.....and away we go again .....

 We drive on a little way and park up in a lay-by at the top of the hill  to take in the view . To one side of us windswept Hawthorn , laden with berries foretell of a cold winter to come .

                         Mother Earth provides food for her wild birds .

             The view looking across Chesil Beach to the Isle of Portland .

                            Looking towards Charmouth and Lyme Regis .

 We enjoy an ice-cream cone , with a chocolate flake in , from the jolly ice-cream man . Mister Softee ..... Simply the Best !
 I can see his cheeky smile as he sits there waiting for his little customers , but yes , we all become a child again , as we queue for our ice-creams . 
  I do love our English ice-cream vans that play their happy musical tunes  to announce their arrival on our streets and down our roads !
 Lovely soft ice-cream ..chocolate flake ...deliciousness .....mmm....yum ...yum !

       Then away we go again ...along the very uppy and downy road  ....

     ......and at the top of another hill that fabulous view again ....wheeeeee ....and down hill again .....

                                       .......through pretty villages ......

                                      ........with thatched cottages .....

                                           .......and lovely gardens .....

                           Many photos snapped as we drive through .
                 

             There is Colmer's Hill !  I manage to take a photo as we drive past .
We will go there again next time we come , this being a very short visit .

 Naturally we stop off for a cup of tea at Groves (I do miss the old cafe though ).
      Anyway .......

                                               Look what I got !  :)

     .....and we are off again .....  to Lyme Regis this time ( if we can find somewhere to park that is ) ....to stock up on delicious relish and chutneys from the Ammonite Fine Foods shop..and my husband loves that he can sample the new relishes and jams etc, on crackers ..oh boy !....and they really are so , so good !

                                                  Love this shop !

     Stocked up on lovely relishes , and lovely lady wrapped them up so beautifully in blue tissue all nice and safe for the journey home to Cornwall .

                                       ....... and away we go again !

Then away to Dorset !

                                    A very short break away in Dorset ...

               ........to find a place of perfect solitude , peace and quiet .
Chesil Beach .
Here it is ..... 18 miles of perfect solitude , peace and quiet .
  A pebble beach formed at the end of the last Ice Age , stretching out as far as the eye can see to the Isle of Portland  .

                           Further along it is possible to get down to it . 
                       Cogden Beach is part of the larger Chesil  Beach .

                 We found a footpath that led us there .... gently downhill .

I had been thinking about coming back here and laying down in the shingle to feel my cares and worries melt away .

              Yearning to feel the pebbles run through my fingers ....

               
      ......and comfortably soft to lie down on and ease our aching bones .....
                                          ..... and hold hands ....

                    .....looking to the left along to the Isle of Portland .

    .......and looking to the right towards the Golden Cap and Charmouth where we have spent many happy hours looking for fossils .

  Then to lie down and relax , feeling the smooth pebbles under my hands .

  Listening to the gentle swooshing sound of the waves lapping the shore below .

 We were blessed with beautiful warm sunshine and a clear blue sky .
             I took a stroll , a little way along the beach ....

                                      ...... to see what I might find .....

     Beautiful blue leaved Crambe maritima /Sea Kale ..... finished flowering ...

.......and now waiting to drop their hard seeds encased in seed pods drying to a crisp in the hot sunshine and the salty sea breezes .

 Also a delight to find Glaucium flavum / the Yellow Horned Poppy .
 

          I was especially happy to find some still in flower and took many photographs of them .

          I came across this little stone circle that someone had made  .

 I found a flat stone with the perfect dimple in it in which to place an incense cone .

 .......I lay down once again to relax and let cares and worries fade away ....

I took home my flat incense stone and replaced the round stone into the middle as I think the person who had originally built it wanted it to be ...and for the next person who comes along to enjoy .

                                                     Peace and quiet .

  Then slowly back up the footpath , it is slightly up hill ,  a little out of breath , but do-able  !   

                                            What a beautiful day .

Re-potting Cacti and Preparing the greenhouse for Winter .

 Remember this ? I bought it at a boot fair years ago maybe 15 or twenty years ago .
  Two cacti in a heavy glass vase . .... not really the best way to grow them !
I should have re-potted it straight away .... but as you know time flies..and it seems to have been quite happy and has flowered for me many times .

  Anyway , I finally gave myself the kick up the backside to get on and re-pot the poor old thing .

 After sliding a knife aroun the sides of the vase , they both slid out quite easily and I pulled them apart  . . . I wore a pair of thick gloves for this bit  , but then found them easier to handle without gloves , since the roots were so compacted .

   Nice fresh cactus compost moulded around the sides and bottom of the pot .

                              Making a well to gently drop the cactus into .

I managed to do this without getting prickles in my fingers ...because the roots were so compacted , it was surprisingly easy to handle ....with bare hands  !

                I planted it leaning to one side with the babies uppermost .....

                         .......... to give them space to fill out as they grow .

Sadly I couldn't find a nice pot for the other one ...sigh .....so into a black plastic pot for the time being .

    I cut the top off it with the scissors , the part that was dead and crusty ....maybe I should cut it down lower still  ? Cacti usualy respond by putting out new growth ..in this case from the base of the plant .
  It does look a bit rough doesn't it ? I wont be entering it any shows  . However , let's give it a chance to recover .   Plants aren't always perfect out in the wild either and in my opinion that's what makes them so much more interesting !

They look better already and I topped them off with a nice mulch of horticulteral grit .

         So next I have these two Opuntis to re-pot  ....  not so friendly these !

To make things even more difficult the one one the right has leaned over and put roots down into the pot of the one on the left !  The one on the left has particularly vicious spines and glochids .
   I stood and looked at the pair of them ....this is going to be tricky .
Plant them together in one big trough/pot ?    Seperate them ?  I need to give it more thought .
                                              Aah ! Do it tomorrow !  :)

   And with that , I put everything back and continued tidying and preparing the greenhouse for winter .
        To be continued ..........