As most of you will have noticed, I haven’t posted anything here for nearly two months. I have been quite busy and have had to limit the time I spend on-line. I decided that I would use that time answering e-mails and just reading other people’s posts and commenting on them instead of writing my own posts. I also realised recently that I haven’t been reading as many books as I used to and I missed that pleasure, so my on-line time has been reduced further.
An extra problem I have had for the past couple of days is an inability to post comments on your WordPress blogs. My words disappear immediately I click on the send button. Some of my comments have arrived in your in-boxes but most have completely disappeared. Some have been discovered in spam folders so may I ask you to have a look to see if a comment of mine is there, please? I haven’t commented at all on your more recent posts as I knew it would be a waste of my time. I have read them all and have ‘liked’ them. As soon as everything is back to normal I will be commenting again. I have contacted the WordPress help team and they have re-directed me to Akismet. I am waiting to hear from them to see if there is anything they are able to do.
Now that the nights are drawing in I will probably have a little more free time and might manage a post or two to let you know what I have been doing. I enjoy blogging and have missed it! Meanwhile I have included a couple of photographs I took late this afternoon. Autumn has well and truly arrived here!
Spindle with berries (Euonymus europaeus ). The leaves turn a delicate shade of pink in the autumn.
Spindle berries are bright pink and when ripe, split open to reveal orange-coloured seeds!
Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna ) with its berries, which are known as Haws.
Pyracantha covered with scarlet berries. I have just finished pruning our pyracantha and have got it neat and tidy for winter.
This evening’s gentle sunset.
Sunset
My music choice for this post is ‘Dream of Me’ by Kristina Train.
Thanks for visiting!
A Suffolk Lane 
No need to apologize, Clare! I thought maybe you were busy doing some of the rector’s work, since he’s gone now.
Your spindle is a pretty plant. Anyway, welcome back to blogging, and I also hope you will get back to reading, too. 🙂
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Thank-you very much, Lisa! I can’t say I’ve had any more work than usual at church but it is early days as yet! We have had a lot to do at home, lots of gardening, more visitors than usual and quite a bit of travelling about which takes up so much time. 🙂
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I checked my files and found 3 spam coming from your account. It definitely proves that something is wrong with your WordPress account. I hope they fix the problem soon. 🙂
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Thank-you, HJ. I really can’t see why my comments to you should have gone into your spam file! You are right; I have a problem! 😀
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Good to see you again, Clare! I have been so busy it has been hard for me to keep up with everyone as well.
Occasionally I have problems with WordPress throwing me into SPAM on multiple, but not all sites, and do not know why. So far, you have never ended up in my SPAM filter.
Autumn has arrived here too with cooler temperatures, and we finally got rain.
I enjoyed the music by Kristina Train. This artist is new to me, 🙂 All the best to you and your family, Clare. Enjoy the fall season!
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Thank-you, Lavinia. I am pleased to hear you have rain at last! Perhaps with the autumn you will be less busy; have you finished your grape harvest yet?
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At the end of autumn things will slow down. 🙂 The grapes are just coming ripe here. I had Rick pick 4 heaping flats of pinot noir so we could test them out for our “hand-crafted” winemaking process. 🙂 He felt the yellow jacket wasps were beginning to take an interest in the grapes, so we pulled from the non-netted ones for this test run. The brix level is only about 18%, but should make a nice rose pinot of about 10% alcohol, which is about all I can handle. The grapes under the insect net we will let ripen another week or two, weather depending, and do a second run.
The table grapes will probably run through late October or early November. We are picking and eating those now.
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Sounds good! I hope the test run is a success!
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I have been away for a long time, too. Sometimes, it is good just to read and like; it’s another approach to blogging which really should be flexible according to our own situation. But welcome back, and thanks for the introduction to Kristina Train.
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Thank-you! I am pleased you liked Kristina Train; I find her voice very appealing.
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I shared the video with my daughter. She also enjoyed it.
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I am pleased!
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Nice to hear from you with those lovely autumn pictures. I will look in my spam folder to see if your comments have ended up there.
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Thank-you very much, Susan. I hope you enjoyed your holiday in Marseilles.
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Enjoy your break. The berries look so beautiful at this time of year. ☺
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Thank-you very much, Kim!
