24 September 2024

September

Picture from June 2017

I was quite pleased with myself today because I managed to mow our bottom lawn. Yesterday was grey and wet but today there was a break in current weather systems. To my surprise, not a drop of rain fell. At one thirty or thereabouts, I manoeuvred my sturdy electric "Bosch" mower from our underhouse and cracked on with the job.

Here in England, grass tends to grow very little indeed after the end of September but if your lawn is to be short throughout the winter, you need to get it cut when it is dry enough. If not, you will have scraggy grass till spring comes round again.

It takes me over an hour to mow our bottom lawn and this afternoon I had to carry six filled grass boxes to the pile near our compost bins. There was a 20% chance of rain at around 1600 hrs but it never came. In the winter months it will be nice to look out on a grassy sward that has the appearance of a bowling green. Privet hedges don't grow in the wintertime either so I am pleased that I cut all of our hedging last week.

Already we have passed the autumn equinox and days are much shorter. Heavens, it is pretty much pitch dark by seven o'clock now and in the morning the sun is not up before 0700. We are at that half and half period before we plunge deeper into the darkness. Of course it is a familiar pattern.

Our lovely daughter Frances will be thirty six on Thursday. How the hell did that happen? 

She will be going on holiday with her family in early November. A week on Lanzarote in The Canary Islands. So Shirley and I have been thinking that we might go somewhere too. Perhaps to the Portuguese island of  Madeira for we have never been there before and this could be the perfect opportunity. We'll see.

And now to finish this autumnal blogpost, here's a song that Buffy Sainte-Marie released in 1971 - "Sweet September Morning". It was the year I visited Sheffield for the very first time - specifically to see her in concert at The City Hall. Back then, I never guessed for a moment that I would spend most of my adult life in this city.
And he tells you of his guiding star
And then he starts his journey to the center of your dreaming
And he knows what he knows like the trees do
And you go where he goes when he needs you to, Oh . .
Sweet September morning
When I found him in my heart, in my heart

26 comments:

  1. Used to quite enjoy some of her music but as the years went by there was more and more question about her true ancestry and after last year's CBC documentary I just can't listen anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMsqCWNCUc4

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  2. Hey, I see you have one of your favorite singers here! Your forecast sounds very severe for the next few days with lots of rain.

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    1. Yeah - that is why it was important to mow the grass yesterday.

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  3. We give our lawn a last mow around the middle of October and then start up again in March, weather permitting.

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    1. Similar pattern but I recall that you have got a ride-on mower.

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  4. Yes, the equinox is behind us, and it’s Christmas today in 3 months precisely. I find that familiar pattern comforting.
    Well done on the gardening. It must feel satisfying to know you have done what needs doing to prepare for the coming months.
    Madeira is a place I have never been to, either, but O.K. has, and from what he tells me it sounds like a good holiday destination. He says it is good for walking, especially along the old man-made watering system.

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    1. If O.K. says it is O.K. it must be O.K.. Do they have O.K. sauce there?

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  5. An hour? How big is your bottom lawn and is there also a middle lawn and a top lawn to deal with? Happy Birthday to Frances.

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    1. There is more grass at the top of the garden but I allow that to be more rough. It gets cut perhaps twice in the growing season.

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  6. Madeira is supposed to be great for hiking, the cake and Ronaldo was born there.

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  7. Strange voice with too much vibrato.

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    1. The vibrato was one of the things I loved about her singing. Nobody ever did it better.

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  8. It's an important time of the year to get gardening jobs finished, enjoy your neat lawn and hedges.

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    1. I have become a lazier gardener than I used to be.

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  9. Madeira was lovely when we visited. It seems to be a much loved destination for the more mature British tourist.

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    1. I am more immature so I might try Disneyworld instead.

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  10. Can we see a "now" picture, please?

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  11. The change of seasons is becoming more evident each day.

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  12. I'm still in the process of getting the garden ready for winter. I'll probably cut the grass today. It was hot yesterday and will be again today, but after that, there are no promises.
    Buffy does have a lovely voice but she is an odd woman who claims to be indigenous, despite being born to an Italian father and an English mother. I guess we all think we don't belong in our families at one time or another.

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    1. It's all quite weird but identifying as an indigenous North American was not for financial profit and it did not influence my enthusiasm for her songwriting and stage performances.

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  13. I only remembered her song The Universal Soldier.
    My son cuts my grass and our mower just mulches the clippings so we can leave them on the lawn. Sounds like you have a rather large yard, Neil. I like Fall and I am glad it has cooled off here and we finally got some rain.

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    1. "Universal Soldier" was a great anti-war song.

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  14. I will listen to that song when I get home. I read her autobiography several years ago and it was quite interesting.

    It takes over an hour to mow your lawn?! You must have a big ol' garden. Bigger than ours, anyway. I think I do it in about 30 minutes.

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