Mud Berths ~ Daily Sketch 03/11/2013

Jetty/Strood Channel ~ Daily Sketch 01/11/2013

View Towards the Hammerhead ~ Daily Sketch 27/10/2013

Lifeboat Shed & Seawall ~ Daily Sketch 20/10/2013

Approaching Rain ~ Daily Sketch 19/10/2013

Barge and Reeds at Snape ~ Daily Sketch 17/10/2013

View to Orford Ness ~ Daily Sketch 16/10/2013

Reed Beds at Snape ~ Daily Sketch 15/10/2013

Towards the Lifeboat Shed ~ Daily Sketch 06/10/2013

The Return of The Geese

'View Across Ray Marshes' ~ Pastel

Last night we heard the distinct 'honking' sound that marks the arrival at this time of year of the migratory Brent Geese to the saltmarsh around Essex. We always look forward to hearing them, especially at night when laying in bed, as their arrival here puts another punctuation mark in the seasonal cycle. This usually seems to coincide with the arrival of colder weather and this week sure enough it turned up too.

10/10/10

Ten, ten, twenty-ten! It's definitely Autumn here on Mersea now, here is the view that greeted us on arrival at work at 7.30 this morning with the sun peeking over the yews in the church yard opposite. The leaves are falling and being swirled around on the ground and there is a dew on the grass each morning, the tartist and I both commented to each other how fortunate we are to live and work here.

TBTE 04.10.09 ~ Strood Channel

So already it is October, blimey October again with all of its sunsetty golden splendour and a dew on the grass most mornings. my father has just turned 70, making me very aware of the passage of time...not just for him but for all of us. We had a good old family gathering yesterday with birthday cake and photo albums to help him celebrate. And now the baby of the artistandtartist family has recently left for university, making us all feel a bit older and reaching another milestone for us as a family.

TBTE 29.09.09

It is somewhat reassuring that in this digital era of gigantic flat screens, i-pods and ever decreasing attention spans that watching the sun set over Feldy marshes is still a deeply satisfying thing to experience. This evening Mabel (our Lab.) and I watched for twenty minutes as the sun went below the horizon and with hardly a breath of wind, mirror like, the creek reflected the sky. This scene with the exception of a few details has been the same for centuries.