Now Wearing Purple

My lovely man decided to service and light the Aga at the weekend and not a moment too soon as damp washing was backing up.  Also, I am starting to feel a bit chilly in the evenings. Talk about lying down on the job! We don't use an Aga engineer as it would be too darned expensive, but it is a palaver for him, and requires quite a lot of upper body strength to lift the inner barrel out through the hot plate. I know there are those who think that an Aga is not eco friendly because of the amount of fuel they use, but ours cooks our food, dries our clothes, and provides all our hot water.  It also keeps our house warm enough for us not to have to use any other heating until it gets bitterly cold outside. We do have oil fired central heating, but due to the cost of the oil, we choose not to use it at these times and rely on our multi-fuel burner.  In the last 10 years we have only paid for one delivery of logs as somehow every year someone wants a tree removed...

BLOOMING OCTOBER I don't know, because I haven't photographic evidence of the garden mid October last year, but I'm pretty sure it didn't look like this...               By the end of September last year all pelargoniums were removed to the greenhouse for frost free safe keeping, with bacopa, begonias, lobelia etc,  having died off and been pulled up and composted. This is the first year I've planted osteospermum, and I'll definitely be doing it next year, as it just goes on and on flowering. You would almost think that summer is still alive and well!