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I’m still getting you’re kind and very welcome comments over at ‘A Bit About Britain’, Clare – must admit, I tend to empty the spam folder without looking at it too closely – but I have missed your posts. It’s difficult, juggling everything – we all need to prioritise. A friend of mine dresses like a Michelin man for the annual pyracantha prune – nasty stuff! Liked the sound of Kristina Train – new to me – a very 60s production.
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Thank-you so much, Mike! I managed the pyracantha very well this year after reducing it’s width by half last year. It used to take me hours! I agree about Kristina Train’s 60’s production – I’m glad you liked her song.
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It’s so nice to read your lovely post and view the beautiful photos, Clare. I’m sorry you’ve had Word Press issues. I had some problems a while ago with certain blogs. My comments would disappear as well, but then I was told they went into spam. Thanks for sharing today! I hope everyone is doing well. xo
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Thank-you very much, Jill. I am still waiting to hear from Akismet. I hope they can do something for me. We are all fine here as I hope you are too! xo
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We’re all well too, Clare. xoxo
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Good! xxxx
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Thank you for this update & the beautiful berry photos. I love autumn & try to think well of winter too, as I prefer to live where there are four seasons, rather than two (having tried that far north & far south). I too spend way too much time online, at the expense of reading & painting. I am resolved to remedy that as well.
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Thank-you! I agree wholeheartedly with you about living where there are four seasons. I love their different characters, though I must admit to wasting autumn by worrying about winter (and Christmas!) too much!
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I think one of the great things about blogging is that we can fit it in to the ebb and flow of our lives. No apologies necessary, although it is always super to see a post from you. The last comment I had from you (thank you!) was in response to my post entitled The View From Here (Part Two). X
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Thank-you very much, Liz! xx
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I have been getting your welcome comments but I did find one in my spam. Curious. I hope you get things sorted out. The pyrocanthus is very fine.
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Thank-you very much, Tom. The pyrocanthus needs a lot of careful management!
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I can believe that.
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You’re having a lovely start to autumn Clare. I hope you get your technical problems sorted soon (though I haven’t found you in my spam and I know I’ve had comments from you) and that you find yourself with some more time to do the things you enjoy.
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Thank-you so much, Andrea.
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You aren’t in my spam folder Clare, but I can understand being busy. I have a hard time getting two posts out each week.
That’s the biggest Pyracantha I’ve ever seen. I’m glad I wasn’t the one pruning it!
I’m watching our spindle berry tree where I work. So far the berries haven’t opened and I don’t think the leaves are pink yet. Thanks again for identifying that one for me. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen and nobody seems to know how it got there.
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Thank-you, Allen. The pyracantha is in fact two plants and isn’t as large as it used to be! I reduced its height about four years ago and last year reduced its depth by half. This year I managed to get the whole thing done in a couple of hours!
I remember you writing about your spindle tree last year. It would be interesting to find out how it found its way to your forest!
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Lovely to read a ‘sharing’ from you Clare and the wonderful thing about this loving global village of ours is we’re all here for each other. Beautiful pictures my lovely friend. Hugs and much ❤ flowing across to you, always. ❤ xXx ❤
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Thank-you so much, my dear Jane xx ❤ ❤ xx
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We’ll, you and I seem to have been conversing successfully. Your comments definitely don’t end up in my spam folder. How irritating for you. Hope it’s sorted soon.
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Thank-you Margaret! I think there was at least one of your recent posts I didn’t comment on. It has all been resolved by Akismet who were extremely helpful.
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it’s good to see a post from you again Clare, I was kind of wondering if everything was okay. I really liked the pyracantha, I thought that it was covered in flowers, not berries, how colorful!
I don’t remember if any of your comments went to spam for me, but I’ve learned that it isn’t unusual for that to happen even with people who have been commenting to my blog for years. So, I always check my spam box, both my email account, and in WordPress to be sure that I see all comments.
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Thank-you very much, Jerry! I always check my spam too, as I’ve found all sorts of innocuous comments in there in amongst the dross!
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I never think to check spam there’s so much that goes in there. I’ll come back to listen to the song choice as I’m on my lunch break I’ve not heard it before. Happy autumn.
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Thank-you so much, Charlotte. The problem has been resolved really quickly by Akismet and WordPress, I am pleased to say. The problem was at its worst mid-week so I hadn’t needed to comment on your post. I wouldn’t expect you to search for my silly messages in your spam knowing how much rubbish you must get sent! Your Facebook page must be just as bad!
