A bunch of heather

newly-turned grave
heather and crocosmia
a single tribute

St Lawrence's Tombs

Neglected grave
tomb split open.
Trees and Ivy buds.

St. Lawrence's, Alvechurch

Childhood haunts
and the basis for a church
in my novels.

Cake Pudding

Neil's cake-in-a-mug recipe came out reminiscent of a steamed pudding.

* Put 4 tablespoons of plain flour, 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cocoa in a mug and mix thoroughly.
* Add 1 egg, and mix well.
* Add 3 tablespoons of milk and 3 tablespoons of oil – mix again until well combined.
* If desired, add chocolate chips and a splash of vanilla.
* Microwave the mug for 3 minutes at 1000 watts or 4 minutes at 700 watts (the cake will rise above the top of the mug but don’t panic!)
* Allow to cool, turn out onto a plate if you like.
* Apparently margarine tastes better than oil – but you have to add this before the egg and milk instead of after.



There are still roses blooming in Chesterfield.

and Seven Trent Water have come to mend the stop tap. To do so, they've dug a 4'deep hole.

Bright and sunny cemetery

I told Kat* I'd use this name in a story - and I did, in tomorrow's Laverstone Tales

Lovely morning.
DON'T click to enlarge.

Happiness is Tumbledried towels

The Poplar trees, as usual.







*Not DK, the other Kat

Blackberries and Graves

Ah! You can tell it's August. The blackberries are just beginning to ripen. I must say that these were delicious, and helped to get the horrible taste of conkers out of my mouth.

Unpopular chap -
a single bunch of flowers
on his fresh-dug grave.

Bear looking either
bored or pensive as I photograph a mushroom.

Sometimes aliens
are just a matter of scale
and tinted lenses

Fences, Graves, Fish and Pan

This is the bit between the dog field and the cemetery - the gap in the railings is just to the left. This is the corner, which contains an old horse-chestnut tree.

"And when you are dead, mom, this is how we'll dance around your grave."

"Is this yours?
You're very old."

This one for Aims, who wanted to see the awching Bramble Explorer, which has reached its target of the other hedge now.

A quick trip to Morisson's gave me the fish sculpture against the evening sky

Finally, this was for Nice Caroline
who's promoting the launch of her new novel Black Books which is out on the 1st September.

Caroline Smailes