It never fails to amaze me, how some flowers just keep going until autumn is well on its way through! Although sometimes there doesn’t seem to much about in the way of floral cheer, I found this in my father’s garden only yesterday. This particular variety seems to hang on incredibly well – usually until the first severe frost. And magenta is a colour I love – or have mentioned that before?
I know this isn’t much of a photo, but I’m putting it here this week as a reminder of what happened last Monday (16/10/17.) That morning there was a most weird effect in the sky; it appeared to be filled with a greenish-yellow fog, with the sun itself showing as a faint red ball – which could be directly observed with no risk of eye damage! This was evidently caused by a mixture of desert dust from the Sahara, and smoke from forest fires in Spain, all brought to Britain by winds that were part of Storm Ophelia. At one point, just after midday, I needed to put lights on to see, indoors!
I have seen this effect before, but not very often. I haven’t edited this photo, other than to crop it; this was pretty much how the scene looked.
For the time of year, I don’t think it can get much more English than this. At least, that was how I felt as I saw this vista in South Derbyshire, yesterday. I always get very thoughtful when I find scenes like this one; I think of so many young men from towns and villages, marching away to war, many of them never to return. Does anyone else feel this way?
At this time of year, although there are lots of wild fruits and berries, there are not so many other exciting plants to look at. This one, however, is of note – the silk tassel bush, or Garrya elliptica. Its stunning catkins last into the winter. Today, they caught my eye by the light of the morning sun.
I captured this only today. Autumn is definitely here. I have tried to use shallow depth of field in a symbolic way; the memory of summer is starting to blur, yet autumn has its own beauty – and it just might excel itself this year.
