A Few Ramblings…
Forty-six year old Christian happily negotiating the world with a wife and three daughters
November walk to Cookham Dean – 13th November 2011
With another mild afternoon ahead of us, Rebekah and I completed our usual monthly walk to Cookham Dean and back.
Although sunny at first, it turned misty and cooler during the walk and we just got back in time to see the sun set.
Below are a few photos from the walk:
Early hints of autumn
Old mans beard
Dandelions
Autumn colours on the oak
View towards Maidenhead
Looking down the path
Burning cut branches
Rebekah in the churchyard
Unexpected primrose!
Autumn leaves
Rebekah looking at the area of remembrance
Miniature poppies
Poppies on the War Memorial
Walking down across the field
Rebekah greeting a horse
Sunset at the end of the walk
The end of the summer – 12th November 2011
I spent an hour with Rebekah clearing the remnants of the runner beans, tomatoes and carrots from the vegetable plot and thoroughly enjoyed it. Rather than attempting to dig the whole plot with somewhat saturated soil, we opted to hoe and gather up the weeds. We also dug up the final carrots and found a couple of beauties!
It’s been a good summer overall. We’ve had literally hundreds of runner beans. The rhubarb, tomatoes and French beans have also been good. The carrots could probably have been a little larger. The courgettes and lettuces were something of a non-starter and the sunflowers were eaten as soon as they appeared!
There are still a few tomatoes growing and they have been spared for another week or two. The remnant of hard runner beans have been gathered up for us to use the bean seeds for next year.
With thoughts already turning to the spring, possible things to grow next year include the usual runner beans, tomatoes and carrots but also perhaps some raspberry canes and maybe potatoes again. We’ll see how things shape up over the winter. Either way, clearing the plot now should mean that things are a little more ready than they were back in the spring!
I’m already looking forward to next summer!
A sad, end of summer scene on the vegetable plot
Dying tomatoes and runner beans litter the plot
Tomato anyone?
Rebekah with the final carrots of 2011
A last 'hurrah' from the veg plot!
End view after clearing
Side view of the cleared vegetable plot
The gooseberry bush
Rhubarb
London to host 2017 World Athletics Championships – 11th November 2011
This afternoon London beat Doha to be awarded the honour of hosting the 2017 World Athletics Championship. I’m already looking forward to hopefully being among those watching.
Here’s how it unfolded on Twitter:
Bonfire Night 2011 – 5 November 2011
This Bonfire Night we once again made plans to attend the events in Cookham organised by Cookham scouts.
Accordingly, I found myself in Countrystore in Cookham this morning spending £75 on tickets for this evening!
Holly decided not to join us this time and Sarah stayed at home with her and Emily to watch a DVD of Holly’s choice – Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale.
I drove over to Cookham with Rebekah and we turned down the long and narrow road which leads to Formosa Meadow, overtaking various others heading down on foot.
Fortunately the rain, which had threatened earlier in the day, held off as we parked up and walked past the table, lit in the darkness by a plug-in flourescent light, to surrender our tickets.
Everything was more or less the same as last year. Tents were set out offering various drinks, including mulled wine, soup, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. A smaller tent displayed a selection of sweets for the children as well as toffee apples.
The tented area was illuminated leaving most of the meadow, including the bonfire, in darkness.
Refreshment tents on Formosa Meadow
We met up with friends there and shared various refreshments before the evening got underway with the lighting of the twenty-five foot bonfire. As usual, safety concerns were met with the addition of a line of tape placed some 20 feet away from the pyre.
Shortly after 6.30pm flaming torches were carried across the field, reeking of paraffin, before being thrust into the heart of the pile of branches.
One of the flaming torches
Despite the rain earlier in the week, in a matter of minutes, the bonfire was soon flaming high and the heat produced forced the onlookers back to cooler climes. The effigy of Guy Fawkes so carefully positioned atop the branches was also rapidly consumed.
Spectators keeping warm
Crowds around the bonfire
As the clock moved towards 7pm, people began to make their way over to the rear of the field to view the main event of the evening. Accordingly, I managed to pick a good spot to set up my tripod and give the new 5D Mark II something of a workout.
Jon’s shot of the fire beginning to die down
Silhouettes in the smoke
Long exposure
The fireworks, set off by Shellscape, began shortly after 7pm and went right through to 7.30pm. What a 25 minutes we had! Fireworks of every hue were sent aloft while the noise of explosions reverberated around the surrounding area for miles around.
At last it was over, and, as the final rocket exploded, the crowd numbering well over a thousand people broke out into spontaneous applause.
It was perfect timing as fireworks from nearby Cliveden immediately began and the masses were treated to another, free, display.
It was time to join the long queue of cars waiting to escape from the car-park and we finally got home around 8.30pm.
Once again it had been a fantastic night and a real curtain-raiser to the winter season ahead. We returned home to warm up with tomato soup and start the job of wading through over 200 photos from the evening!
A Few Ramblings... 