Autumn

Clocks have gone back. Evenings drawing in. Kitchen log burner back in action. Winter looms. Autumn colours abound. Trees are turning from greens to yellows, oranges, reds and browns. Rich colours. Up in the woods it's getting damper. And mistier. Carpeted with brown leaves. And out in the fields up Sprocket Hill I look up at the skies for a glimpse of cranes heading south. Haven't spotted any yet, but they're there, somewhere. Keep forgetting to take my camera. Always take my mobile phone though. Keep forgetting to switch it on. Comes in handy for taking snaps. Not as good as a camera, but better than nowt. Trouble is, when I spot something worth snapping, like a deer or a shaft of sunlight, it's gone by the time the mobile gets switched on, loaded up and turned to camera setting. Most annoying. Fine for doing leafy trees though. Well, when I say fine, I really mean verging on adequate. Colours need a bit of fiddling with computery jiggery pokery to add a bit of sparkle. Cheating maybe, but I call it artistic license. Fun and games. Keeps moi amused.

Fungi

It's that fungi time of year. The local chemist has dug out the dusty old window display showing which fungi are edible and which are not. Personally, I find it hard to tell the differences, apart from those red ones which even I know are rubbish.

After that dry summer the rains have finally arrived which has led to all sorts of fungi appearing up in the woods and around the fields and roadside verges. Many of them have sprouted up in circles - well, not really circles, more sort of arcs. Very interesting. Others are on their own and flat topped while others have shot up looking like..., how can I put this politely..., er, big willies, and others resemble puff balls or those big radar domes on the North Yorkshire moors, but I don't think they're there any more so it's a bad example. Ho hum.

I understand our Creuse region is a top fungi area producing whopping cepes which are often sent up to fancy Parisienne restaurants to be added to their menus at ridiculously high prices. But I could be wrong. Has been known. And neighbour Christian often collects edible fungi which Isabelle cooks up but, like all country lads, Christian never reveals where he digs up his bounty. Top secret.

Me, I'm just a happy fungi spotter.