They Danced by the Light of the Moon
Judged and found wanting by Doggo
I took this picture (above) of the Japonica plant at the end of the road because its flower and its fruit are on the shrub at the same time.
The fruit is too astringent to be eaten raw but can be cooked into jelly, marmalade, paste, sometimes alcoholic beverages.
It’s in a famous poem by Edward Lear, ‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’
The last verse goes:
“They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.”
This is where the runcible spoon arises — apparently, it’s a pseudoword Edward Lear invented and appears several times in his work. A runcible spoon is a mash-up of a fork, spoon and knife. The modern equivalent might be the spork.
There are other fruits aplenty in the hedges around the neighbourhood. Above left, cotoneaster berries are a good find for birds and animals but best avoided by humans. Above right is a melon. Yes, a melon. A somewhat unexpected find just hanging in the hedge there. It looked good.
There are some interesting door knockers appearing on houses in the neighbourhood.
I’ve not seen a stag’s head before. It reminds me of a plant I discovered in my indoor-plant-days — that is — the stag’s head fern — Platycerium Bifurcatum — I used to go to a specialist nurseryman for my plants and he had stag’s head ferns growing on bricks and bits of wood all around the top ledge of his greenhouses. They seemed to relish the ‘wildness’ of it.
As soon as I managed to prise any away from him and into my shop, they showed their displeasure at having to leave their ‘home’ by immediately turning brown.
This is some pretty nifty public art on the side of this pub. You’ll never guess what the pub’s called.
It’s the Golden Lion!
Left above — PupperJack is giving something some very deep thought indeed. Or he’s watching an ant in the grass.
Right above — ooh, he’s concluded his deep thoughts, and, judging by that look, I feel he’s come to a conclusion, and I might be in trouble!
Yep. I reckon I’m being judged …
‘Autumn Colors’ by Christopher Morley
The chestnut trees turned yellow, The oak like sherry browned, The fir, the stubborn fellow, Stayed green the whole year round.
But O the bonny maple How richly he does shine! He glows against the sunset Like ruddy old port wine.
It’s this time of year again. It comes around so quickly, but I must say, I think it’s my favourite. Although I might have said that about the Spring, too …
Dennett started the Photo-a-Day Challenge to help combat the pandemic blues. Since then many others kindly share their week with us:
Erika Burkhalter, Anne Bonfert, Tracy Aston, Lisa Bolin, Juan O. Aguilera, David Wade Chambers, June Nguyen, Mia Verita, LensAfield, Barbara Radisavljevic, Diana Lotti, Barb Dalton, Kim Zuch, K. Barrett, Penny Grubb, Ellie Jacobson, Shruthi Sundaram, Jillian Amatt — Artistic Voyages, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Ann James, Louise Peacock, Jane Frost (Jane Grows Garden Rooms)
(If your name should, or should not, be on this list, please let me know.)
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