An apple a day.....

Yeah, but not my apples, not my best crab apples....glowing like little rubies on the lovely willowy stem of my treasured Malus "gorgeous".

I bought it only this spring from Kevin who runs the rose nursery in the village. A friend has one that is ten foot tall and so beautiful. It has blossoms that are so frothy and perfect, and in the autumn there are clumps of dark pink little apples. Gorgeous by name.....

I couldn't decide where to plant it - having seen the height they achieve, and so its still in its pot, first having ascertained from Kevin (when I could stop his flow of interesting stories) that it would be OK for this year. And to gain maximun pleasure, its right in front of the patio windows, where I have marvelled at it and proudly watched the apples form and swell.

Until this week. When someone else was doing the same thing.

I had already fended off a husband, hungry for jam fodder - telling him they were decorative.
But someone else knew differently. Someone with a bright yellow beak and persistence.

He must be the healthiest blackbird on the block. One for breakfast, every day. He still hasn't quite got the hang of getting the ones on the end of the slender whippy stem. Trying to fly up at them didnt work, and the usual trick of standing alongside it wasn't a goer either.

So I've had my early morning tea watching him have breakfast, and slowly denuding the jewels from my crown.

Its been a pleasure!