Last of the Summer Wine

[Julie]

Last of the summer wine 

Autumn flows into our golden times

We put our best foot forward and writes in rhymes

The countryside is mellow, it heals each day

On hills or meadows, the village clock chimes!

Julie

October 2026

[Julie]

That was quite a case by the sound of it, so much evidence! 

[Julie]

sounds like Jeremy Clarkson, he was a bit like that on the car programme we used to watch called Top Gear.

Yes for sure Vlada, I started looking into the mushrooms to see what they were when little pup was staying just in case they were poisonous.  The ones in the house plant pots had just been repotted when I noticed the little dark mushrooms growing in the pots, small like yours but a very dark brown colour.

I'd bought a book, long time ago now ,about mushrooms as I was going to forage but I never really got the hang of it as so many look alike.  I always get a burst of excitement when I spot mushrooms and fungi, lichen, moss small wild flowers etc.  while out walking, I feel they are magical.  I first remember as a child walking through Delamere Forest or Clocaenog Forest ...my parents took me there.

About the forest on Wikipedia

The energies of nature teach so much.

Thanks for the video, I'll watch it later today, think I've perhaps got vague memories of this happening

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Awhh yes Jeremy is trying to be a farmer but he's got money to do it, I just find his failures funny as, and it seems to be ongoing, like a comedy of errors.. everything he puts his hands to fails LOL.. but we still have heaps more episodes to go, he's just getting his new restaurant up in running in last nights episode, and he went off his face at his farm manager blamed him for his own error of backing the tractors grain bin into the barn & hitting the door frame.. see everyone else is at blame not him..

Now be careful of the mushrooms that grow in your houseplants compost, they are not edible and are poisonous.. I found some too, yellow ones.. I go foraging often, I have tried some I've found, but I always identify them first before tasting, its imperative there are a number that look similar to edible but arn't...there was a murder case in the news 3 yrs ago in Australia where a woman tried to kill her in laws by poisoning a beef wellington dinner she had invited them to attend ..along with her pastor with poisonous mushrooms, she claimed it was accidental, but it was proven not to be...

here's the case out of interest..

These are the mushrooms in my pot plants.. they look like beautiful parasol mushrooms but not edible.. ones on your lawn if they are brown gilled under them then they are safe to eat..but research them first regardless..

[Julie]

Ahhh right, found a way without joining Vlada, like you too I'm not on facebook either.  I put my birthdate in and I could view!  Looks like Jeremy Clarkson has a lot to learn about farming and he has a very savvy farm manager.

Now that's another thing I've been watching a guy on Youtube, think he's English living in Wales and he hunts mushrooms, so many different ones there is too.  They've been growing in my houseplants from I think the compost and there's been a big bunch on my lawn too this year.  

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

No you don't have to join TikTok to see the clips from those links. just click them and then remove the sign up section if it pops up by clicking the cross in the far corner and it will play for you, if you move off it then it might close on you,... I'm not on Tik Tok myself nor facebook..

[Julie]

Ahhh yes quite different Pale Duck was pale compared to the rest and I wondered if her mum was who I called White Duck, or in my story of her White Evangeline, mother of little Egbert.

Loved the video, thanks Vlada

We saw a little of Jeremy Clarkson's eating place on another channel we visit called Gary Eats, he did a good review of the food there.

Think I would need to join tick-tock to see the clips, just had a try and couldn't view

I follow the farming series with Amanda Owen and her family, they have a sheep farm and are renovating the house next door Anty Johns

Anty John's (also known as High Smithy Holme) is . It is the main focus of the Channel 4 / More4 series Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids. 

I've bought several of Amanda's books over the last few years, and I believe recently she's written children's books too.

Looking back into the family history I have farming in the blood, many either worked on farms or had farms...maybe I'm a frustrated farmer type!

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Yeah now that ducks is sweet but its a light mallard,...cocoa had a totally different head pattern as she was a Welsh Harlequin/Saxony breed ...Walnut has some in here also as I got her from the same breeder..Here is the Saxony breed ducks to compare.

she was a smart duck too, so sad she passed away.. they do make good pets, once they feel safe around you.. mine have never tried to fly away out the section, they know the fence line is it, mind you I have a quarter ace section so its like they are in the wild anyway and probably why they don't leave it, they can fly I havn't ever cut their wings,... I have seen Walnut flap her wings and take off, but never above the 6ft yard fence height and she wont leave Oreo behind anyway as they have paired.. even though they are both female this still happens...

I've been watching that British TV show of Jeremy Clarkson's on his farm, it's been a hilarious show, he's not a farmer by any means no matter how hard he tries to be, I laughed so hard when he tried to keep his piglets apart, and created this small electrified section pen that he put the runt of the litter in with one pig as it was being bullied by the larger male pigs and the other one he put it in with jumped on top of it, right in fount of him as he let it go and he was horrified that he had homosexual pigs..

I was just in hysterics laughing on the floor it was so funny.. but other things he does too I'm laughing at...like he upgraded his helper tractor driving dude to Farm manager and the instant he told him this the dude turned around and said ok then "in which case your fired!"  Jeremy said you cant fire me I own the farm, and the dude said you may own it but your not running it I am..LOL.. should have seen his face it was priceless..LOL its a great show..here's a link to that clip ..

https://www.tiktok.com/@primevideoaunz/video/7379515187226774800

He's also looses money on this farm big time ... like he was trying to grow mushrooms for his restaurant and tried each time failing to mold bacteria .. I was like OMG you have that kind of money to spare.. thousands of dollars of spore bags useless just rotted & were destroyed.. One thousand one hundred and fifty six pounds and he tried again 3 times!,..link to that scene..

https://www.tiktok.com/@itsthegrandtour/video/7374460767682301216

Its a good show mind you, he's trying so hard to make a living and failing miserably...wasting a woad of money in the process and thus a total comedy of affairs. But the farmland & area is awesome and he has helpers so it's been extremely entertaining.. I must say none of the British farmers are like our NZ farmers, they do things so differently..

