Chicken of the woods

A nice bit of fungus growing on one of the cherry trees by the river. It's a parasite so I don't suppose the tree thinks it's all that nice. Edible and probably delicious but I'm not going to start a career in foraging.

Lovely warm morning. Early start to get my hair cut and then a couple of hours in the garden. Repair work is required and I put 95% of the blame for this squarely on Flora's shoulders. The windy summer and the footballs from next door haven't helped but it's the rampaging puppy that's caused most of the damage.

It was so pleasant working away. Flora was stripping the apples off the lower branches of the tree and old man Otter was dozing in the sunshine. Then I head the unmistakable noise of scrambling paws on the fence and there was Flora in the next door garden murdering a football. I'm speaking to fencing contractors.

Tonight is an annual gathering of a group of pals. We meet monthly anyway but in August we all go to one friend's house and each take food to share. My contribution tonight is apple and bramble crumble (not the apples picked by Flora) so baking is on the agenda now.