Bonnie, Ruby and me went to Darenth Country Park today. It's just on the outskirts of Dartford, about 10 mins drive from our place. First we couldn't find the car park - if it is not absolutely clearly signposted, I'm not good at finding places - stuff like that annoys me. So we just parked in the middle of the housing estate behind the park which always makes me slightly nervous. (sort of think people in the estate will realise there is a car which does not belong there!)

Anyway, we walked back from the estate to the park. Despite the rather dull weather (at least it was not raining) there were plenty of people around, with and without dogs. So Bonnie only came off the lead occassionally, unfortunately I still cannot rely on her being 'good' with other dogs - she will run up to them, bark und 'circle them', and there is no way she will listen to me shouting to come back.

Parts of the park are large fenced fields (for horses I guess as a riding centre is part of the park). But there is also a wooded area which we walked right through. It is not large, but that was my favourite bit. I'm looking forward to coming back in Spring and Summer when there will be more plants to see - and in autumn for fungi possibly!

We've had some sad news yesterday - Nafees' company (well, it's Maidstone branch) is finally closing down. On Monday, the redundancy consultation is going to start. As he has worked for them for only 2 years, we don't expect a redundancy payment (and it's only a small company anyway), but hopefully he will get 3 months wages as he has a 3 months period of notice. Luckily, my job is pretty secure and at least, we are not in danger of losing our house. How dreadful that must be! I can only image.

I also went to Dartford Library today to get myself books/leaflets on 'Walking in Kent'. I really want to get going this year and get out of Dartford and see Kent. And I can't wait for spring to start! The snow is all gone anyway. The tieniest buds are appearing on the trees.


For Valentine's day we did order some Indian food in the evening (my choice). For the first time, we used a Restaurant which is here up in Temple Hill called Haldi. The food was absolutely delicious, even Imran and Ruby scoffed up the food, and we had no leftovers at all. Will definitely buy from them again.

The first signs of spring?

It's suppose to be really cold again from tomorrow onwards and beginning of next week, even snow. Would be nice to have some snow though, and it is still winter anyway! February from tomorrow onwards. I can't believe how quick the time is passing. We went to Gravesend today to get new school blazers for the boys. I hadn't realised that they did indeed grow in the past year. Danial's blazer is up from size 32 to 36 and Imran up from 30 to 34 (since September 2007). School Uniform is so expensive though, they cost me £35 each, plus £6 for the tie.

Temperatures are just below freezing, and around the 0 Degree C in daytime. I was amazed to see that the little lakes across the road are indeed frozen over. Bonnie stepped onto them and slipped across, she was quite surprised by this strange happening to her 'watering hole' . Anyway, it is not frozen very deeply, so in places even Bonnie made it crack. I felt that there is even a little hint of spring already in the air today, despite the bleak landscape and frosted plants.

b And here are the first buds of spring!

Nafees left for Pakistan yesterday, and I felt somewhat lost. I am usually quite happy just with my own company, and certainly I know how to occupy myself, the day is never long enough for me, so I didn't expect this. I suppose this is because Naf is my best friend as much as my DH.. . and isn't it true what they say... you only miss something if you don't have it any more. Well, enough ''cause he is gonna come back in just 4 weeks. Thomas kept my company here in my room as you can see. And I get looots of cross stitch done - I worked on Spring Queen for the whole of last evening, and enjoyed it enourmously.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Nice warm September sun, and autumn is unmistakingly on its way. It's a bit too dry for more fungi to come at the moment. I took some rosehips and brought them inside, they are now on my kitchen windowsill, I was surprised by how beautiful this simple idea looks. Should have thought of this earlier and might get some more today.

I've spotted the first inkcaps of the year last week. The first ones were across the road were I walk with Bonnie, then I saw more on the lawns behind the house - that's were I saw them last year and was waiting for them to make an appearance. I do not collect them but just enjoy watching them appear every day. they are apparently eatable, but for some reason, in my family they never took them - well, mum told me that she saw gran fry them once and they go all funny and 'inky' in the pan, in the same way that they deteriorate if you don't pick them after a day or so. That has really put her off.

September is my absolute favorite month. I love the early autumn sun, and even the rainy days when its not too cold yet, don't mind having the rain in my face when I'm walking with Bonnie.

I'm sure many of you must have noticed that there is something wrong with the chestnut trees here, and in mainland Europe as well (I saw it in Germany as well, even worse then here in England). I think I read somewhere it's some kind of disease/virus which is affecting the chestnut trees, and my mum told me from Germany she heard somewhere that realistically all the foilage/fallen leaves would need to be disposed off/burned to kill the virus. Cause, this is not gonna happen. The trees have almost no leaves left (even in July), and the ones which are on them are all brown and look 'burned away', hardly any conkers. I wonder how they will turn out next year, whether the trees recover or once the tree is affected with the virus, that's it.

Here it is, taken from the website of the Royal Horticultural Society:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/news/top10pests.asp
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RHS top 10 pest enquiries
1. Horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) NEW
This is a tiny moth whose caterpillars feed within horse chestnut leaves, causing extensive white or brown blotches. This pest was new to Britain in 2002 when it was found at Wimbledon. It is now widespread in south east England and is rapidly spreading to other parts of Britain. By late summer, trees can be so heavily infested that they appear to be dying, because of the dried-up appearance of the foliage. The trees will survive and develop normal leaves in the following spring but renewed damage will be seen from late June onwards.
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I love rosehips, found them on my walk in all sizes and different shades of red - aren't they beautiful. I'm still on the lookout for fungi, but there are simple none here apart from a teeny-weeny one I found. Not sure what it is, only a few millimeters high, very thin.