Dear Steve,
The first thing that I noticed about Letter XXIX was its date. May. Given that it is now October, there’s a bit of difference in the context. The beginning and the end of the summer (kind of). I don’t think that is too much of a problem. When I first started looking at Gilbert’s letters and considered doing the Letters to Steve, I was aware that the first real letter was dated August and I would be writing a responding letter dated February, so I would be out of sync.
I didn’t know if I would be able to keep up with my intention to publish the Letters to Steve, but here we are, twenty-nine letters on, and even with a four-week break, it seems that the habit has not been broken.
Letter XXIX has two main areas of focus: birds, mainly those migrating, and cats (yes, the domestic type). I am slightly ashamed that even though we have been back two weeks, I haven’t yet got the bird feeders set up. Apart from some very persistent pigeons, we have been visited by very few birds. I’m intending to correct that over the week.
The lack of birds means that I’m not really able to parallel Gilbert’s letter. Instead, I can write about conkers and Beech Nuts.
During the week, we went with our granddaughter to one of the parks in town, where we knew there were several horsechestnut trees. After lunch, at the Rugby Club (which was most acceptable), we embarked upon a hunt for conkers. We were not entirely successful. Actually, it was a dismal failure; I think we found three. Aurora, though, had an excellent session on the play area.
Yet another thing that I have never considered: I discovered that beech trees produce nuts. I was walking alongside Walpole Park this morning when I walked over an area of path that was covered in brown husks. With a little investigation, I made the discovery about beech trees. Today’s picture shows an open pod, luckily with the nuts in place.
As regards Cats, Gilbert commented on their appreciation of fish, contrasted with their rather intense dislike of water. I am sure that there will be more on these beasties in future letters.
All The Very Best
Bill
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