Recent Reading
Thomas de Cantilupe is another brilliant book from Logaston Press - particularly enjoyable for me because of the Herefordshire connection. I've added this book to the book shelf at the caravan.
The next Ruth Galloway book finally came down in price for the Kindle - I could not put this book down!!!
As always I enjoyed this Joanna Piercy novel but I seem sadly to have reached the last in the series - will there be more? I do hope so.
It may be my imagination but the release date for the next Merrily Watkins book seems to keep being delayed so I decided to re-read the series again - I had forgotten how scary they were. But these books are so good and Merrily is such a brilliant person.
Garden Wildlife
To say I am thrilled to discover Fly Agaric in the garden is a slight understatement! Its my favourite species of fungi and we have them appearing in about 3 places on the lawn. I wonder if they have appeared due to the large amount of Silver Birches we have in the garden as Fly Agaric often form mycorrhizal associations with birches.
Please note this toadstool is highly toxic!
Two other species spotted in the garden which I am still trying to identify for certain. I think the first may be Bitter Knight (Tricholoma acerbum) due to the distinctive crimped edges and the second Common Funnel???? I've put the photos on twitter in the hope someone may be able to help. Edit - Thanks so much to @mushroomdiary on twitter I now have id's! The first one is Brown Roll Rim and the second one is more likely to be Tawny Funnel than Common Funnel.
The Nuthatch is a daily visitor to the feeders.
Harvest Moon
The garden photos were all taken by D with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera.
Baking
I found the recipe I used to use to make Fairlings and they were as delicious as I remembered.
D and E made some biscuits from another GBBO Baking Box. They were quite time consuming but the effort was worth it - they were super.
Pumpkins waiting to be eaten!
I have recently developed a fascination (possibly an obsession with post boxes)! It started at Queenswood Arboretum when I noticed an unusual one and then I drove past a rare Victorian pillar box in Shirley when I was giving D a lift. Around the same time I read an article in "Countryman" magazine about a lady who during lockdown walked round her village to see how many postboxes she could find from the different reigns of monarchs. I then ended up ordering second hand a Shire Book on Post boxes!
Postbox at Queenswood Arboretum
A rare Victorian fluted pillar box with a flattened conical top. Initially it had a vertical slot to post mail but in 1857 the posting aperture was made horizontal. Only four of these fluted pillar boxes are still in use - three in Malvern and this one in Shirley. Thanks to Rose who alerted me some years ago about this post box.
A post box from the reign of Elizabeth II seen in Hatfield, Herefordshire.
A post box from the reign of King George V spotted near my mother's house.
A few of the 110 postboxes painted gold to commemorate Olympic gold medal winners.
From Stratford upon Avon
Skipton
Leek
Expect to see the occasional post box in future posts - I have discovered there are some "goodies" in Ludlow when I brave the town again!
I hope everyone is staying safe and well
Apart from garden photos rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera - note some of the post box photos were taken some years ago with the Olympus dslr.
