Monday 3rd Sep 2012
Bright and warm day (at last)...highlight (I that is the right word,) was
a swarm of flying ants setting off into the evening sun. They hovered in the sunbeams
and landed all over me like the scene from Avatar where Jake is covered by the
seeds of the great tree and then just like in the film they all lifted off
again in unison.
I think from past experience they are a little later this year than
normal but with the poor summer I guess that is to be expected. They always
emerge on the first sunny day after a spell of rain. I guess it is so the soil
is soft enough for the new queen to excavate a nest after the marriage flight. That
so many emerge and so few make it to adulthood to establish the queenly realm
is a wonder. I guess that’s the difference between them and us. They must make
thousands to ensure just one will survive. Perhaps less is not always more. Think
of the workers having to contain the seething mass of young males and females bursting
with purpose within the nest till the weather was right.
I also took some photos of a yellow coral type fungus bursting out of
an old tree stump like a small tongue of flame and a couple from my walk around
the lake yesterday.
The quality of light changes as we head towards the autumn. It becomes
less brightly solid and vistas take on a watercolour appearance as objects blur
and become closer than they should. I am sat here in the late day sun with the
scent of rosemary and thyme on my hands and the aroma of lemons in the air. It mingles
together to give the scent of baking bread and I wonder am I in Darwen or
Provence?
I recant my guilt from all I have done before
Having learnt too late alas, that less is more 