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Oh that’s good news Clare, I’m very fortunate with my Facebook that I get lovely comments in the vast majority of cases but I get lots of people trying to sell things in my WordPress spam.
Best wishes
Charlotte
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Oh, it’s good to have you back! Like you, I haven’t written in ages–and like you, I’ve had to make choices about how to use limited time. I’ve enjoyed reading my pals’ posts, though, even as I don’t write myself, and have missed you! I hope we’ll spend more time “together,” this autumn and winter.
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What a lovely message, Kerry – thank-you! I have been thinking of you and hoping you and Don are coping okay.
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the pyracantha looks good! No need to apologise – I’m sorry that your comments have been going to spam. Hope that your family are all doing well. I am so relieved that there are no more GCSE’s here. x
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Thank-you Rachel! We are all fine 🙂 Yay! No more GCSEs!
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I checked but you aren’t in Spam – I have however been offered a plethora of payday loans, advice on grass cutting in Australia and the normal raft of offers to write fresh (though probably ungrammatical) posts for me as various people thing my content needs freshening up.
Apart from that, welcome back to writing. I’m looking forward to seeing what you are up to. No need to apologise, we all have different ways of coping with time – I tend to struggle with writing and commenting but keep writing as it has become a habit.
Great photos, though the sight of your pyracantha made me shudder. In my professional gardening days I’ve had the spines punch through the soles of trainers twice. Painful reminder that I should be wearing boots!
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Thank-you, Simon. I have also had pyracantha thorns in my feet – ouch! Earlier this year during one of our many very windy days I rounded the corner of the house and got hit in the face by a loose branch and got a thorn in the middle of my forehead. I was a sight to behold and frightened my husband when I walked into the kitchen covered in blood. That branch is going once the berries have been eaten!
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Ouch indeed!
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Thank you for updating us, dear Clare. I was wondering! The pyracantha is beautiful.
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Thank-you, Cynthia!
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I hope your akismet problems were only a blip and that you are well. I think it’s a good thing to take time out for yourself and blogging should be about having fun and enjoying it and not feeling constrained to keep up if you cannot, though I am glad to hear from you ❤ If you can't keep up with my blog it's quite alright, I know I now post something almost everyday but there's no need to feel like you have to keep up if you can't. I really appreciate the talk we had the other day via my blog, it's made me feel so much better and more positive and I wanted to thank you for it and I hope that whatever is happening for you that you keep well and look after yourself ❤
I've never heard of a spindle before (my knowledge of plants is shockingly bad
) but that pink of the berries is just so beautiful, my favourite shade of my favourite colour 🙂
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You are so kind, Cat – thank-you! Yes, the problem was just a blip and the people from WordPress and Akismet were very kind and helpful. I am pleased you’re feeling better! When we are depressed we want to hide away from people, but of course that often makes matters worse because we dwell on all the things that worry us, all our failures and mistakes. We can’t believe that anyone would be interested in us. By keeping in touch with others and telling them we are depressed, anxious or unhappy we often get the comfort and support we need.
I have had a very busy year with lots of work about the house and garden. We have had a series of workmen in to mend things and replace things and this has been very disruptive! We have all had many, many appointments at the hospital and with GPs, nurses, opticians and dentists. Not a week has gone by (except when we were away on holiday) when we haven’t had at least one appointment to go to! I also have spent quite a lot of time with my elderly mother. A very busy summer and I’m very tired. My younger daughter has had a bad time with her anxiety as well which affects us all.
I never saw spindle trees and bushes until I moved her where they grow very well. They are quite plain and retiring trees for most of the year but they come into all their glory in the autumn! The wood is hard and strong and so was used to make spindles to spin wool. 🙂
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Wow, you are a fountain of knowledge, thank you for telling me about spindle trees, it’s wonderful to know where spindles (the wool kind) comes from 🙂
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had such a hard time. Appointments always feel disruptive let alone difficult to deal with especially if they are medical. And workmen are never an easy thing to get along with, they always seem to make a lot of noise and need a lot of space. I remember workmen taking out an old concrete air raid shelter from our garden when I was young and they seemed to spend most of their time drinking cups of tea, lol. A concrete air raid shelter, by the way, is something they just never mention in history, to this day I had no idea they had concrete ones in the second world war!
