Sunday 6 October 2013

Sparkle and Shine and Green in the Trees

It has been so sunny here today, and warm too. This morning the crystals hanging at the kitchen window made rainbows.
 These vases caught the light beautifully.

 Small piles of things with no proper home looked better with shadows.
 And the park, where I went in the hope of finding lots of autumn leaves is still very green. 

 I did find acorns and berries. I heard somewhere that this year is a 'mast year', where trees put out extra nuts and seeds, in what seems like a coordinated effort, which provides food for animals but also a surplus, so lots of new trees will grow. I have never heard of this before and was fascinated. I had heard the word 'mast' for nuts and seeds but not for fruit-there is 'hard mast'-fruit in the form of nuts and seeds, and 'soft mast'-soft fruit. Interesting article about acorns here. The ones I found today were quite unusual looking, with scaly cups. Not sure what kind of oak they are from.
 A rowan tree and a Spanish chestnut.

 A beautiful avenue of Spanish chestnuts casting stripey shadows on the grass.
A crow with some white feathers on his wing. I walked around him to give him space and he didn't hop away like they usually do. Just looked at me as I looked at him. (Or her-who can tell?!)

4 comments:

Leenie said...

Thanks for the new meaning for the word, mast. Very interesting. We've had a year like that here too. There has been a bounty of fruits from both orchard and garden. I especially loved the photo of all those Spanish chestnuts and also that big twisted one that looks a bit spooky. I, too, have a collection of crystals in my east windows to catch the morning rainbows.

Tracy said...

LOVELY crystals, Sarah! And VERY interesting about this being a "mast year"... I had no idea either! That explains all the HUGE abundance we've had of soft and other fruits in our garden. :o) Happy Days ((HUGS)) P.S. Love the fiber-focus in your new banner!

elizabeth said...

What extra super photos today!

Lynne said...

I love the avenue photo. I haven't heard of the term 'mast'. There's certainly loads more fruit on the trees round here. I do enjoy sunlight playing on glass.