Wednesday 18th September

We stopped by the local Nature Reserve for a coffee this afternoon. And also to check out the path leading from the car part to the visitor centre to make sure it is suitable for my aged father to rollate his way along.

The sun has been so welcome these past few days. I've been calling it a 'September Summer', and it certainly makes up for the sad apology for Summer in the past couple of months.

The flowers and seed heads are simply beautiful around the cafe area. The photographs will be blurred, I'm sure, for the wind had really strengthened through the afternoon. 

I was wondering if the water lily flowers follow the sun through the day, like sunflowers. There were several beautiful water lilies in this little pond.

These seed heads are like smaller versions of my cardoons

Tall yellow mullein flowers

Seeing the sedum flowering always used to make feel a little sad as it meant that the Summer term was nearly over and the Autumn term would be starting all too soon

Now I am free from the restrictions of school terms! 1

Tuesday 17th September

Have you seen the moon? Have you seen THE MOON? It's huge! I looked out earlier this evening but it was still behind the bungalows opposite.  Now it has risen, but appears to have become tangled up in the branches of the cherry tree that grows along our road. I expect it will have freed itself in a short while.

We won't be staying up for the eclipse though. Hopefully we'll both be fast asleep. 

I've been trying out my teeny weeny palette. If I had bought the real original one, it would have come with a similar sized sketch book for tiny pictures.

Irresistible. Until you spot the price...

At the moment I'm working out how to manage with just these colours, and only a tiny area, and also testing out how well the paper in my notebook stands up to the watercolour.

I'm pretty pleased with how things are going so far;

(Flash photography always improves pictures!)

I received an alarming advertising email from World of Books, where I buy a lot of secondhand books online;

Oh my word!

Monday 16th September

Here's my new 'bestest thing'; not the open watercolour box, but 5he little wooden box beside it.

The little wooden box is actually two pieces, held closed by magnets, and when you open it the two halves fit side by side and hold together with more magnets to make a tiny weeny paint box just two inches square.

I had a messy couple of minutes filling the Wells with paint from tubes, and now I need to leave it out in the open to let the paint solidify a bit.

The 'real' version of this box costs $$$$, looks beautifully finished and is made from walnut. This is a cheap cheapy copy from amazon which I thought I'd try before putting the real one on my wishlist. I can't wait to use it.

Meanwhile,  my cardoons continue to give me great pleasure; the seed heads look wonderful in the sun, 

Amanda look what happens when they open out!