Saturday 30 September 2017

Down the Lane Again and onto the Meadow

Down the lane again on the last day of September
I took these photos on Thursday while the sun was shining. The tree with the most colour is the Sumac or "vinegar" tree in our front garden.
The leaves are coming off the Poplars very early.

 Somewhere in one of my books is a  list of the order in which trees lose their leaves each year. I shall have a search for it.
 Spotted a few late blackberries - still looking OK, so went back down the lane after the photos and picked them to add to a few more windfall apples for Col's dessert.

Loads of flowers on the Ivy, at the moment they smell quite sweet but the smell won't be so good later! Ivy Flowers are quite important for some bees and butterflies as they are a nectar source available late in the season.

Talking trees, Col has been making some tree guards and stakes so that we can begin to plant some more trees on our meadow. We've got 2 walnut, a holly and a hazel in pots that can go out already and while he was working out where to put them he found another walnut that a squirrel had planted a while ago.

He got the young trees planted and protected yesterday morning before leaving home just before 12
  to  go to Addenbrookes hospital, where he thought he was just having a CT scan (for both the stem-cell doctor and the ENT doctor). But then we got told the ENT doctor who we saw last time wanted to see him to check the scan results and then he was told they would do a sinus operation (Ipswich hospital  said he didn't need one) before the stem cell transplant and he got sent  to pre-op assessment  and another then a blood test. So it was after 7pm before we got home, 2 hours later than we thought.
Fed up with hospitals and waiting - we've become experts at the art of patience!

Anyway now we can sort out what other trees to plant to make Col's Birthday Wood. There's room for about 15 or 20 trees. Silver Birch - definitely, a few pines of some sort, maybe some Sweet Chestnut and more Holly. It will be fun choosing.


Back Monday
Sue

18 comments:

  1. How lovely to create your own wood. Gives you both something to look forward to in years to come, watching them mature. I love silver birches, they look so graceful.

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  2. I feel for you both going through all that travelling and the waiting around for appointments and such like. Hope they sort it quickly and get on with it.

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  3. Travel safely, hope that appointments run smoothly. My parents had a sumac tree. Recently I have noticed tv chefs using sumac as an ingredient - I think it is the dried and powdered fruit. Can you harvest this from your tree?

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  4. Sorry about all the waiting time and hospitals. Col's birthday wood sounds delightful, something to continue to plan and the trees already there look great. I loved your wood store in the previous post. Very interesting about how different types of wood burnt.

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  5. I would be very interested in the list of tree leaf shedding order if you can find it. All the best for Col in the next phase of treatment.

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  6. It is miserable waiting around in hospitals, I hope Col has a better time in the future. As for trees, keep planting, they are such a lovely bonus in the countryside.

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  7. Having spent a morning and an afternoon (separate days) waiting around in A&E recently, I can sympathise with your having to wait around and so regularly too. I expect you got a lot of reading done. Is Col coping with reading again now or does he still have the Chemo Brain?

    I love the idea of his planting a wood. What a lovely choice of trees - I love Silver Birches too.

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    1. Yes he's reading nearly as much as me and feeling very well. the tablets are miraculous - pity they'll only work for about a year which is why we are waiting for the donor stem cell transplant.

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  8. Waiting in hospitals is so tiring. I always feel exhausted afterward even though I had been sitting. The sumac is so pretty. Have fun choosing your trees. Such a lovely idea

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  9. We have sumacs that grow at the sides of the roads around here. They tend to just grow wild, but their colour is wonderful in the fall. Why are they called vinegar trees? Hope your husband's sinus procedure goes well. -Jenn

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    1. When I was little we had one in the garden and it was always called a vinegar tree. I didn't even know the right name until much later. Then a few years ago in a book about food from the wild I found that some people use parts of the tree (seeds?) as a food which had a sharp taste like lemon juice or vinegar, so that explained it

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  10. What truly fun, choosing tree's to plant. I have a walnut sapling here, not sure what I will do with it once it get's bigger, I love tree's, and in winter whan the branches are bare, they are majestic.

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  11. I didn't know that is called a Sumac tree ~ anything to do with the spice I love to use, I wonder? Blackberries hardly worth picking here now.

    Hope they get Col sorted out soon, it's beyond a joke how people are getting messed about.

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  12. We have planted silver birches, lovely choice. Havent had Sumac up here, tho we had plenty in the Midlands. So frustrating re the hospital.

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  13. I made a blackberry and apple crumble today with what we picked on holiday. We have ivy at the bottom of the garden and plenty of flowers but there is a very obvious lack of butterflies and bees this year even after planting flowers that are supposed to attract them. xx

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  14. What a lovely part of the world you live in, like the vinegar tree, especially the colour of the fall leaves.
    Yes, you do get used to Hospital waiting don't you, there's nothing you can do and it just makes things worse if you get angry. Lets hope all is well for your husband.
    Briony
    x

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  15. Reading this post makes me realise we never did get to go blackberry picking this year!
    Lisa x

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