First let's have some photos from the garden...

[gallery type="rectangular" link="file" ids="4009,4008,4007,4006,4011,4010"]

The potting shed has been swept and tidied ready for next season. I've ripped out the courgettes; pulled out the last of the lettuces,; dug up the carrots which were too small to bother with; given four sweetcorn to Nick &amp; Val; and picked the last four coxes apples.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pointless.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4013" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pointless-300x217.jpg" alt="pointless" width="300" height="217" /></a>I've spent several hours sweeping up leaves and the thought that goes through my mind is what a pointless exercise it is because there will be another load down tomorrow and the day after until the trees are bare. But saying it's pointless is like saying I'm not going to bother washing my clothes because they'll only get dirty again. Life is a pointless exercise but some bits of it are more pointless than others. The degree of pointlessness depends on how much pleasure one gets from the activity. Today I had pleasure from seeing a leaf free lawn - until tomorrow.

Here's a thought I had whilst sweeping leaves: Trust is when someone asks you a question and you give them an answer; distrust is when someone asks you a question and you ask them why they want to know.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tsunami.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4014" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tsunami.jpg" alt="tsunami" width="285" height="177" /></a>On Friday I was drenched by a short-lived tsunami. It's strange because I can now sense when one is coming so I made sure I kept busy throughout the day. My hard work didn't stave off the tide washing over me and the backwash continued to lap up against me during the weekend making me more vulnerable than I have felt for several months. Perhaps it was linked to an impending anniversary.