Blessed Respite

Yesterday was fabulous. I did not touch the camera all day. I am on a respite from my photography, a hobby holiday. I am resting my eyes. (As my parents used to say when I was a little kid and I'd catch them falling asleep: "Oh, I'm just resting my eyes.")

I spent the day around the house. I weeded the garden in the morning and relocated a few slugs away from our better plants. Slugs are disgusting, but they're also fascinating. There are leopard-spotted slugs and brown slugs with bright orange fringes, almost like a petticoat. There are roundish slugs and longish slugs. It seems unlikely that what's essentially a snail with no shell could survive at all -- and yet they prosper.

And the earthworms! We have some big ol' earthworms. While I weeded, a robin sat in the bushes just a foot or two away, waiting for vulnerable worms to be unearthed. Dave joked that it was like a scene from Mary Poppins. And then it quickly turned into a horror film -- that tiny little bird could hoover down an entire worm in a flash.

I walked Olga over to Hampstead Heath and we had a good long wander through the woods. She had a great time. I always imagine she looks at me a bit accusingly these days, like, "Why don't you walk me anymore?" It was good to spend time with her and alleviate my guilt.

Dave bought a few more plants at the garden store yesterday afternoon -- speedwell and bergamot and I can't remember what else -- and he planted those. Things are getting a bit tightly packed along the perimeters of the garden. Slug festival!

Finally, last night, we went to the Black Lion, our local pub, for dinner. I had butternut squash wellington, which was good and autumnal. The temperatures are dipping and the air is taking on a cooler edge. We are moving into fall!

(Photos: Some sculptural hedges from Highams Park, on Saturday, and tile art in the seating alcoves at the Black Horse Road tube station.)