A, C, B. Isn't that how it goes?

A is for Autumn colours everywhere now, even in my garden. This is a Maple tree, I'm not sure exactly which one, but it has very small three-point leaves (bit like a bird's footprint) and masses of helicopter seeds. It's slowly turning as red as our moderate climate allows and looks lovely in the late afternoon sun. We bought this tree from a school fete, almost 20 years ago, when it was little more than a stick in a milk carton pot. First time in my life I've been able to plant a tree and really get to see it grow. Love it.

Botanic Gardens yesterday. Lovely lunch with old friend and new, grown children, and old trees.
Yay to our forefathers who planted this wonderful garden, and to everyone who keeps it going for us all.

C is for Celosia
It's been a long week with husband buried in the challenges of live theatre, so I bought myself some flowers. This is a Celosia, surely one of nature's more unusual things. It's part brain, part coral, part gloriously odd. The bunch, cleared temporarily off my table last night for a game of Bananagram, cheers me up every time I walk past.

B is for Bananagram
Bananagram, by the way, is similar to Take Two. Got it? Think multiplayer Scrabble without the board, where players begin by making their own unboarded scrabble layout from a limited number of letters, then call for everyone to take more tiles. It's great fun with large numbers, all ages and even with Scrabble-naysayers. You can play it just with scrabble tiles, but with Bananagram you have the option of calling 'Peel' when everyone must take another tile. Word arrangements can be changed to accommodate new letters and it gets fast and furious. Good fun.