The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Let's start with the good. It's been a quiet and colourful autumn here in York, with most of the leaves still hanging on and the garden resplendent with fruits, berries and blooms. Nasturtiums, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, geraniums - yes the geraniums are still flowering their little hearts out - lavender, and even the evergreen magnolia trying hard, though I suspect that the large plump buds will come to nothing as they slowly turn browner and browner with the cooler weather.

Berries first...

The gorgeous iris foetidissima

Cotoneaster horizontalis

Pyracantha

Next the fruits...

The blackbirds are working hard trying to finish off
 the grapes, but there are still a few bunches

Next year's figs

And finally the flowers...

Red geraniums sheltered by the front door

Ivy leaved geranium in a hopper

The hydrangeas are drying out now but still a lot of
colour to be had

Another favourite - hydrangea villosa

Small petalled and two tone as the colour drains...

Winter jasmine is just starting to flower

The sculptural castor oil flowers

Last of the bears breeches

This abutilon is slow to get going but doesn't seem to mind
when it gets a tad cold

This little volunteer is the hard worker of the garden - probably
blooming for nine months of the year and positioning
 itself tastefully wherever. it spots a space

Can't  beat a chrysanthemum at this time of year

Old favourite for cheerfulness and usefulness,still
providing leaves and flowers for salads in November.

In two colours too!

Quiet, that was, until news  of the horrific senseless violence in Paris and Beirut hit the news. What is it that from time immemorial, wars have been fought in the name of religion when in fact, I find it hard to believe that any god would sanction the widespread  taking of life that we've seen in recent years.

It's been said many times that the West has dual values when it comes to grieving, giving it more importance when death happens closer to home. Maybe this is true of the people in power, but for many of the rest of us life is precious and a life lost is always a tragedy. So the taking of life in the name of religion is the ultimate act of cowardly aggression and leaves the whole of humanity the poorer. 

There's a poem by Warsan Shire going around Facebook which says it all:
later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the
whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?

it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere

So this candle burns for the victims in Paris and Beirut, their families and friends, the men, women and children lost to war whenever and wherever, and also for those fleeing violence - the refugees, many of whom will face another hard winter trying to escape the ravages of war.