Back to gardening and HONEY HAS DISCOVERED FLIGHT!

After all the excitement of last week we're getting back to normal - until Friday when nephew Thomas' twin girl Alina arrives for the weekend.

We managed to have our first good day's gardening for ages on Tuesday, even the odd little shower didn't mar it:

The Gunnera by the frog pond had flopped all over the steps with the onset of colder temperatures, so I put it to bed for the winter, covering the crowns with the leaves but letting the old flower stalks poke out  - and you may have noticed that my new LED duck from Michael and Peaneh has found a new place to stand next to another present from them, both light up the night now:

Some of the roses are still blooming:

Artemis                                                                                                    Pastella

Our two bushes of Callicarpa are giving the best show we've had from them:

John planted lots more wallflowers - you can just see him in the picture above.  I did lots and lots of chopping off old growth, ripping out weeds and carting off three heaped wheelbarrow loads away for composting.  Coming back from my last trip I saw some more apples lying in the orchard, and then spotted a couple of 'monsters' in the Bramley trees which I picked before they could fall as well and bruise.  The biggest weighed 627g and had a circumference of 40 cm!  The two next largest were pretty heavy too, 518g and 486g, it's been a great year for apples!

I took this photo early yesterday morning, on my way to the big pond for the breakfast run.  I had come out prepared with the camera because Honey had amazed me on three mornings before by flying from the side of the garage all the way to the big pond, a distance of 30 - 40 metres!  Well, runner ducks don't fly more than a skip and a jump, she must be a mix.  The first time I saw it I thought it was a wild duck flying away from me, but no, she's discovered she can fly much faster than she can walk [which is still very awkward], and as all the others run down very fast to try and steal some of Captain's and Anke's breakfast she has discovered she can join them without delay.  She gets up really high, I couldn't believe it.  But then I messed up the video recording, my fingers being stiff with the cold I didn't press the shutter until she had gone, I'll try again this morning!

PS: It didn't go to plan, when Honey came to the edge of the garage where she'd been taking off the last two days some of her mates were still with her, and as John was standing there watching too it put her off until I walked up right behind her - I'll try again tomorrow!