Thinking

Winston is thinking.

He is thinking about the smokey sunshine, about pictures, about the black perfection of his own paws, but mostly he is thinking about food.

There might be little bits of chicken when they prepare dinner; there might be morsels of cooked salmon if is Friday ( what ever that might be. ) There might be the right flavored packet food, not the one he has just gone off and will not eat. There might be dried snacks to run after in the sitting room in the unseasonably hot afternoon.

There might be peace on earth and every one fed and safe including the mice and the birds, but for now Winston is just stretching his paws in the sun and waiting.

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Chinese Chopsticks

Chinese chopsticks jumbled on the forest path,

pale ivory of ash leaf ribs scattered amongst the wet and black leaves.

A very few oak leaves have fallen and curl upwards like fingers through the thickening carpet .

Beech leaves are salt and pepper promiscuous, light and dark across everything .

The field maple leaf is defined and decorative, like a child’s pattern stenciled along the margins of the autumn path.

Prickled sprinkles of pine leaf, where a squirrel has been eating, are sharp and incongruous against the softening multi colored cloth of autumn beneath my feet.

There is the hallucinatory quality of dreams as the eye tries to register each outline,

And my feet move on ,

And the leaves fall around me,

Each by each.

This Day

Bats slap and purr through the silly little box,

Serious Secret messages from hidden senders in the dark.

Before the dawn, the black is tactile, pressing against the face.

And then : the cool sliver of pale behind the darkness slowly pulls away the heaviness

And then:

The bats are gone.

A first blackbird scolds the day awake.

The cat shivers down from the open window with a soft thud.

This day has begun.

Leaf-blowers endanger wildlife, says animal rights group – SWI swissinfo.ch

As the autumn leaves fall, a Swiss animal rights group is urging people to think twice before using leaf-blowers.
— Read on www.swissinfo.ch/eng/-leaf-blowers-endanger-wildlife–says-animal-rights-group/47981614

Not over yet.

As is to be expected in autumn, the weather flip flops faster than Liz Truss between sunshine and storms. However, unlike a politician, the flowers make beauty in the sun and provide food for the late insects as long as they can. My rosemary is covered in flowers and bees and the white michaelmas daisies are loud with life.

However it is the cosmos that are the most eye catching of all in their colourful, striking simplicity. Looking into their flowers with my phone camera I am reminded of my A- level Biology. Male and female are represented in the same glorious bloom and pollen is both shed and received as time turns the petals from perky to limp. I apologize for the “Carry On” style allusions, but watching ancient comedy films and observing the garden are increasingly important to my sanity these days!

I also found this worrying looking female spider just outside the garden yesterday. While I normally embrace all wildlife, I have to admit that this one made me shudder utterly.

Back to life after 130 years! Chimney Meadows Nature Reserve: Channel reopens river to wildlife – BBC News

I like to share hopeful news.

This nature reserve is close to my sister in law’s village . A complicated project has opened up part of the Thames to fish to swim and spawn in for the first time in 130 years . How is that for righting a wrong after such a long time?!

Thanks to the EU for funding and local wildlife trusts for having vision and determination to make something better!

A new watercourse has been created at Chimney Meadows Nature Reserve near Bampton in Oxfordshire.
— Read on www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-63228082