Meeting old friends in Thompson’s Park

Beech trees in Thompson’s Park, with Romilly Road beyond the park railings

Firstly, my apologies for being slightly inactive on the blog recently and not responding to comments in a timely manner.

I remain very busy working full-time from home and caring for my husband – still in agony and immobile as he waits for the urgent hip replacement operation cancelled in March thanks to the first Covid-19 lockdown.

And to top it all I have fallen out of love with WordPress and its new Block Editor, which I can’t get to work even if I use a different browser as recommended by one of the WordPress experts. I also couldn’t work out how to continue using Classic Editor until Mike Rogers (of Flighty’s Plot) kindly pointed out a little arrow in the admin panel that I hadn’t noticed. Thanks so much!

Colourful beech leaves (Fagus sylvatica)

So I am a couple of weeks late reporting on this visit to Thompson’s Park, my nearest green space in Cardiff. On this occasion the place was full of autumn colour. The oak tree I followed in 2016 looks good this year…

Oak (Quercus robur) in Thompson’s Park

Oak leaves and bark

I always called it the pigeon tree

The many horse chestnuts still stand in the top field of the park.

Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Some chestnut leaves are still green…

…but most are dry and brittle

Other small pleasures…

Berries and golden leaves…

…and in a similar tree next to it a different variety, with green leaves

Fruit of something like a sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Lemon-hued ash leaves (Fraxinus excelsior)

A pretty combination of beech leaves

A member of the cherry family (Prunus)…

…and a closer look at its autumn leaves

A maple (Acer) of sorts?

A Viburnum?

A palm?

When I was walking across the top field of Thompson’s Park I took pictures of this conifer, that I always think is a cedar, but I may be wrong…

A view across the top field to a park bench

But then someone called my name and I realised that sitting on that park bench were two old friends from my journalism days, Carolyn and Rian. They both live locally so it is natural for us all to walk this park, but not usually at the same time. It was a rare sunny day so we had a very long, socially-distanced chat as people passed by with their dogs and toddlers.

A tribute to the NHS on the park gate

One thing I miss in our parks this year is flowers, as the council workers are busy doing more essential work than tending flower beds. So I do love the flowers in people’s gardens beside the street…

River lily (Hesperantha coccinea, which I still think of as Schizostylis coccinea)

Hebe with bee

It was good to catch up with old friends, both human and arboreal…