Memories Are Made of This

'Memories Are Made of This' says the title of a song sung by Dean Martin

It's sometimes surprising what can make a memory from years ago rise to the surface. Recently a couple of riders and their horses were trotting round the block. When we went walk-about there was the evidence in the road:



What strong memory can possibly be associated with a pile of horse dung?

One Summer near the start of the 1950s I was sent to stay with my maternal grandmother and great grandmother. A decision I liked as I generally enjoyed visiting there. The only thing I didn't take kindly to was one particular chore I had to carry out. Milk and coal, as with many other products, was delivered by horse and cart. After they had visited I would be given a hand shovel and bucket and sent out to collect the still steaming piles of horse manure. Why? Granny would transfer it to a sack which was dangling in an old oak water butt. The resulting manured water being used to feed her roses.

Oh and no. I wasn't tempted to repeat the exercise this year.

Fill Those Baskets

Not just humans gleaning an Autumn harvest from the hedgerows. Recently the Ivy around the village has been swarming with bees making the most of a final harvest of pollen, leaving with bulging pollen baskets. Some Ivy growths have so many bees visiting that the hum from their wings can be heard well before nearing the plant.









I have noticed there seem to be far fewer wasps around this Autumn. Normally by now they would also be swarming over the Ivy but I have only seen the occasional one.

Weevil

Whenever I fold back the hasps while unlocking the garage or shed doors I never know what will be hiding there. Sometimes a moth, sometimes a spider. This time it was a weevil:



By the time I had fetched the 50D with its macro lens I only managed three focus stacked photos before it made a dash for cover.

Tuesday Teaser

This was the modified photo I showed last week:


It was just a photo of a recently ploughed field:


Many thanks to those of you who had a go at identifying it.

I wonder what you will make of this week's teaser:



Any guesses in the comments please.
They will be revealed, along with the original photo, next Tuesday.

Keeping Warm? + Sunrise

Early morning - A group of Starlings clustered on one chimney stack:

Baa Baa Black Sheep ....

Nice to see some back in the paddock at the end of the lane:









Trying to work out whether Penny is a sheep? 
Right colour but no wool or horns.

On the Turn

We are now officially in Autumn and the leaves are beginning to turn to their Autumn colours: