First of all thankyou for the well wishes from yesterday’s Good Morning blog. I was really not feeling  so much up to it, but these things happen now and again and today I am more or less back to the usual me,  full of life in my fingers on the keyboard and with the camera. Everything else is just an extra.

Actually I wanted to show a photo of the stomy grey clouds this morning from the porch, but a spider stole the show. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time for a photo, or perhaps for a human the wrong place. As the season goes towards Autumn, the insects begin to get nervous. Their good days of food and plenty are slowly disppearing and it is time to lay on a reserve for the colder days to come. Somewhere there may be eggs brooding waiting for the next Spring and Mrs. Spider has to take care of the survival of the species.

The bees have also begun to buzz around. My sedum opened its flowers a day ago and there is already competition for the best place in the pollen show. It is quite an attraction for insects in striped pullovers. A moth just flew in through the kitchen window, probably a late home comer from the night’s pleasures in the light of the street lamps. I did not manage a photo of the moth, he was too fast and flappy and he has left.

And it is apple time again, although we will wait a week or two before picking the tree. I have two apple trees: a Fiorina which I bought as a sapling almost 20 years ago and gives at least 100 apples a year if not more and a Gala apple from the tree I planted from a seed when I was a working lady in the office. I always had a plant on my desk and put a couple of apple seeds into the pot left over from my morning break. They began to grow, so I took them home and replanted a couple in the garden. One managed survival although I never really expected any fruit. Three years ago the first weak attempt was made with a couple of small mouldy apples, but now the tree is a regular customer annually. Perhaps just a few apples, but it is improving every year. It can only get better.

It is strange how noises can remind you of an almost forgotton childhood.  In the renovation work being carried out in our appartment block, they are now replacing the floor tiles on the balconies and they have to be cut to size. Somewhere there is an electric saw operating and I am reminded of where I lived in the working class area of Bethnal Green in London in England. There were a few saw mills in the area, not for stone but wood, and they would be operating during the day. The noise was ever present, but living in the area it was never really noticed. With time the mills closed and the workmen left. The buildings were empty for a few years and many families of feral cats moved in. The noise of the saws was replaced by cat fights – so back to nature. The sound of the saw on the upper balcony reminds me of those days: the daydreams of a golden oldie.

And now to the normal daily chores. I might even risk cleaning windows today. During the week we were under siege from the builders that were doing things to our windows and covering them with plastic for protection. The plastic has now been removed and it looks almost normal. The workman told me yesterday they were now finished with out windows until the painters arrive, so I will make the most of the time in between and do a wipe over.

Enjoy the day, have fun. I will leave you with some more apples from my other tree: wait – do I see a snail on one of the apples?