The first morning of smoking breaths & invigorating cold air, clear blue skies, the burning bush of the Japanese Maple, the swirling pink night sky of the aurora, cosy blankets on the sofa, lunchtime warming soup, a hug in a mug....welcome Autumn 🍁
Seeing the northern lights-again-from London, the sky blushing in shades of magenta and pomegranate, visible to the eye, from my own garden. Absolutely spellbinding. I can’t believe I saw this twice this year without leaving home!
Brought in a couple of teasels, rose hip branches, cowparsley sees heads from our hedgerow to make an autumnal arrangement in a tall glass vase. Nightly fire flickering, candles lit and autumn garlands of dried corn husks and felted leaves and pumpkins hung. Lovely to know that others have seen Jays too.
A cold clear night last night meant that even in suburban South Birmingham we caught the Northern Lights from our back garden. Wonderful.
It followed what felt like the first properly cold, crisp day. I stretched my fingers into leather gloves for the first time this season. I am always soothed by the way in which the relief left in the fabric feels like I am holding my own hand from the previous Winter's me.
Collecting the last of the conkers -more conker detergent !! Walking through ruffling leaves , eating the last of the tomatoes & thinking about planting more bulbs .The garden is blowsy with seeds too so collecting nasturtium seeds calendula & some acanthus for regeneration next year .Enjoying early morning sunshine when it is there &candlelit evenings 🙏🔥🌿🍁
I very carefully harvested stalks of lemon verbena, washed them leaf by leaf, hung them to dry for a few days, then crumbled them into jam jars for lemon verbena tea. I made said tea yesterday, and it was absolutely disgusting. Bit like drinking soap.
To each their own! ☺️I find harvesting Lemon Balm in cooler months of Spring and Autumn will result in the strongest flavor. And the fresh leaves make a quite lemony flavored tea. (They also make an excellent tincture.)
The bird feeder is suddenly aflutter with activity again. I love listening to the sparrows jostling for space, and watching the blue tits zip from bush to bush.
The annual hornbeam hedge cut bringing cleaner lines to the garden, a sharp contrast with the collapsing perennials in the borders. A heavy cold kept me indoors, but I finished a book and got to grips with my knitting (I can do all the basics, but I’m trying to improve and it’s a painful process…), happy to watch whatever the weather was doing from the comfort of the sofa.
Living in a rural agricultural area of mid west France, we are learning a seasonal rhythm. We came back to our teeny farm after a few days away and the farmer has cut the maize that surrounds our land. The view opens up to the woods beyond so the tapestry of Autumn colours provides a backdrop for a little family of deer who graze on our meadow. Today we watched as the youngest ran around having a ‘mad five minutes’. We’d never seen that play. What a lift on a misty morning.
Preserving, harvesting and eating the last of the allotment feels very October. Saying goodbye to the soft fruit and veg till next year and putting most of the plot to bed after the Robins have had a good go at the turned ground and the Magpies settle their feuds with the visiting Blue Jays.
Apples - a bag full of windfall cookers from a lovely neighbour quickly turned into apple sauce and bagged up for the freezer. It makes for very quick overnight oats prep. And a bonus clear night for the latest aurora alert, magical.
Picking our own apples and having them in everything! Chicken cooked in cider and apple slices, apple crumble, cinnamon apples on our porridge! (+Toddler tantrums over not being allowed yet more apple juice!)
A green woodpecker has moved into the woods where I work and keeps cackling at me while I set up for the day!
Standing in the cold, crisp air to catch sight of the Northern Lights in our own back garden! The beautiful colours swirling and the stars twinkling made me gasp and clap my hands in delight!
Some clear starlit early mornings - Orion, Taurus, Gemini and the Dog Star Sirius. Jupiter and Mars. The bigger coat comes out! Squirrels fighting over the nuts in the garden. Walking in the park through cacades of leaves. The first frost, sparkling in the early morning sun.
Both swirling, blustery rain and clear, cold days…walks in the woods in the low October light, squirrels everywhere, mushrooms in the garden, a hint of aurora in the night’s sky in London last night felt like an unexpected gift! xx
The first morning of smoking breaths & invigorating cold air, clear blue skies, the burning bush of the Japanese Maple, the swirling pink night sky of the aurora, cosy blankets on the sofa, lunchtime warming soup, a hug in a mug....welcome Autumn 🍁
Seeing the northern lights-again-from London, the sky blushing in shades of magenta and pomegranate, visible to the eye, from my own garden. Absolutely spellbinding. I can’t believe I saw this twice this year without leaving home!
