Out For Our Sunday Morning Walk,

we took the precaution of wrapping up warm,

which was just as well,

although it was a bright day, in the shadows it was decidedly chilly,

on the gate that stops cars from entering,

the sign advertising the farmers market,

we started our walk to the mansion,

at the rear of which a few benches had been set up for the bar there,

stalls had been set up in what was once the car park,

the stalls stretched to the mansion,

the first one selling plants,

many years ago in the late 1950s my mother had one of these, a rubber plant as it was known, (Ficus elastica), it almost seems like they are making a comeback as a popular house plant,

a successful sale completed,

a nice show of cut flowers,

we had a look at the stalls leading to the mansion,

selling all manner of tempting titbits,

next a look at the stalls at the front of the green,

this was the one that Diana liked,

selling Filipino food,

we started walking away from the stalls,

towards the café, the marks left by the recent concert still visible,

looking at the queue we decided to skip a coffee,

and made our way to the formal garden,

many of the plants had finished flowering,

and the ornamental grass gone to seed,

past the clocktower,

we started on our way to the lake,

which today was open,

a few people on kayaks or boards,

and in the distance some swimmers, I guess they enjoy the swim, but for myself it was well too cold!

not many people were on this side of the lake,

looking back to the lake, 

some more kayakers or boarders were taking to the water,

for us up the hill,

and time for a pose,

last summer we and many others had a picnic near here, now not a soul to be seen,

a small camp made by the base of one of the trees,

we walked towards the Westgate Road entrance,

and started the walk home,

I pointed out the huge fungus to Diana, mentioning that it seemed strange that so few others trees had a fungus growth,

two trees further along there was another one!

 on Thursday I had totally missed the growth,

on this tree,

arriving home it was soon time for a read and a sherry,

today a starter of mussels in a white wine sauce,

eyes down and tuck in,

we took a long break, during which Diana noticed one of her stinky cactus that had a bud had now opened up,

it looked so nice, the petals covered with what looked like the finest velvet, no stink so far!

yesterday Diana had bought a cook in a bag chicken, with lots of herbs already in the bag, with gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself,

delicious!

for dessert apple strudel with ice cream,

after our meal we watched a couple from Columbo, 

followed in the evening by The Horror Of Frankenstein, this time not starring Peter Cushing but Ralph Bates, and rather good it was too,

we rounded the night off with The Hindenburg, based on the 1937 disaster the film takes the view that it was sabotage that brought the airship down, in any event a really good movie, well paced and with a great cast, after which we were off to bed.