Autumn colour

Red, pink, orange, gold, green....

leaves from our walk, scanned in.

There are some lovely colours around right now!
It doesn't happen every autumn, so if you can, get out and have a look before it all disappears!

It only goes this red in certain weather conditions; if the autumn days are sunny and mild but the nights are cold but not freezing, then we get bright colours that hang around a while before falling. Some years it seems to go from green to bare REALLY quickly, giving rise to conversations at our kitchen window that go something like this, year after year;
"Oh! When did that tree lose its leaves?"
"Erm.... not sure. It was green last time I looked!"
"Me too. Oh well."

Not so this year. Yesterday it was windy and rainy for the first time in AGES. We had to go out anyway, so we cut across the park on the way;

Spot the goosies!;

Luvbug took all these photo's. This is my favourite.
I like how the leaves look "spiky":

I collected some of the leaves and immersed them in a bowl of water when we got in. If you do this, they stay pliable and fresh till you're ready to do something with them. They were OK there overnight. Today, I dried them out by sitting them on some kitchen paper and then laid them across my scanner....I was just keen to get a record of them. They're so lovely. Such stunning colour. Like jewels..

I might try to make backgrounds from these scans, maybe for my blog or printed out and used on arty crafty stuff. Or I might just forget all about them. We'll see!

=)

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It's my birthday this Sunday!!

I shall be 42, which, as any Douglas Adams fans out there will know, is the answer to life, the universe and everything.
So that's nice, isn't it?
Now I just need to find the question.

Watch this space for some birthday "candy". I shall post about it just as soon as these heating engineers have finished pulling up floors and making dust.... ooooo central heating, soon, folks, soon! Horray!

Autumn pictures

I took these the other day, at Colchester Castle Park.....

My partner spotted this scene (above) and said it would be a good shot.
If it wasn't for him I'd have missed it!
I took it quickly, as it was getting chilly and the light was fading fast.
I had intended to crop it, but I like it as it is now!

This is a little ornamental pond in the gardens with the side of the castle in the background. In the summer this area smells strongly of lavender and roses.

There is a large house nearby, now a museum, called Hollytrees:You can just about see my partner walking around the side of the house here...

Here he is!

Don't know why the water in the fountain was blue...

Beautiful leaves on the walls...
Pity this next one was a bit blurred....
I remember my mum showing me how to make little dolls out of these when I was little :)
Ahh! Gotcha!