Saturday...

This week has been dark and rainy...

It always feels strange when the light changes in the mornings...I’m a very early riser and I really miss the light mornings of Summer...

However Autumn holds such amazing colour, and even with rain preventing me from being in the garden more at the moment, there’s something cosy, reflective and completely fulfilling to the senses about it....

I went out early this morning, even though it was still quite dark and the starlings were chattering like mad ahead of their Autumnal murmurations...

There was a big storm last night so the garden was soaked...

( This is my new Autumn purchase by the way, as the old one wasn’t going to withhold another season! )

I burn a lot of my garden waste and then use the ash to dig into the garden during the spring as it helps with soil drainage, and I also love the fact that I dig everything back in to where it started from....

The nasturtiums are, of course, going strong and I’m still picking loads of them, but the rain last night had weighed them down and damaged them a little...

They will basically keep going until the first frost, which then kills them all in one morning!

...so the snails have only got a few weeks left!

(I took this picture yesterday, before the rain...)

but it is the way their leaves hold the rain which was my inspiration this morning...

Monday...

Whilst I was away the Hogweed had been bleached and dried in the sun, which really confirmed an Autumnal feel to the garden... 

The succulents had to be rescued on my return...

as the snails had completely eaten this one along with an Aloe Vera which is not even visible now...

Frogs seem to have taken over the garden too, which is odd as I don’t even have a pond...just an old metal dustbin which I have to rescue them from on an almost daily basis...

The Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is doing its thing too...

I’d bought some roses last week for a project I’ve been working on, and I’ve discovered a very useful thing...if you spray them with water, put them in a tupperware tub with the lid on, and then in the fridge they stay really fresh, even if it’s just the heads

I’ve also been utilising pieces of oasis for the roses as I don’t like lopping their heads off...

This David Austin Rose however, was one that I spotted a gardener in the park pruning last Friday, so I just asked if I could have it and then she also gave to two ruse buds as well...I really didn’t mean to break it’s head off, but in the process of trying to angle it, it broke...I felt awful but at least the rose in the fridge trick has meant that it hasn’t died...

Synaesthesia in the Loft and Bindweed out the Back...

It's been a very busy Brighton Festival Festival weekend, and I'm a bit knackered, so I'm providing a more visual diary this evening...

I was up very early cleaning the whole house, which meant going into the loft at one point where I keep some of my canvases. I'm a synaesthetic artist too; ie I paint sound, and I reminded myself of two of my paintings I hadn't properly looked at for a while...

Close-up of the actor/writer Michael Simkin's Voice...

Close-up of the actor Timothy Spall's Voice...both incredibly charming men, when they 'talked' for me!

There was also The Brighton Children's Parade on Saturday...with lots of angler fish playing the drums...


A massive and very impressive whale shark....

...and LOADS of people!



Later in the evening Queen's Park was variously lit up with fire, tea lights, mirror balls...and chandeliers...

and fiery water lillies...

Sunday, I did early morning gardening, which consisted of removing a lot of bindweed...

guarding seedlings from snails...

feeling proud of my minature lilac...

The Naughty One...

but not so proud of rather barren pots...

I enjoyed the rust outside...

and the smooth inside...

Am going to London tomorrow...and so glad of my Oyster card: I love it!!!