Elderberry Rob: Autumn

Hello friends and visitors. This is a long overdue post!

this week we took the train to London St Pancras and walked along the canal to Camden Market. I think its about a 25 minute walk.

The Amy Winehouse statue at Camden Market was much smaller than I expected.

The walk along the canal is very pretty

We have plodded through 5 heatwaves this Summer in the UK and are now sliding into a more manageable Autumn season.

The rowan trees in the woods behind our garden have thrown out berries early, everything around was parched all through Summer. At last we have had rain! and nature is soaking up strength to renew itself - the yellowing grass is turning green again and my allotment is throwing out flowers in October that should have shown in Summer!

I have harvested a lot of blue bayou tomatoes, black skinned with sweet red centres, some turks turban squash, yellow courgette, purple beans, chard, herbs, raspberries and so many flowers - gladioli, verbena, giant daisy, crocosmia and some spectactular giant sunflowers. Now I have dug half of my plot over, added compost and manure. In the other half I planted leeks, winter lettuce, radish and spring onion.

My home garden below has produced lots of flowers too this year but needed a lot of water daily. We were lucky and had no hosepipe ban here.

Ive been collecting pine cones and conkers to decorate the house

We recently spent a week in Belek, Turkey. We didn't venture out much as our all inclusive had so much to offer and we were looking for total rest and to recharge our batteries. I only have a few pictures as this wasn't our usual 'out and about' type of holiday. We stayed at Megasaray, Belek, which is vast. The food was exceptionally good with a huge selection three times a day of salads, cold meats and cheeses, cooked dishes, pizza, etc. etc. The three pools to swim in, a sandy beach. We took part in some of the entertainment (pool foam party, games in the pool). There were nightly shows including a contortionist and acrobats).

I am refreshing basic French and hubby is brushing up his Spanish (we are using an app and do a little each day). Hubby taught me to play chess this year and I have beaten him twice since April! So you can tell I need to watch some strategy videos and improve!

I have got into a routine since retiring, it has taken a while to get there. I swim 30 lengths twice a week and do two strength/weight lifting classes at our local gym. I also enjoy being on my allotment.

Recently we went to Beachy Head for a walk, it was very hot and windy and there were a lot of people coming by coach to see the landscape. Despite the all Summer drought, there was green grass.

This week we have had our 18 year old leather sofa resprung and some worn edges were dyed back to look like new - all done by a local man in situ - he did a fantastic job.