Autumn is coming to the garden

Sometimes you only have to be away for a couple of days to notice changes in the garden when you return. Eating breakfast in the conservatory on this beautifully blue morning it was very noticeable that the leaves of the shrubs are turning gold and brown, probably as a result of the lack of rain in our area.

We had quite a harvest from the allotment this morning, courgettes by the kilo and also a fine crop of runner beans - enough to share out around the neighbourhood. I'm still harvesting the caterpillars of the Small White butterfly and a number of these are beginning to pupate now. I love the way they can wrap themselves into folds on the leaves. The black kale, with its crinkly leaves, is particularly useful for a caterpillar wanting to hide.

We've had a delivery of apples from the boys across the road, who assure me that the owners of the trees did say they could have them. I think I'll have to trade some of the allotment produce in return.

I felt a definite fall in energy levels this afternoon so I abandoned plans to return to the allotment and have been sorting out photographs to send some to the nuns at the Paraclete. I had several requests from them to see some of the photographs I'd taken on Tuesday, so I'll upload to Photobox using my very slow internet connection and then order prints from them.