Shades of Autumn - Red

This first one is a re-post from last week -
it's Pepper disguising herself as a Japanese maple
on the bench in the garden.
I've included this for no other reason than that it makes me smile :O)

Followed by a couple of shots of chrysanths after the rain.

Plus a flower in a vase - I have no idea what it is!

 And finally some shots of the Japanese maples (sans Pepper), with raindrops.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

Busy, busy  week.  David finally had the operation on his lip, so now just looks as if someone smacked him in the mouth, which is a whole lot easier to live with.  And it was back to work for me on Thursday, which after a two week break was a bit of a culture shock.  Back to the Scavenger Hunt... some of these images were taken yesterday in the Trentham Estate Gardens in Staffordshire - the Italian Garden there made me feel as if I'd travelled across the English Channel, down through Europe and ended up at Lake Como.  It just needed George Cloony to come wandering along the lakeside terrace to make it complete - obviously he didn't though (unfortunately).

Words...

Does what it says on the tin really.

Under...

Under the trellis walkway in the Italian Gardens.

Love this statue as this lady

seems to be giving her pet snake a

saucer of milk (or something).

Orange...

To tell you the truth, after Friday's mammoth

orange session for Shades of Autumn I was not inspired to take another.

So here's one I did earlier (the date's a bit of a giveaway).

Fly...

Until yesterday I was a bit bemused as to what to do for this one.

Our trip to Trentham solved it however when I saw

geese artworks on the lake, I thought they

looked brilliant!

...same goose, different angle - and this time he's with some friends.

They suspect nothing...

Always look on the bright side...

David has to drink coffee through a straw at the moment 

and I decided to utilise them for this prompt as they're

lovely bright colours.

And you thought I was going to mention Monty Python... :O)

...and another one for this prompt.
Just because you can never have too much of an
Italian Garden, here's a brightly lit corner of it.

Shades of Autumn - Orange

And so we reach orange, my enthusiasm for which has spilled over into my choice of text colour in this post. Apart from being the name of my mobile phone provider it is one of my favourite colours of the autumn, well of any time really, and one which I can at least wear.  Some autumnal colours do me no favours at all - certain yellows or reds  can make me look as if I'm auditioning for a part in the Adams Family, but orange (in moderation, unless I want to be mistaken for an excitable pumpkin) is good!  And talking of pumpkins - I have a bit of a pumpkin obsession going on so have included a few images of them in various guises here.


By the way, my favourite tip for making your autumn photos zing with colour is to alter the white balance on your camera to shade or cloudy to boost the reds -simple but effective.

Our World Tuesday - Late!

Yes, yes I know it's Wednesday, but better late than never.  Photos from two locations this week, the first from Stratford where I headed off to on Saturday and witnessed that strange English tradition that is Morris Dancing, plus a Green Man.  I love enthusiasts and eccentrics :O)

And these are some images form Foxton Locks - a reminder of Britain's 19th Century industrial heritage.  It's a staircase lock flight (10 locks in total) on the Grand Union Canal that raises boats a total of 75 feet, and is the largest such flight on the English canal system.

For more participants visit Our World Tuesday.

Cats on Tuesday - in which cats sit on a bench...

I mentioned a while back how the bench we have in our garden became an object of great interest and desire for the cats as soon as we moved it to a new position.  This is still the case.  It has become a place to rest, contemplate, plan strategies, and launch unprovoked attacks on other passing cats and humans.  Here is photographic evidence: in the first, Charlie surveys his kingdom and keeps an eye out for Little Creep (the cat who lives up the road and comes in to steal food), and in the second, Pepper goes into 'covert operations cat' mode by trying to disguise herself as a Japanese Maple.

For more participants visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Out and About Photography...

