May 10th – Ever get the feeling you’re being watched?
Returning after work to Brownhills down a sunny, limpid canal, I felt a wee bit like I wasn’t alone.
And then I spotted ginger, watching me from behind the reads by the new development at Silver Court Gardens.
That’s one gorgeous little cat.
May 5th – A gorgeous day for riding, hindered by the need to do favours for mates and a bit of a bad tummy saw me leave for a fast, warm and beautiful sSaturday Evening ride that really did catch the best of Staffordshire and all that I had been missing with the dreary spring.
You can see a full set from this ride on my main blog by clicking here.
On my way out, I noticed that my favourite tree, the horse chestnut on Home Farm at Sandhills, visible from the canal at Catshill, is now in leaf.
I love that tree. I gauge the seasons by it. It looks beautiful and green.
Summer has begin!
April 30th – Another sign of spring in the air is the re-emergence of the urban and urbane cat population. Indolent and mainly indoors during the cold months, characters you haven’t seen for months miraculously reappear in spring, owning their neighbourhoods like they were never gone at all.
I was particularly pleased to meet this venerable old gentleman in Kings Hill, taking the air. I now know his name is Sam and he’s the companion of an elderly lady who lives nearby. Sam himself is getting on, has no teeth and is generally a stern but authoritative figure, even when asleep on the grass around the flats where he lives.
I usually spot him inactive and dozing in summer, usually in some well-chosen, sun-dappled spot where he can curl up and dream of his kittenhood, and feel the warmth ease his old bones. Very rarely do I see him as I did today, up, about and alert.
Yet again, a lovely old lad enjoys one more spring. Welcome back, Sam.
April 25th – The weather is still quite intemperate, but improving. Temperatures climbed at the weekend, then sank again, but on the whole it’s been a drier week – but windier – although the sun too has been welcome.
This improvement has meant trees are now well into the greening phase and it’s starting to look like summer is coming.
With blue skies and emerald embankments and hedgerows, the canal is looking gorgeous again.
It’s a pleasure to see.
March 19th – Things that happen when you’re not looking….
Sunday must have been the mathematical vernal equinox: When day and night are equal in length at 12 hours. Today, with sunrise at 6:13 and sunset at 6:17, the day was longer than night by four minutes.
Of course, the equinox isn’t as simple as that; there’s a full explanation on Wikipedia here and the true astronomical equinox, when the earth’s equator passes the centreline of the sun, occurs on Tuesday 20th March this year (2018).
This is another little milestone to longer, better days; with the coming of British Summer Time on Sunday next weekend, it will feel like summer is just around the corner.
Hopefully, the weather will oblige too.
September 12th – Remember that traffic island planted with wildflowers I found in Tipton way back in the summer? I passed it again today in the sunshine and it’s still very, very beautiful.
Although the huge mass of flowers is gone now, there are still plenty of diverse, beautiful and understated blooms attracting bees and bugs. And it still gladdens the heart.
When people tell you we live in a dreary, ugly, industrial place, think of this, and smile.
August 19th – I was having a terrible day: I had plans to get out early, but the wind and weather were grim, and everything I did seemed like wading through treacle.
After miserably writing blog posts, messing up dates and publicity schedules, I finally got a grip and went out, to find a bright periodically sunny late afternoon in which harvest was being completed and the fields of stubble were golden delights over towards Sandhills and Hammerwich.
The sight of that lovely church and converted windmill cheered me, as did the bright, surprisingly warm if short-lived sunshine.
A nice pick me up on an awful day.
August 12th – One local treat I look forward to in late summer is local growing wild apples.
I don’t know who planted the row of fruit trees of different varieties which I discovered in a remote spot 10 years ago, but they tend to fruit copiously and the delicious apples, ungathered, rot on the ground. Every year for a decade, I’ve made a point of passing, checking the crop and gathering a pocketful. This year the russets are a little hard and tart, but the cox’s are delicious.
A lovely little local secret.
August 5th – A day when I wasn’t feeling great. People I love are leaving for long holidays, which will make my personal life unusually quiet for a few weeks, and I had a dreadful migraine that disturbed my vision and made it impossible to read or concentrate.
I went out late to do some shopping, and spun out to Chasewater along the canal. The day had been squally, but right now there were blue skies and sun, and I admired the fields of wheat running across Home Farm to Sandhills. I guess these will be harvested soon as the adjacent oilseed rape has been, and the cycle resets for another year.
Today, I felt sad, but the sun and air did me good. But inside, the weeks of quiet to come were making me down.
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…
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