
Dog snouts and falling for fall...
And yes, I am talking apples here today. Dog snouts are apples, just like the catheads. But wait, lets do this blog entry in a little bit of an order.
First of all, let me show you all my real Belgian Chocolate wellies I found today. Could not resist, and needed them as my pink ones are a bit too small when I want to wear winter socks in them.

Solved, I found those, with temptation written all over them, and I can put pants in the wellies now. To be safe and Welly Splash pond proof.

The red ones have cherry and a little brandy, love those... (i am talking about the red chocs ON the wellies...)
I also cracked down today to go on Facebook, after I got several friends nagging me about it for a long time, and that took some exploring and looking...
But we were going to talk dog snouts, so off we go.

The trees are only starting to change color here in UK, we did not have night frost so far, for the truly red coloring, we need frost. Not that I miss the absence of it... don’t quote me on it. And it is the first time in the seven years that I have lived here that we actually enter the Harlow Carr Garden. We often visit Betty’s, which is adjacent to it, but until sunday, no garden had been on the program. Cornflake had been informed that an apple day was on, we were on the look out for apples.
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Not before we had been druling in front of Betty’s window, with their marsipan pumpkins and cookies. Ghosts, cats, pumpkins, Halloween is coming closer.
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And Europe is going for it more and more. It used to be a totally american thing, but slowly, old symbols are finding their way back over the ocean, back to where the origin of Haloween started: in Celtic England.

The baker at Betty’s did a fabulous job. No need to worry about stealing their idea, there is no way that any of us normal people could sculpture pumpkins and likes like their master baker can. They do understand the concept of making a window display attractive at Betty’s...

The tiny spider, the leaf, the pumpkin, it is made with an almost unbelievable accuracy. I can only vaguely imagine how many hours work go into a masterpiece like this.
Well done, Betty’s Baker...

After all the ooohhh-ing and aaahhh-ing we go straight for the gardens, and we are not the only ones. Lots of families, kids, the Apple Day seems to be a popular event.
Shame on me that I have to discover it so long after date... The entrance of the garden has some displays of its own, no doubt about what the main event of the day is...

It looks like a casual stable corner, with some fruit, yet it has taken hours to set it up. I know it. Red, greens and yellows are screaming out, we will find the same colors back outside, when the sun peeks from behind the thick clouds.
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A game of light and shadow, a bit of a messy picture, but I mainly post it for the colors. Rich and warm. Inviting.

Up in the trees, the sun plays hide and seek, down on the bottom, the mushrooms love the shadow, and we find them in big numbers. Nature’s color palet is wonderful. We could not get it better. God must have done something good with his cans of paint, if we for a moment believe that he made it all.
No Dulux color chart or Crown mixing panels, nature can do without swatches.

The Welly Splash has leaves on its surface, here too colors, all adding to the feel and the magic of Indian Summer. It makes that I feel less sad for leaving summer behind. It makes the thought of winter coming less harsh, fall connects summer and winter. We also had the hour change here over the weekend, so today, it was dark really early, cosy evenings inside are popping to mind.

Some area’s are a lot brighter then others, they do have a good selection of plants and trees in the garden, and Brits are known to be keen gardeners. It shows.
There is color in the garden throughout the year. From early spring when the first daffodils rise, till the fall blooms and foliage set their own mark on the landscape.

Different combinations, greens with red, yellow and red, magenta in the bushes. A great atmosphere and good to catch a fresh nose on the weekend.
Better then spending the whole afternoon in front of the computer.
We find the first apple exhibition in the library of the garden. Lots of baskets, filled with fruit, the most exotic names first. And when I look outside, I see a bush with flowers behind the grid of the window. Takes my breath away.

I had no idea about the kind of different apple brands they have in North Yorkshire, can’t name them all, but my favorite must have been the dog snout.

A big green one, longish, not the normal round red and green apple. Nope, this one has style. If you flip it on his side, you can imagine the dog head in it, only the ears are missing. Funny...
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Looking at the cox apples, I think about my grandmother, who used to love fall just for that. She loved cox apples, and longed for them the whole summer.
Crisp and sweet, not the soft mouchy stuff that ripe pears have, can’t compare apples with pears for sure...
Weird that grandmothers and aunts come back to us in the strangests of time. Walking around in a room with hundreds of baskets with apples. Big, small, round, long, stretched...

Vivid colors, subdued, mixed, matched... What gems. I need to almost sit on my hands to not pick one up and have a good bite in it...
Very difficult to not get carried away...

I don’t think they would appreciate it if suddenly one of their jewels would show a big bite gone... I could do it if I am quick... but no, grown ups can say no to their inner child.

I do fondle some of them, sniffing, feeling the skin, holding the little stem... I am having a conversation with one of the wardens, how do you call people watching apples on display? Apple wardens? Bramley Knockouts? Pipkin watchers?
One of them points out to me that before I snap the apples, I should learn the parts, as I have to ask them what they call the little tail coming out of an apple.
I tell him that I do know the parts of the apples, in dutch, but not in english as that is my second language. He slowly colors like the apple I am shooting. Good... Not everyone speaks fluid english...

But that is the only minor small thing, the whole day is a success so far. I am glad that we came, and that Cornflake invited me and Mr Wonderful for the event.
We are lucky. It starts pouring with rain, just as we sit down under a tent with a tea. Perfect timing I say...

We chat and have fun, and we did meet an australian-british photographer, sipping tea too. Always nice to meet new people,
and our camera’s open the conversation.
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People who like photography and see another person with a camera always find a common ground to stand on, we have a lovely time, while the rain splashes down all around us.
Only a few of us fit under the tent, the rest runs for shelter in the main buildings. The man tells us about his passion, making sound tracks to mix them with multi media.
Check out his blog here and listen to the sound clip he made while in the gardens.
A great way to spend a lazy sunday, walking around in a fall garden, meeting other photography minded people, having tea or hot chocolate. Life is good!

And we stay dry, we found the perfect shelter. Soon the sun peeks out again, we head off for the tasting tent while it is raining less.

The newly met photographer, Colin, snaps Cornflake et moi while we are talking.... apples of course... The lady wants to know what we will do with the photographs we take. Blog about it of course, and maybe, if I am lucky, I can post some on Alamy, and even more maybe, a magazine will want some of the pics and pay me.
That would be a nice added value. If that does not happen, well, we still had fun walking around and discovering new things and new people...

I say good bye to my just discovered dog snout apple... I need to venture out to Marks and Spencers or Sainsbury and see if I could find some. I have never before tasted a dog snout, it is time for another jump in the unknown...
I will let you know how the snout tasted! It’s a promise...
Talk later!