I’m glad your akismet problems were temporary. I don’t know why but the program occasionally has its issues. I got a lot of spam marked as non-spam one day as if the akismet programme had broken down for a few minutes.
you are very right about depression and how good it is to tell others about how we feel rather than shut ourselves away. I hope your daughter’s anxiety will reduce and that you and your whole family have a more restful time from now and can enjoy life more ❤
Feel free to email any time you like (if you'd like to of course) if there's ever a time you don't feel like chatting on wordpress ❤
Hope you are well and thank you again for being a wonderful friend ❤ 🙂
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My pleasure, Cat! 🙂 I think I remember you saying you live in Kent. I grew up in Bromley which was still Kent then and only became a London Borough later. I used to attend the old grammar school, Ravensbourne School for Girls (now no longer there) which had lots of concrete air-raid shelters in the grounds. We were forbidden to go anywhere near them but of course we all tried to get inside as often as we could! When the school was enlarged in the mid 70’s the shelters were demolished, much to our disappointment!
Thank-you very much for your kind wishes and of course you are free to e-mail me at any time too xx
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Lol, I remember my primary school used to have a few concrete structures especially built for the playground for us kids to shelter in. They were demolished after I left the school but it seems concrete was a choice material for use in the area. I’ll send you an email soon, I’d like to catch up a bit more privately than on wordpress, if that’s okay? 🙂
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That will be absolutely fine, Cat. I look forward to hearing from you xx
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Just wondering if this comment will go through. I am having the same problem as you with comments.
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I found this in my spam folder! You are certainly having the same problem as I had. How very strange! At the very bottom of this page is ‘Help and Support’ – that’s where I clicked and I eventually got the help I needed. Good luck, Anne xx
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Okay, just trying again to see if I still end up in your Spam folder. Thanks for your help.
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Not in spam this time – it went straight to my post. Fingers crossed it is okay now!
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Yes, I think it’s okay with you now. But I am still not getting through on other blogs. I have contacted Akismet so I await them and the Happiness Engineers.
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I hope this is resolved soon. xx
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Me too. Still no communication from WordPress or Akismet.
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😦
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As you know, it’s all good now. I am happy.
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🙂
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My goodness, you have had quite a trying summer, it seems, Clare. Autumn is so beautiful – I hope you will enjoy this one without letting winter bother you. I suffer from anxiety and so know only too well how worries can get in the way.
Anyway, I only check my spam folder occasionally. I blog from my phone, so it’s a bit of a faff to get to this part of the site. So, I’m sorry if I missed any of your comments – not sure if WP automatically deletes after a certain period. I will check now, though, in case there are any of your comments in there.
On a completely different note, I had no idea about spindle trees. You learn something every day!
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Thank-you Helen! I can’t remember whether I tried to send a message to you or not. Even if I did it probably isn’t worth you trying to find it! All my problems have been resolved now as you are no doubt aware and I am trying to get back to posting a little more regularly.
I am interested in woods and their uses and I find it a fascinating subject.
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I love trees and woods, so look forward to reading more. Glad WP is back to normal for you. I had a different problem at one point and the techies at the other end were most helpful.
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Clare, I totally understand that you need to take some time off blogging…it’s so important to get the right balance in life…Lovely to read your beautiful gentle post. You’re taking your WP problems with calm and patience – hope all is sorted soon! I got your comment, thank you so much. Ahh…beautiful garden photos, the pink berries are so delicate as is the sunset…precious evenings. Thank you also for the great video post, I’m enjoying listening to the song whilst typing away and will check out more songs by Kristina Train; I’ve never heard of her before – always a joy to find new singers.
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Thank-you very much, Annika. Fortunately, the WP problem was sorted out very quickly by WP and Akismet. I am so pleased you like Kristina Train!
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It is a difficult balancing act isn’t it and I agree with you about reading. I try now to read in the late evening and not look at a screen and am also trying audible. A Signature of All Things is historical fiction about early botanists. Loving it but have to replay as I can fall asleep and miss a crucial part of the plot!
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I have the same problem listening to books and music and watching the TV. If I’m not moving or standing up I fall asleep!
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Love the plants 😍
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Thank-you very much, Charlie.
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