October in Photos

October you are are my favourite month of them all.  This year you have been a month of contrasts, busyness at home, quiet and calm away on holiday, warm wet weather at your start, closing with beautiful cold frosty days, the leaves changing from green to yellow, orange and red.  As you draw to an end I am once again joining in the Photo Scavenger Hunt over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me.... here are my photos inspired by words and words inspired by photos.

Umbrella

Alice and I went for a walk in some beautiful woodlands whilst Cameron mountain biked with a friend.  The forecast was for it to be dry and cold, a forecast is well a prediction and on this occasion totally wrong.  It rained. Hard.  We had coats on but for warmth not waterproof.  We sheltered under the trees watching the rain pouring down so close to us but we were dry under the trees, it soon stopped and we were on our way again.

Wet

We had a wonderful holiday in Scotland this month, staying with friends near Fort William.  There are many things I love about this part of Scotland not least the trees, many of them are covered in lichen.  Absolutely covered.  A beautiful natural adornment that you can see from some distance.  Lichens are not parasitic they do not harm the plants that they are growing on.  In fact they are beneficial, as they are useful to other wildlife, providing nesting material for birds and food and shelter to invertebrates which are food for other animals.  A woodland rich in lichens will support many more species of wildlife than any other.   They grow very, very slowly, 1- 2 mm (0.04 - 0.08 inches) a year, and they thrive in undisturbed, wet conditions.

Puddles

This is a photo from my archives, one it would seem I have used here before.  It has been surprising that I haven't seen a single puddle when I had my camera with me.  This puddle is the remains of a serious volume of rain that fell in the month of November 2015 the legacy of several storms back to back which culminated in the most serious of them all destroying so much of my beautiful county.  We were so lucky to have quick thinking neighbours who were out in the terrible conditions ensuring that the water flowed away from our terrace of houses, my mind was elsewhere at the time.  I really hope this Winter does not bring too much rain for anyone.

Overflowing

This is my yarn.  A mess.  Overflowing its storage space.  This cupboard is in Alice's bedroom, she tells me that I need to do something about it as the door will not shut properly.  She is right, I do.  I need to make some baskets that make better use of the space than the boxes and bags that I currently use.  This photo is a reminder to me that I need to do that job soon......

Splash

Throwing stones into water is immensely satisfying don't you think?  A beach with stones, they are just crying out to be thrown into the water.  On a walk for the John Muir Award that Cameron is currently completing, all the teenagers were throwing stones in the water, mostly to see who could make the biggest splash.  I am surprised that no one fell in as some of the rocks were heavy and it looked, to us adults, as if they were going to follow the rock into the water.  They were huge rocks so the splashes were big, they had small rainbows too.

Gift (Own Choice)

Alice's best friend has a birthday next week, she wanted to make her a present and decided on a chest of drawers for her dolls clothes.  She drew up a plan, with measurements and Daddy helped her to make it.  It stands 33cm (13") high and the drawers run really smoothly.  It is beautiful and I'm sure will be well received.