I've noticed a few weeds pushing up through the shingle on the front garden the last few days. All the rain and the warmth has encouraged them no doubt. There are also a few little gems around. In the park the other day I noticed a rather small tree in blossom - quite out of place really but a lovely surprise! Of course some of the best parts of Autumn are the crispy leaves to crunch through on our walks, the amazing sunsets and the shorter days heralding the coming of winter time and, yes, Christmas!
But the holiday season will be different this year - will we be able to spend time with our families or will we have a Zoom Christmas Dinner? Who knows!
But wait, it's only October! October - a month of great change. As I have said the evenings and mornings are becoming darker. The leaves are changing and falling, the birds are migrating.
We used to live on the Wirral which is on the Dee Estuary on it's western shore - opposite Flintshire. There is quite a lot of industry around Ellesmere Port where the peninsular begins and where the town overlooks the other river - the Mersey.
The Dee side of the Wirral has large areas of saltmarsh and mudflats; wild places where the wind blows hard and the bird life is pretty amazing. There are oystercatchers, curlew, lapwing also redshank and spotshank who are on their way to Vietnam, India and West Africa for the winter.
In 902 AD the Vikings began to settle in the Wirral and many of their names remain today - Thingwall, ('Things' were a kind of pariament), West Kirby (West Church Settlement), Thurstaston (Thor's Stone) - the Wirral also has a football team with a Norweigen name in Tranmere Rovers!
As we loved living up on the Wirral, I don't need reminders but there are similarities with living here in South Wales. We are near the sea, the people are very friendly and we are happy here.
Here's something quite lovely and in keeping with the northern European theme. Have a good Thursday - Thors day!!
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