So here I am on holiday - and minus David's company (who still can't show his face in public) I went off exploring.  A forty minute drive took me into Derbyshire and to Calke (pronounced Cork) Abbey - how I have never been there before is a mystery to me - it's wonderful! I love Derbyshire anyway, (it's the county where Mr Darcy's Pemberley estate was in Pride and Prejudice - no wonder Elizabeth Bennett married him), and now I love it even more having discovered Calke.  It's set on the site of an Augustinian Priory dating from the 12th century although it has never actually been an Abbey.  The original building has long gone and the house that stands today is a mixture of architectural styles - but it was the wonderful park and gardens that I fell in love with;  perfect weather, perfect place, perfect day.

These last two images are from St Giles Church which
stands in the grounds at Calke.

Shades of Autumn - Yellow

This week's colour proved more of a challenge than I would have thought - where has all the yellow gone?  I resorted to getting David to hold a large leaf in front of his face at one point (still got that cyst thing going on on his lip!), but as this looked really silly, in the end had to settle for a shot of my Rudbeckias in the rain (for 'rain' read 'me with watering can with camera on self-timer').

Cats on Tuesday: Drama in the Garden 2

Once again the cats have been hard at work writing and directing a new entertainment!  So without further ado they present: 'Drama in the Garden 2 - The Minion of Doom!'

Ever since Evil Genius Cat had been defeated, 

residents of the garden had lived in peace and tranquility.

But wait, what's this?

It's the return of Evil Genius Cat and this time

he has acquired an equally evil minion to help him in his dastardly work.

'Go evil minion! Infiltrate the garden and do your worst to those pesky cats

and their Buddha friend.

Soon the garden will be mine! Mwahahahahaha!!'

The Evil Minion's first victim was a friendly tabby cat

(who looks remarkable like Mrs Pod).  The Minion crept closer

and whispered evil thoughts into the tabby cat's ear...

... and at once the tabby cat began sharpening her claws on the fence, 

all the time murmering to herself 'Must Kill! Must Kill!'...

Oh no! What would happen next?

... It was the turn of a gentle grey cat to be transformed.

All it took was one whisper...

... and suddenly the normally gentle cat had leaped up and

snatched a bird from the air as it flew past!

(Camera operator: Posky so help me I will

smack your backside so hard if you killed that bird!

Posky: It was dead already! Honest! I found it like that!!!

And you can't prove anything!

Camera Operator: Hmmmm...)

The minion had only one more victim to claim

and then the Evil Genius cat would rule the garden!

The Buddha's Disciple Cat (for it was she) ran to the Buddha...

'Please help me dear Buddha, what shall I do?

How can I save the garden and rescue my friends?'

And the Buddha answered...

'Close your eyes dear Disciple Cat,

and use your mind to escape this evil...'

... and she did, and suddenly

she was out of danger and in a beautiful forest

with a giant Buddha who held a leaf in his hand.

'Here dear Disciple Cat', he said,

'eat this leaf to protect yourself, and then take

some to your friends so that

they may regain their true nature'.

... and the Disciple ate the leaf,

and all at once she was back in the garden just in time

to see the Evil Genius Cat about to strangle the Buddha!

Quickly she threw one of the magical leaves at him

which stopped him in his tracks!

And then she quickly gave them to her friends...

... who immediately remembered who they really were,

and joined forces to defeat the Evil Minion!

Hurrah!

...meanwhile, the magical leaf

had given Buddha's Disciple Cat 

the strength to fight Evil Genius Cat.

The battle was fierce (nice paw-waving guys!)

but good overcame evil and 

Buddha's Disciple Cat emerged triumphant!

Deep joy!

And so it came to pass,

that peace reigned once more in the garden.

And everyone was happy.

Well, almost everyone...

'Curses! Once again those pesky

kids have defeated my evil plans!'

'But... I will return!

Mwahahahahahaha!!'

THE END

'Drama in the Garden 2: The Minion of Doom!' starred:

Evil Genius Cat...................... Charlie

Friendly Tabby Cat............... Mrs Pod

Gentle Grey Cat.................... Posky

Buddha's Disciple Cat........... Pepper

Special appearance by Little My as Evil Minion

Camera Operation still by that woman we let live with us.

For more cats visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.