A Mystery....Bonnie without Clyde Crumble... Conker Frank and Gandalf...Windows and Verandah Dreams

 This morning  walking back into the village, I come across a mystery...flung across the path at the entrance gate to the fishing pond.....strawberries, blueberries and two apples...looking in good condition...not rotting or bad...

but discarded....abandoned....or arranged. Did someone drop their shopping bag....or leave them there deliberately? Who for?

Then a few yards down the path I spot these cherry tomatoes and some salad leaves pushed into the undergrowth of the high hedge lining the path.

Even more mysterious.

I leave the house a bit later than usual this morning ...some arrangements emails to reply to...the sky is a grey white cloth..even the sparrows are quiet.

But I hear the sheep from a long way away...calling out....calling to each other.

I have called these two beauties Conker and Frank.

Frank after 'Ole Blue Eyes' Sinatra...the horse has the most startling pale blue eyes.

The three towering hawthorn trees at the end of my garden are 

laden with blood claret berries,

the giant bamboos are a perfect foil for them.

You can make Hawthorn berry jam and jelly, brandy and gin, ketchup and syrup. But I don't seem to have the inclination at the moment to be a homesteader ...storing up winter vitamin C.

On the other hand picking my own blackberries and apples for a crumble is something I think I can muster the energy for. I've been inspired by a cooked mixture my sister gave me to which I added her fresh raspberries and made a topping with oats and crushed hazelnuts. Using the very good butter substitute  - Vegan Block( coconut/almond based) - wasn't such a good idea though. A bit like mashed potato, crumble without butter is like Bonnie without Clyde.

Having said that luckily I'm in love with olive oil for all dairy substitutes...

On Sunday I take a longer walk up the hill towards the village of Butterleigh.

I hear the grass-tearing and chewing of these cows high in the field above me before I see them right up close to the fence. 

When I stop to take this chittering squirrel in an oak tree, the white flecked under belly of a buzzard swoops over my head and beyond the trees....

I snap him later, soaring, further up the hill.

The long patchwork field views are spectacular but

this part of the road, beyond the turn off for the footpath that I usually take, is

also used by many Red Bull drinkers...I start collecting up the cans, 

tossed at the side of the road. But there are too many to carry and I decide I will return another time with a bag and do a litter-pick walk.

Seagull and blue  - I could be in Portugal  -

walking the cliffs with Robin.

Toadflax growing on the path...they remind me of little snapdragons.

The horses Conker and Frank and the stately silver grey one, who I'm calling Gandalf are now behind a taped off area in the field so they can't saunter up to the gate like they used to.

And it's odd to see a car  behind them driving down the road to the farm house.

Thatched bird perched on the roof of a neighbour's house. I love it that they bothered.

"My" cows under the beautiful spreading plane tree. I love drawing the bedroom curtains in the early dawn and seeing them lying there, breathing dark shapes in the half light...my peaceful night companions.

Today I learned a lot about  UVPC windows and doors from the man who came to talk to me about the verandah. For 2 hours. And I got a reality check about the cost of an 8 metre glass structure supported by poles right across the back of my house. Just doing research....collecting data....still holding on to my dreams.

And today the planning permission came through from Mid-Devon Council. Thumbs up to start the building work. But there is long way to go before any bricks are laid.

Back to researching  the best doors and windows and floors and verandahs for me and my budget.

And cooking apple and blackberry crumbles to keep me sane.