouts "Autumn" so loudly.

Here is a random selection of photos from our few days on Colonsay.  My postcards from the edge. One of Colonsay's raised beaches This is the first time we have been on Colonsay when the heather has been in bloom.  On the hillsides the soft purple of the calluna, or ling, heather, the brighter bell heather, mosses, sedges, bracken and low growing grasses all mingle to produce that lovely overall colour which becomes reflected in Scottish tweeds and knitwear.   Common Darter dragonfly The berries on the hawthorn and rowan trees are plentiful.  I noticed this at home too.  Mr Gaucho read on his iPad that the forecasters are predicting a return of the 'beast from the east', early in 2020.  I did wonder about the quantities of berries and maybe Mother Nature is laying in provisions. In various places I saw some lovely heads of hydrangea, both in the outer gardens of Colonsay House and in the gardens of the hotel.  I love the...