autumn leaves start to fall

[pensnest]

Autumn is very yellow this year. The beech trees are providing a welcome splash of copper here and there, but there is very little other orange and almost no red in the trees. The sycamores here are golden*—very pretty, but I prefer it when they sport red and orange. What is on the ground has red and orange in it, but seems to have floated off the trees the instant the colour got interesting.

I had a slightly unexpected wander through Norfolk on Monday, after a trip to Diss to meet some friends for coffee. Diss, despite its name, is rather a pretty place, with a hidden lake and a very nicely set-up path to the lake. My phone map app kept lying to me, though, once I got into the town—sending me the wrong way at roundabouts, being insistent that I wanted to go into supermarket car parks, generally no help at all. So I used my instincts instead and found a place to park, and joy of joys, as I pulled in to the car park one of my friends was just getting her ticket!

Anyway, the map let me down again on the way out, so instead of returning to Norwich by the simple route I ended up on a B road winding through places like Winfarthing, Bunwell, and Tacolneston. But, was no hurry and I rather enjoyed it.

Yesterday, I walked to the not-quite-town shopping area (for some cat yogurt) and realised as I walked from our drive that it was a match day. There were hordes of people sporting green and yellow, walking the same way as I was. We diverged at the one-way system, they went to Carrow Road and I straight on, but I met another horde in the shopping centre. I got my cat yogurt and then went to Hobbycraft, because, you know, it was there. Did I buy anything? Well, it was Hobbycraft, so, yes.

*

I acquired an Apple watch last week. I thought it was supposed to be a Christmas present, but my Beast felt that I should put it on and start using it straight away, so I have had this thing on my wrist that nags me to stand up once an hour (if I have not been standing up for the first fifty minutes). Yesterday, I used it to pay for my Stuff! This is... remarkably handy.


* golden, but very often with black spots like cigar burns, which is worrying, but apparently not Very Bad News. Fungal, but not going to damage the tree. Unsightly, though.

Comments

[watervole]

Norfolk does have some lovely place names.

[pensnest]

I often wonder how they're supposed to be pronounced, though!

[watervole]

Wymondham - 'windham' is a classic example.

[pensnest]

And Hautbois and Happisburgh! (Hobbis and Haysbruh)

[watervole]

Heavens!

I suspect the educated wrote it, and the locals said it...

[pensnest]

I quite like Hautbois, because you can just *feel* the locals muttering about stuck-up foreigners and determinedly calling the place Hobbis, but Happisburgh baffles me.

[turps]

I pretty much pay for everything using my phone -- well, when I'm in shops anyway. And often look at people paying via watch and it looks so futuristic. A step up from phone paying.

[pensnest]

My Boy has his credit card on his phone, but of course has to take off his face mask in order to have his phone recognise him so that he can use it. How strange are the ways of the 21st century.

[turlough]

Sometimes our autumns are like that too. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the more intense orange and red colours were depentent on both temperature and amount of sunlight. I don't remember exactly HOW though...

Sounds like you'd a very nice trip. I love winding side roads, they can take you to the most interesting places.

So what DID you buy at Hobbycraft? Interested fellow crafters need to know :-)

What a cool gift! I've only seen them in photos so far.

[pensnest]

I remember that quite a few years ago we were given excited alerts that autumn would be spectacular that year, and indeed it was. I guess this year is the reverse of whatever those conditions were.

I got a few peel-off stickers for my cards, though I must say Hobbycraft has a very poor selection, a pack of little wooden shapes for putting on cards (including dragons!), and three packs of Christmassy material selections for which I have no immediate use, but I wanted some not long ago, and surely they will find a way to be used somehow!

[bossymarmalade]

I am intrigued by this mention of cat yogurt. Is it LITERALLY yogurt designed for cat consumption? Mine craves regular yogurt all the time!

[pensnest]

It is indeed! Comes in little squeezable tubes. Sometimes, it is liver flavoured. My cat *loves* it. If you'd like to see what yours makes of it, PM me your address and I'll send you some!

[frausorge]

Going by the "scenic route" sounds nice if it is indeed literally scenic and, as you say, you had the time for it. I hope the sycamores will recover and/or flourish despite the fungus.