A fine autumn day.......

I decided to pop down to Calke Abbey this afternoon for a ............

 But before that I had a little walk and saw some colour, reflections,

fungi

and beautiful skies.

I sat for a few minutes in the hide and saw............

a great spotted woodpecker

and plenty of finches.

 Now we all know that sex and violence sells and it was proven today .

These people were waiting and watching for.......

this pair to get between..........

this big boy...........

and his ladies, as well as hoping he would get his way with them.

Nothing much was happening this afternoon except a lot of posturing

and bellowing and a bit of chasing around.

 

Dyeing and colour!

Decided I needed to do some more dyeing. I found out why my colours were pale and yukky back in the summer. The dyes were old and past their best. Luckily I'd got some new ones. I've learned from this - I just have to do more dyeing, more often!

The results of my labours........

The first results, some good pieces but too much white. Some over dyeing is needed, will show the results later.

Just some close ups.......

After doing this, the tidying up and putting some laundry in the machine to do ( thought I'd better do some) I decided to go to a lovely place nearby called Staunton Harold. Had lunch sitting outside -it's November, no coat or gloves! Then went for a (short) walk to the lakes in front of the house and this is what I found..................

Enough to bring a smile!

The photo doesn't so it justice, the colours were much better.

On the way home I decided to call at another nice place, Melbourne Pool.

A Ginko tree, never knowingly seen one before.

It's lovely at the moment.

Got lots to think about with this blogging business, hopefully the next one will be better! ....and I'll

have rinsed the over dyed fabric.