Playing in the woods down at the creek

In one of his books, Monty Don says that gardening is playing in the mud for grown ups. I agree. As a child I liked to play in the woods, I loved just wondering around and sitting eating a secret bar of chocolate in among all the greenery. Now as a so called adult nothing has changed. I still love to muck about in among the trees. I am so lucky to own the smallest wood in the world, with a creek running through it.
A few weekends ago I had a spare day with no jobs to do around the house, no bits of wood to rub down or oil, no meals to cook as Peter was at home. So I gathered together a few cutting tools, my radio in a handy basket and off I toddled into our wood, to spend the day clearing up.
I am glad I did, the previous few days winds had blown down a lot of walnuts, which were just lying around ready to grab.
I was not alone down there. Mr Blue Eyes the eel was interested in what I was up to.
Little Miss Fantail, was also not far away. Tweeting away in annoyance at every little branch I moved.
There were even a couple of Tui's hanging around. And I swear they were singing along to the music from the radio, 70's hits. Or maybe they were shouting at me to turn it off and stop spoiling there peace and quiet.
At the end of it all a good bonfire, to clear up all the dead branches. Which is when the rest of the family turned up with sausages, bread and ketchup. Wish they had brought some marshmallows too.

Down at the creek today #4

Down at the creek today there were zero mosquitos. I had come down prepared dressed in my joggers, socks, gum boots, big long high necked t-shirt and hoodie, in a temperature of about 18 celcius, I did seem a bit overdressed. Only to find there were no mosquitos to hide my flesh from.

There was one large, fat, old, one eyed eel, slinking around.
Two curious cats.

And three bags full ......... of walnuts. The largest bag is a bit of a cheat as that came from Keriann's garden. We just managed to find enough for two small bags. I think the Possums have been eating ours, I found a lot of empty shells down there.

Saturday lunch in the garden. Pumpkin and celery soup, yummy. Walnut bread that really does taste as good as it looks. What could be better for a sunny autumn Saturday. All prepared by my Hubby. I feel hungry just looking at the pics.

Walnuts in a bowl, given to us by some good friends. We have some from the trees in our garden this year, but they need to be dried out.

Winter tree down in the lower garden. I think this is a walnut tree, but I will have to wait until the leaves come back before I find out. If you know what it is please leave a comment to let me know.