The field path behind the house is littered with skeleton apples – windfalls thrown out from a neighbour’s garden. The apples were whole, if a little bruised, back in October when they were tossed there, but it is only this month that the birds have been truly feasting on them. Blackbirds mainly. Little by little the flesh is being pecked away until all that is left is the thinnest skin, and perhaps some fibrous filaments around the core. I was thinking of fellow blogger, Sue Judd at Words Visual as I shot and edited this ‘still life’. She captures beauty in decay with great flair. Anyway this painterly edit sums up January for me.
But then today I decided to go the long way round to the allotment. There was misty sunshine, and so the chance to get enough shots to make a gallery in line with Cardinal Guzman’s alternative version for his monthly challenge. Pay him a visit to find out more.
The long way round involves going up Sytche Lane that skirts the field behind our house. In the top corner Shropshire Council is busy digging us an attenuation pond to slow down the flash flooding when a storm hits our catchment. The town has a long history of flooding, and the Sytche Brook, a generally nondescript trickle of a watercourse, can become treacherous, and has been known to add considerably to the deluge that hits the town centre from neighbouring hillsides. Another pond is being built at the other end of the town. Neither are seen as total solutions, and some would argue that these measures are not suitable in a steep catchment such as ours. Only time will tell. In the meantime, the big digger driver posed to have his photo taken before I trudged onward through the mud.
The path behind the excavations then wends on along the field boundary and into a wood. You are right above the town here, so in the gaps between the trees are some good viewpoints for photos. From the wood I can then drop down to the allotment.
The following gallery shows all the things that caught my eye today. These include – apart from the ‘views’, Jenny’s watering can hung in a cherry tree, Simon’s wheel barrow, Phoebe’s budding rhubarb, my leaning shed with globe artichoke, and Ron’s much smarter blue shed. On the way home the sun was setting in the wood.
copyright Tish Farrell 2017
Tish Farrell 
What a feast for the eyes these images are. Thank you so much:)
Thank you, Janet.
Ah, England! There are times I miss it, to the point it almost hurts!
(Ark gets mugged down Memory Lane! )
Oh dear. Sorry to rouse a pang of home sickness. Hugs to make up for it 🙂
Greatfully received.; thank goodness they are few and far between,
I go through phases, but I’m one of those that has always struggled to shrug off my roots completely.
Celeste is the same about Portugal.
I think it’s hard to chop off all one’s roots. Formative years and all that. Cultural thises and thats that can’t be found anywhere but in the ‘homeland’. But places change, and there’s a lot about the UK we live in now that I neither like nor recognize. Margaret Thatcher and her thinking did a good job of polluting the place.
My mother has oft remarked how I ”wouldn’t recognise the place” and no doubt this has more to do with simply landmarks and what have you.
I imagine it would also be a bit of a shock if you popped down to Kenya for a visit?
Re Kenya: Yes, for one thing our old smallish house in a big garden is now a housing enclave of several town houses. Spotted that on google earth and was a bit sad.
Love your painterly image of the skeletal apples, Tish! And thanks for the mention! I also loved the views of the town from above, lovely…
Thanks a lot, Sue.
Beauteousness!
Thank you, Cindy.
Oh… that was confusing. So not Francisco Dávila y Guzmán the Cardinal of the inquisition then?!
Ha! No. A total impostor. And thus a hugely more likable chap 🙂
You live in a lovely, gentle part of the world. What a delightful walk to a vegetable plot.
Gosh, it’s almost spring. Excellent photography Tish
It certainly felt spring-like yesterday. Fields all greening with winter wheat. Birds chattering. A bit confusing all in all.
Ooh lots to see and I love the leaning shed of Tish!
Poor thing it is. I’ve currently lost the key for it, so a man with a screw driver will shortly be needed. I hope it will bear the breaking in 🙂
Lovely shots, Tish.
Gives the impression of a very cosy place.
Thanks for the post!
A beautiful series, Tish! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thanks, Amy,
A colourful set, Tish – nowt like having your own leaning shed.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful photographs.
Well thank you for so appreciating them 🙂
“All the things that caught my eye today”. A lovely biography of you Day.
Try “your day.”
What a lovely allotment
Great images.
Excellent. I love that you did both versions and it’s great to see that the photos are personalized:
“Jenny’s watering can, Simon’s wheel barrow, Phoebe’s rhubarb, Ron’s blue shed.”
Great post!
Thank you, Cardinal G. You’ve made my day. Yippee!
the images are a tasty color feast.
had fun scrolling….
top pics for me are the barbed wire around the post – J’s watering can… and BOTH sheds- 🙂 like them both…. 🙂
Hi Tish, love the captions for each image.
Thank you, Khurt.
So much green in these photos, Tish. Granted, it’s not the vibrant green that will soon envelope the landscape but it is green, nonetheless. Ours is yet a monochrome view and it will remain so for weeks to come.I guess it will make us that much more appreciative of the first green shoots poking through the soil.
oh so much colour, not at all what you expect in January in Shropshire. Great shots
Hi Becky. Yes, the fields are already looking green. Not the kind of winter we used to have.
Beginning to feel like we don’t need to escape the English winters anymore!
Yep. Today the birds are tweeting as if they think it’s spring, and I can see fat buds on the flowering currant.