I looked out of our bedroom window one morning at the beginning of November and saw a very healthy looking fox basking in the warmth of the sun on our summerhouse roof. Later, I tiptoed down the garden as quietly as I could and got quite a good close up.





Next day, I had an appointment with the dentist in Richmond. As I passed the flower stall in the main street I saw they were selling physalis plants for £6.50. When we were children, we called them Chinese lanterns and most people grew them in their gardens. You can see from the photos why we called them that. The berries inside are edible and good in salads. They are always that rich orange colour, a bit like the pumpkins you buy at Hallowe'en, which are sometimes streaked with green. Vignettes of Autumn but, as yet, not the biting cold of Winter.