Golden October

When I was first a young technician in the Department of Museum Studies, there was a series of adverts for Goldener Oktober Leibfraumilch. Each month there was a new top design with a different colour variation but the bottom half was supposed to be consistently the same colour. I used a full 12 month set to demonstrate to the students how much printing ink colours varied according to the skills of the printer. This was about the time that Pantone was beginning to be promoted and I used the adverts to demonstrate how much the Pantone formula was needed. Now everyone uses it and colours of inks are consistent.

Apologies for the resolution of these 2 pictures but you can see what I'm getting at.

All of that has nothing really to do with this blog which is about the October we've been having so far and the end it is coming to....

Across the road, the sun glows through the hawthorn hedge and everything is touched by gold. The beginning of the month has been unseasonably warm and not feeling like Autumn at all. Across the fields towards Croft Hill, the sun gives everything a warm glow and all over the valley is the same.

Along the footpath, the sun catches a Robinia behind the thatched cottage and in their garden, the Hollohocks are still in full bloom. The beasts are happy - there's plenty of fresh grass still.

Hay bales back up the site of the new viillage allotments which have been cultivated and rolled ready for planting.

 

I've been waiting anxiously to see whether the sweet chestnut will broduce any nuts this season. Last year was disappointing and the Summer this year has been generally cloudy and dry - the worst of all worlds.

On the tree, they look good but what will they be like when they open.

The haws have filled nicely - supposedly a sign of a hard Winter to come but everyone seems to be forecasting a very cold end to the year anyway. Beneath the Chestnut tree there are certaily some good nuts, but only one in each shell with a tiny shrivelled one each side. Not all those that have dropped have good nuts in them but I have managed to gather a few.

 

In a day, the weather changes from this golden picture to cloudy and cold. The new elms are turning but looking very healthy and over the hill the clouds are gathering.

Birds gather on the wires ready to fly off to the sun. thicker and thicker, undaunted by the model raptor and, as we pass, they start from tree to wires and back again. Autumn is here and the cold is coming.