Saturday 21 September 2013

Autumn Favourites - Conkers

Perhaps my absolute favourite thing about Autumn is finding conkers lying on the ground.  The beautiful shiny patina on them always fascinates me.  I can't help myself and have to pick a few up and put them in my pocket.  Not that I do anything with them anymore.  Long gone are the days of piercing them with the roasting fork and threading string through ready for a conker game at school.



There used to be a particular street in the village where I was brought up, that was lined with Horse Chestnut trees from one end to the other and I used to love going there in the autumn to find as many as I could.  I used to pick up a carrier bag full.  Talk about greedy.  I don't know what I did with them all.  I especially loved them fresh from the shell like the one pictured, as they just seemed so perfect and unblemished.  Some children would resort to throwing sticks up at the trees to get them down a bit earlier.  It didn't always pay though as this would often produce white unripe fruit.  Mother nature knows best and needs no interference from us thank you.

I found these walking the puppy yesterday morning and couldn't help but squeal with delight as they remind me of being a girl.  I don't think the puppy has ever seen any before.  She's not yet a year old.  She wasn't much interested to be honest, unless there was a squirrel attached!

3 comments:

  1. Me too...love'em !
    Joe collected so many in his little combat trousers packets that his trousers fell down !

    My dad picked up a conker while crossing Green Park to catch the train home from Victoria. He threw it into the garden ... and it grew ! It must be forty years old now. I hope it's still there. It was a large garden - big enough for a conker tree !

    Mum wanted a conker brown handbag but Dad got the shade wrong. She was disappointed ( though probably never told dad ) I have a conker brown handbag which I love.

    Thanks for your lovely comment... another random post up today !

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  2. Sweet, little Joe with his pockets full. You'll have to tell that little anecdote to his girlfriend in years to come.

    Poor mums eh, I can remember mine being slightly disappointed with gifts she got from my dad some years. We used to chuckle about it. She wanted a portable TV one year and ended up with a huge 30" one or something. It was a classic. Bless them.

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  3. of course I meant pockets not packets !

    Now he's packing a "six pack" !

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