Everybody's Tidying Up.

I was able to spend this morning working out in the garden. What caught my attention today was the variety of sounds that I heard.

First , one of the resident (in our loft), families of jackdaws was in a tree at the edge of the garden cawing at the other half of the family who were sitting in a tree by the house. Then there was the ever present sound of the wind in the trees surrounding the garden. Because there is nearly always a breeze in one direction or another I've got wind chimes hung around the place and today the longest chimes were clanging quite melodiously. Another constant garden sound is the rushing of a stream on the other side of the hedge which drops down a steep gradient and consists of a number of small waterfalls. Mondays are rest days at the stables next door so there were few cars going down the road. I could hear the chinking of the farrier shoeing horses which reminded me of the time when I worked with horses. Some of the horses were turned out on the hillside in their winter rugs and there was lots of squelchy gallumping as they cantered around enjoying the freedom of the fields. Later on I heard the high call of a buzzard which sounds like a bosun's whistle (pipe) and the lower answering call of a second buzzard. Blackbirds in the trees were making their characteristic chink chink call and in the distance I could hear a solitary seagull. All this symphony of sounds kept me occupied while I tidied up in the scree garden, cutting down dead seed heads and picking leaves up from the stones. The area is completely covered with stones so that even when the plants have died back it should be a place of beauty. But all the fallen leaves have to be removed to reveal the stones. I've got one of those leaf sucker things but it doesn't like wet leaves. We had our first frost last night and defrosting sedum leaves are disgusting ..... like dead frogs. One more session and they'll all be dealt with, then it's just the beech leaves from all the surrounding trees. But it's worth it.

The farmers have been tidying too. This is the time of year that the hedges get trimmed making the countryside look like a park with the squared off hedges. Above you can see one side done and the other waiting to be cut.
I taught year 1 in the afternoon and after school it was the oh so familiar wait for Linas. He'd come into town with me and planned to go to Braunton and come back home with me after school. I waited an hour and 40 minutes before giving up and driving home. When I finally got through to him on his mobile I refused to return and told him to wait in town until Pete drove through on his way home. I had thought my days as a taxi driver were over!