August 18th – The tidy little calico cat who sleeps with her tongue out was hanging around in The Butts, Walsall on my way to work: she was watching the world pass by from the pavement, tucked in nice and tidy.
I stopped to say hello, and she didn’t move, but didn’t invite fuss, either; we had a brief chat but she wasn’t interested in my company, clearly.
A lovely little puss someone loves very much.
August 11th – I had to pop to Shenstone on an errand on my way home from work, and the chance to ride these sleepy, familiar lanes, even on a dull day is wonderful.
I crossed Church Hill through the churchyard of St Johns, purely as I hadn’t been up there in a while. I have to say, the grounds maintenance at the rear in the old graveyard is currently not a patch on what it was, but I guess the wildlife appreciates the lack of disturbance.
The church remains what it has always been to me: A remarkable building in a beautiful spot, although not to my taste: A competent, muscular design in Victorian dark gothic that screams foreboding at me, not praise.
However, always good to see this landmark of my life. Love or hate it, it’s a remarkable thing.
August 9th – But later, I had to go to Telford, and whilst the air of melancholy remained, I couldn’t remain miserable. The weather was heavy, but there was beauty in it, even in the doomed footbridge at Telford Station, which despite it’s faults was a lot drier than the New Street Station I’d come through earlier.
Berries and apples glistened with raindrops. Water dripped from leaf and roof. It was quiet, but softly musical.
The rain doesn’t care for my despair.
However bad the weather, life must go on. And so it it does.
August 9th – The weather echoed how I felt. Constant, relentless, driving rain.Inside my heart and out on the streets.
Some days are damned hard from start to finish and I commenced at a wet, miserable disadvantage.
August 4th – Spotted on the way home, again in the cat metropolis that is The Butts in Walsall, this shy (presumed) siamese. It wasn’t feeling the love at all and certainly couldn’t make an exit fast enough, but what a lovely puss. Shame it didn’t fancy an ear tickle.
Someone is very proud of that gorgeous cat. Never seen this one before.
August 4th – For another sign of autumn’s looming shadow, you can do little better than windfall conkers. This large, pristine example was found on the Lichfield Road, near Walsall town centre.
I rescued it before it got squashed by traffic, then feeling foolish on my realising there was absolutely nothing I could do with it as the shiny fruit within the spiky shell wasn’t ripe yet.
Like most male humans, I’m programmed not to pass by a conker in the road, and throughout autumn I’ll have pockets full of them to no end whatsoever.
There was nothing else to do except feature this find on 365days…
August 3rd – I’m amazed at the general variety between types of rosehips. I mentioned these sweet fruit of the rosebush on here a few days ago, and noticed today they were developing at a fair pace now. They range from thin, almost yellow and small, to bright red, akin to a radish, like the one above, which is actually quite large.
It’s interesting as there seems less variety in wild rose flowers than there seems to be in the seed fruit.
At this time in late summer they make for a welcome splash of colour, and will continue to be so until late autumn. A beautiful but slightly sad reminder that the season’s wheel continues to roll forward whether we like it or not.
August 3rd – It’s been a few weeks since I called at Telford, and was pleased to note the flowerbed at the station has now been replanted with late flowering plants and as ever, is a credit to those that look after it.
Resplendent in shades of red, white and blue the yellow flowers are curious and I’ve not seen them here before. Anyone know what they are?
A lovely bit of brightness on an otherwise dull day.
August 2nd – Another late summer and autumn bounty is fungi. A prime hunting ground for edible treats like these lovely field mushrooms and puffballs are the verges of industrial estates. Usually undisturbed, fungi prosper quietly here, and tend to go unstomped by mischievous kids.
From now until late autumn I will carry a cotton bag and knife to perform an impromptu harvest of anything tasty that would otherwise go unplucked.
This time of year does have some excellent things to commend it.
August 2nd – Travelling to work on a miserable morning in steady rain, it was nice to continue the fruit-spotting with these glistening, deep red crabapples near Bughole Bridge in Darlaston.
Crabapples – bitter, hard miniature versions of the more palatable dessert fruit – come in many varieties from green through russet to deep, deep red like these. These fruits seem uninviting to almost everything and these will remain on the tree until well into the new year, and rot on the ground untouched by birds or squirrels.
They must be awfully acid, but they are so very handsome when new.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 