online: 5 september 2006
modified: 5 september2006

3 september 2006 late summer


15:28 ...under a tall and spreading beech... resting after gathering blackberries in the sun and westerly wind... it's a bit late in the year, some of the blackberries are already soft or mildewed but many are sweet... so far i've gathered about half a water bottle-full (only 25cl) but i expect to fill it - enough for two blackberry and apple pies...

on the way i crossed a clearing in the centre of which is a solitary pine with a bare trunk (diameter about 50cm) up to the crown of branches and needles (about 8m)... at its foot are some straggling brambles...

...gathering blackberries is one of my life-long joys...



Viaduct pond on a sunday afternoon... several families, couples, sit or lie on the ground... and a single man is fishing in a shadow by the pond... a small boy runs shrieking beside a tall woman who is keeping to his pace... the strong wind is roaring in the trees but the air is warm (about 24C)... there is plenty of sun and there are widely separated clouds... there is a patch of rusty dock plants (dead) before me but the trees are green and perhaps still growing after recent rains...

i stop writing in order to lie on the bench and to share in the planless walking or sitting of everyone in sight... now the man who was fishing has dismantled his rod and is walking away... the water lily leaves float where, a few weeks ago, the duckweed was preventing their growth... (i doubt if they've bloomed this summer)... but recently the park keepers have cleared the duckweed away...




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