[Julie]

Love the cute frog, hoping for frogs in our pond next year, think it's had a slow leak and it dried up this summer with the intense heat, the lilies and marsh marigolds are coming back to life now.

Yes Bonnie :) think she was named after a pirate.  Heidi is on the stretch of canal that had the breach back in December, so she's not been trading her pirate wares this year.  Just looked it up Anne Bonny was an Irish pirate, so must be named after her Vlada.

Yes, beautiful cat, there was a beauty down the road from mum so kittens were beautiful. Their noses are adorable for sure.

My first cat was a black cat called Sambo I used to carry him about and try and dress him, I loved my dollies and teddies and tea parties, a very girly girl I was, probably still am Vlada.

Think we had a ginger cat after Sambo died.

One of the cats we had back then used to love sitting under the kitchen table, it was a warm spot with the Baxi fire being on the other side of the wall.  I used to drape things over the table, like a little tent and spend time with the cat, very cosy

I remember having stick insects off my friend's brother when I was around 10 or 11.  

I love ducks, and must admit to having a favourite duck at the marina, I called her pale duck and even painted a picture of her from a photo I took.  She looked just like your Cocoa.

Pale duck disappeared, not sure what happened to her, I miss her as we'd made friends and she used to come and tap on the boat window to get our attention when she wanted food and she let me stroke her, it was a beautiful experience.

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

R U was a Grey Russian too, don't you love their grey noses.. the ginger looks like it was a great smoocher and a French Bull dog called Bonnie, well I never that name doesn't suit a French bull dog lol its a Scottish name.. but ok...she's a cutie regardless..

Your mom certainly had a load of cats over the years like myself, I cant not have one .. they bring in some wonderful energies into the house. I've had the gold fish also inside ones & outside ones.. and I had frogs at one stage also that I raised from tadpoles, they lived in my bromeliads for a while croaking each night in chorus.. and then they just up n vanished I presume to ponds or creeks in the area.. there is a creek just down the road with fish in it also, they may have headed that way.. frogs can hop a long way at night time..

My ducks have just started to lay as its spring time now in full swing, I had to go in search of their nest this time, cos I never saw them making it, I found it after 4 days in my compost pile, full of eggs, so they came into lay a few weeks previously, they are all edible still luckily, they are sneaky, they will lay in one place for a while then they will make another nest and start laying in that while your thinking they are still laying in one nest, I only take two eggs daily see, if you clear out the nest they wont go back to it, so you have to leave a few eggs to keep them thinking you havn't found it..lol until you think hold on not enough eggs in this nest now...so you have to go looking for another nest, I presume this is instinctual behaviour to save their babies from predator's, but they don't realise there is no male so all their eggs are infertile anyway..

Oreo is the brown with the white ring on her neck, not sure what her breed is I keep getting told differently from people, I thought she was a Indian Runner hybrid, but people have said she's a Mallard hybrid Muscovy so IDK,.. but I love her and they both love me to bits, and we talk often to each other they understand me, I can ask Walnut to go get Oreo to tell her to come for some pellets and she will and she puts her neck down and runs towards her to guide her to the food its so cool to watch...

because I know Oreo's visionally impaired & almost blind now and aged about 25yrs I think, could be a bit older the guy I got her from wasn't too sure of her age when I got her he thought she was between 5-6yrs old , I've been in this house now 20yrs ... Walnut is the younger one now she's a Khaki Campbell breed and they are known to be prolific layers she's about 6yrs old .. I had one before her who sadly passed from getting egg bound, she was called Cocoa, she was so pretty too.. very sad but it happens and the vet tried to save her, he got the egg out, it was huge.. but said she was in a bad way and he didn't think she'd survive, but I took her home with pain killers and crossed fingers but she passed overnight peacefully.. but they don't normally survive being egg bound sadly..

This is Oreo & Walnut

Their eggs  - Oreo lays white ones and Walnut lays green ones..

This was Cocoa..

[Julie]

Here's another of mum's cats, there's been so many !  

The grey cat always loved his picture taken Vlada....mum christened him R U as he was quite a talker and was able to open doors, he followed mum everywhere.

Your black and white cat looked like "Skippy" a cat I had as a child.  He walked back to where we used to live, so made his home at my nan's house for the rest of his life.  My nan used to live next door, but when mum had another child we moved about 3 miles away to a house with 3 bedrooms.

You sound like you've given your animals a good life

Adorable, thanks for sharing your family with me, it's lovely to see them Vlada

One of the things that brings me happiness is taking photos and I've taken loads on my mobile in the last few years of the ducks and swans at the marina.  The pair of swans have had two children this year and every time we visit they've grown so much, they look adult size now and their bills are beginning to change colour.

When I first had a house I wanted to keep chickens and then it was goats and also bees, but each home has been on a housing estate without much land.  So we had a rabbit, cats, cold water fish both indoor and outdoor, needless to say at least one of our fish, think it was the ghost koi that ended up inside one of our cats and she took it behind the apple trees, she probably thought we couldn't see her!