Mr Crow, mashed, bonfire

For the last few years, I have described the crow which is regularly about in the Grove as Mr Crow.
This because it has the human characteristic of appearing either to be in charge of the place or to own it. When not on top of a tree, as he is shown here, as it happens on the topmost branch of the highest tree in the Grove, it struts up and down on the grass like a big black chicken looking for worms. Whether this is the same crow that I have described in previous years, I cannot tell, but I like to think that it is. Sometimes it is joined by another crow, which is manifestly less assertive. I have described this one in the past as Mrs Crow, on accountof its sweeter temperament. As it happens Mrs Crow was on the same tree, when I took this photograph but on a much lower branch and looking modestly downwards, so that I was unable to capture her in the same frame.

Left-over mashed potato, shaped to form a cake and fried on both sides until golden brown, and surmounted by a fried egg, is a beautiful a thing. So beautiful that when ever we have mashed potatoes, there is always extra for this purpose on the following day.

Today is a still day and a perfume of distant bonfire and wet leaves hangs in the air.