Roses, geraniums and the painter

Back in the village it suddenly struck me that it is definitely autumn. The leaves are dropping, the air is sharp in the morning and the nights are getting below zero. Our roses are still going though and I managed to snap a few pretty pictures of the ones still in bloom.

We started feeding the birds and I await with great excitement the variety of feathered friends this winter. Last year, the usual great tit population was joined by several variety of finches and even a woodpecker. Mind you, the latter creature was not Roy's favourite for eating into one of our facia boards to such depths that the painter and decorator renovating the outside had to use a fair amount of wood filler to mend the damage. Talking of painters: he came today to furnish his account which we settled happily. The two of them worked on and off right through October, repaired/repainted all external wood, all external walls on and around two buildings and it came to about £1360, including materials. My only complaint was that they didn't turn up in September as requested and thus made our October a bit too hectic, as we had to fit them around visitors and a variety of other activities.

This interesting plant, which was a present from Alwyn back in September has survived being abandoned for over a week while I was in Spain/Italy and Roy went to stay in town. Amazingly, it doesn't mind being alone and it carried on growing. Its leaves are quite small, but it's alive and that is the main thing. Yesterday I also started on the Family History Society's translation which I offered to do. The actual translation is dead easy, it is the structure and instructions on the web site which are practically unfathomable. Currently I am doing the FAQ section, which is laughable in its patronising tone, but hopefully still helpful for those who are not exactly computer literate. We are off to town tomorrow as the season's last O event is this weekend in the South. I had a nasty sore throat and earache a couple of days back, so I hope I will be well enough to run, but I have to go, even if I won't be able to run as I must meet up with Peo Bengtsson who I have talked into entering his bus load of Skandinavian travellers in the Juniper Cup. I will also hopefully be able to pick up Arpi and Zita's 2013 calendars I ordered from Olga. Next post probably from Brighton where we are off to visit our little Elian, who is now a very big boy compared to the little 6 day old bundle we last saw him as.

Postscript: Roses are done, geraniums are done, birds fed and one little perisher photographed.