Brought in a couple of teasels, rose hip branches, cowparsley sees heads from our hedgerow to make an autumnal arrangement in a tall glass vase. Nightly fire flickering, candles lit and autumn garlands of dried corn husks and felted leaves and pumpkins hung. Lovely to know that others have seen Jays too.
A cold clear night last night meant that even in suburban South Birmingham we caught the Northern Lights from our back garden. Wonderful.
It followed what felt like the first properly cold, crisp day. I stretched my fingers into leather gloves for the first time this season. I am always soothed by the way in which the relief left in the fabric feels like I am holding my own hand from the previous Winter's me.
Weren't the Aurora lovely? I'm in South Birmingham too - in Stirchley- and was amazed by the show 😍
Yep - Kings Heath here. It felt like such a treat!
What a lovely thought Wendy.
Oh I love that Wendy - holding my own hand from a previous winter’s me- just perfect and such a beautiful image. ❤️
Collecting the last of the conkers -more conker detergent !! Walking through ruffling leaves , eating the last of the tomatoes & thinking about planting more bulbs .The garden is blowsy with seeds too so collecting nasturtium seeds calendula & some acanthus for regeneration next year .Enjoying early morning sunshine when it is there &candlelit evenings 🙏🔥🌿🍁
I very carefully harvested stalks of lemon verbena, washed them leaf by leaf, hung them to dry for a few days, then crumbled them into jam jars for lemon verbena tea. I made said tea yesterday, and it was absolutely disgusting. Bit like drinking soap.
Oh! Definitely the right thing? Lemon verbena tea is delicious and I wouldn’t have said soapy. More like lemon sherbet.
I think it must be my tastebuds, it smells very much like sherbet but the taste was florally lemony. I had such high hopes!
I wonder if Lemon Balm may be more to your liking?
Lemon balm is usually the disappointing one which doesn’t taste as good as it smells while lemon verbena usually really comes up with the goods…
To each their own! ☺️I find harvesting Lemon Balm in cooler months of Spring and Autumn will result in the strongest flavor. And the fresh leaves make a quite lemony flavored tea. (They also make an excellent tincture.)
Oh no, what a shame!
I know Anne, all that effort!
Exactly! 🙄
The bird feeder is suddenly aflutter with activity again. I love listening to the sparrows jostling for space, and watching the blue tits zip from bush to bush.
The annual hornbeam hedge cut bringing cleaner lines to the garden, a sharp contrast with the collapsing perennials in the borders. A heavy cold kept me indoors, but I finished a book and got to grips with my knitting (I can do all the basics, but I’m trying to improve and it’s a painful process…), happy to watch whatever the weather was doing from the comfort of the sofa.
Hope you feel better soon Anne. X
Thanks Wendy x
Thanks Wendy x
Poor you - wishing you better very soon xx
Thanks Sue x
Hope you're soon feeling much better Anne.
Thanks Sarah 😊
Living in a rural agricultural area of mid west France, we are learning a seasonal rhythm. We came back to our teeny farm after a few days away and the farmer has cut the maize that surrounds our land. The view opens up to the woods beyond so the tapestry of Autumn colours provides a backdrop for a little family of deer who graze on our meadow. Today we watched as the youngest ran around having a ‘mad five minutes’. We’d never seen that play. What a lift on a misty morning.
Preserving, harvesting and eating the last of the allotment feels very October. Saying goodbye to the soft fruit and veg till next year and putting most of the plot to bed after the Robins have had a good go at the turned ground and the Magpies settle their feuds with the visiting Blue Jays.
Apples - a bag full of windfall cookers from a lovely neighbour quickly turned into apple sauce and bagged up for the freezer. It makes for very quick overnight oats prep. And a bonus clear night for the latest aurora alert, magical.
Picking our own apples and having them in everything! Chicken cooked in cider and apple slices, apple crumble, cinnamon apples on our porridge! (+Toddler tantrums over not being allowed yet more apple juice!)
A green woodpecker has moved into the woods where I work and keeps cackling at me while I set up for the day!
Standing in the cold, crisp air to catch sight of the Northern Lights in our own back garden! The beautiful colours swirling and the stars twinkling made me gasp and clap my hands in delight!
Some clear starlit early mornings - Orion, Taurus, Gemini and the Dog Star Sirius. Jupiter and Mars. The bigger coat comes out! Squirrels fighting over the nuts in the garden. Walking in the park through cacades of leaves. The first frost, sparkling in the early morning sun.
I have enjoyed the aroma of Autumn bonfires and eating my porridge with homemade cinnamon sugar.
Takes a moment now to get the chill out of the bedding at night.
Both swirling, blustery rain and clear, cold days…walks in the woods in the low October light, squirrels everywhere, mushrooms in the garden, a hint of aurora in the night’s sky in London last night felt like an unexpected gift! xx