70 Comments
User's avatar
Emma Adams's avatar

I missed last week due to caring responsibilities and have only just read all the wonderful comments .. just glorious & good for the soul- I value this place so much now.

Love the idea of the ritual of gathering to greet the sun x

This week - the silhouette of bare branched trees against pink & golden skies - natures finest filigree

Watching from my kitchen window as hordes of crows fly east to west in the morning & back again at dusk to roost together - a daily corvid commute (!)that is a reassuring rhythm to the dark part of the year

Planning new Xmas decorations as we have a new tree this year - Nordic/ folklore/ woodland themed means tiny toadstools, shiny red heart baubles & gingerbread houses. Holding on hard to the joy this will bring x 🎄

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

Sounds so beautiful Emma 🥰

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

Love your Christmas decoration plans Emma! And crows, aren’t they amazing?

Expand full comment
Emma Adams's avatar

They really are -,I was reading how they gather to share information on food in winter as well as safety & warmth. Xx

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

I just love their attitude - they own our road!

Expand full comment
Carol Whittaker's avatar

Well it has been a challenging month, months for me! A couple of hospital admissions, but I am home now! Not so much christmas shopping for me, but, I am making my own christmas cards again this year! Makes it feel very festive, and my partner John comes back from shopping with mince pies every week! The surgeon has not given up on me though! He is still talking to specialists about what needs to be done. It might be a nice christmas present, who knows! In the meantime, onwards and upwards! x

Expand full comment
Sarah's avatar

Glad to hear you're home Carol and hope you have some good news from the surgeon x

Expand full comment
Carol Whittaker's avatar

Thank you for caring! The news wasn't negative, but he wants to speak to some colleagues for information before going ahead with any further treatment. I had some spinal surgery for back pain which was 100% successful. I also have crucial pain down my leg which he thought was related to the back pain. It isn't and it has been going on since May this year! I am just happy that he is pushing for the right answer. xxxx

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

So sorry to hear you have had a difficult time recently Carol. I do hope your very diligent surgeon can sort you out - sounds like you are being very positive and using this enforced rest time very productively!

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

That sounds very tough, Carol. Enjoy the Christmas card making - sounds joyful! Hope there’s soon some progress on the next steps x

Expand full comment
Carol Whittaker's avatar

Hope so, yes, making the cards is really good! Hope I am in time for posting! xxx

Expand full comment
Lia Leendertz's avatar

hoping for good news Carol xx

Expand full comment
Sarah B's avatar

I made mince pies on Monday, with last November's homemade mincemeat, which has spent the past year in the pantry becoming delicious! And we just polished the last couple off with coffee this morning. I've been grumpy all week as I took annual leave with the intention of going on big walks, but it's been lashing rain. Yesterday though I finally got out for a 16 mile stomp through lots of woods and coastline. It was soggy but breathtaking!

Expand full comment
Ericka's avatar

Getting the house ready for winter - turning an unused bedroom into a cozy library, buying a record player, hanging a paper star light in the window, and general organizing. Now the house feels ready for spending more time indoors.

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

We are back in our happy place for a week or two ( north Northumberland- yay!) and it’s my birthday this weekend too, so lots to be glad about. Gosh late Autumn is very much at peak time here now - I’m watching the final bronzing of the beech hedge which surrounds the property ( remember me watching the greening of the same hedge day by day in April) It is the most glorious deep russet when the sun shines in it! Great heaps of brown oak leaves everywhere to swish through and the bracken on the hills turning golden too. This morning the rosy light of dawn shone along the valley and lit up the 4 wind turbines on the far hillside making them look pink ! Mist was pooled in the valley bottom too like spilt milk, but it’s all so ephemeral and lasts only a short time after dawn. We are having a gathering to celebrate my birthday tomorrow so - big pot of chilli with ALL the trimmings, toffee apples, pumpkin crisp ( nicer than pie) and sticky gingerbread all on the go! I’ve got all my Autumn decorations up too - no Christmas intimations allowed until all this is over!

Expand full comment
Lia Leendertz's avatar

Hope you had a good birthday Sue x

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

I did thank you Lia - a really fantastic one this year 🧡

Expand full comment
Emma Adams's avatar

Happy Birthday - sounds wonderful - can we all join you for chilli & all the treats next year ?! 😁

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

I’d really love that Emma! 🥰

Expand full comment
Amber's avatar

Happy birthday!

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

Thank you so much Amber

Expand full comment
Sarah's avatar

Have a lovely Birthday Sue! It sounds like it'll be a wonderful gathering 🙂 x

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

Thank you so much Sarah

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

Thank you so much Cathryn

Expand full comment
Cathryn Thompson's avatar

Have a wonderful birthday!

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

Have a fantastic birthday Sue!

Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

Thank you so much Anne

Expand full comment
Wendy Turner's avatar

Happy birthday Sue.x

Expand full comment
Cheryl Tissot's avatar

Sounds absolutely perfect. Happy birthday Sue x

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Nov 17, 2023
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Sue Armstrong's avatar

Really? Don’t meet many who do that! Nice to meet you!

Expand full comment
Lorna's avatar

Finishing knitting my lovely bright orange cardigan I began at the start of September just in time for the leaves on the trees across the river to mirror it’s brightness

Expand full comment
Rosamund Saunders's avatar

So good to have a bright colour. I ordered and returned two red jumpers and decided that it’s better to knit one. Looking forward to getting started.

Expand full comment
Johanna Vanson's avatar

Christmas hasn’t arrived for us yet. I won’t allow it until we have our Christmas launch party on the 1st of December when it then comes all in a rush! But this week is the first Christmas craft fair and I’ve had to look out my Christmas earrings! We’ve also started Christmas events at school, my daughter is delighted to be Mary in the nativity and the older one is practicing Christmas carols and hymns for the concert. The darkness is ever more present now with curtains drawn earlier and earlier and celebrating the days when the sun shines low through the window.

Expand full comment
Mo's avatar

Purples this week -

my lilac is flowering! just teeny baby blooms but still beautifully scented;

the elder in the front hedge has one stem of purple leaves amidst all the green ones;

and OK this is pushing it a bit on the purple theme, but the cow parsley is also flowering where the council have cut back the nettles, (there are purple stripes on its stalks)

it all feels very unseasonal.

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

As I get into serious knitting mode (always around October time), I like to knit from my stash built up over the year. I've just finished a cardigan for my husband, and one for me, now I'm knitting a pair of socks with some questionable yarn that looks a bit like liquorice allsorts!

Expand full comment
Rosamund Saunders's avatar

Crazy, zoomy dog walk on the marshes in the cold winter sun. Picked up some willow sticks that the wind had blown down to make a wreath base, I still have last year’s but like the twisting and weaving.

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

Love that description of the dog walk!

Expand full comment
Cathryn Thompson's avatar

It’s been so stormy this week, I have hardly stepped outside, the poor teenagers have been coming in drenched every day - although I’ve told them it’s character building. I managed to brave the rain last night to watch our local am dram society perform And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, very atmospheric. It inspired a little glass of whisky when I got home, that bottle I got for Christmas isn’t going to last long I fear.

Expand full comment
Emma Adams's avatar

Love ‘And then there were none’ Perfect for a dark November night I’d say x

Expand full comment
Lyndsay Kaldor's avatar

So special to see the sunrise.

It felt as though all of the leaves fell off the huge plane trees on our road overnight this week which has been cause of joy and much stomping for a three and one year old! We did a very spontaneous and early in the season trip to Christmas at Kew to see the lights which was magical but a feat of endurance with two little ones, one of whom insisted on being carried the whole way around! We are off to our first winter fair later this afternoon xx

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

Watching the leaves of the limes and horse chestnut trees swirl about in the storm, now seeing the shapes of the nearly bare branches and the sun streaming through.

Expand full comment
Amber's avatar

In the US we are busy with Thanksgiving preparations (so soon? Isn’t it just now autumn?) and any Christmas that sneaks in before the big turkey feast feels premature. But also inevitable. The Orthodox Church, of which I am a part, began its 40 day Advent fast this week, so one day we realize that we need to start thinking about turkeys, then suddenly we have to think about hummus and lentils. Thankfully we get one day off from the fast for Thanksgiving (so much to be thankful for!). And the local Christmas parade is the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so any minute, really. And it’s all just one big rush and blur until next year. I am going to cling to this weekly post for grounding.

I finished Hamnet last night. Thank you for the recommendation. What are we reading next? 😏

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

Really interesting - I’ve never heard of an Advent fast. What does it involve?

Expand full comment
Amber's avatar

Fasting is a big part of the life of an Orthodox Christian. There are four fasting seasons per year, plus minor fasts, plus most every Wednesday and Friday. The ideal fast abstains from meat, dairy, some other foods, and is generally a time for quiet and prayer. The dietary rules can be adjusted to suit each person. The goal isn’t hardship, but a reducing to what is necessary in contrast to the big indulgent feast that we are anticipating. The contrast makes the feast more meaningful.

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

Thank you for explaining. All I’d heard of previously within the Christian religion was people perhaps giving up chocolate for Lent.

Expand full comment
Amber's avatar

It’s a memory of the older fast. The Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church were one until the 11th century. Some of the religious traditions that have filtered through time to us the west are echoes of traditions that have been preserved (better? differently?) in the east. All fascinating stuff to me!

Expand full comment
Anne's avatar

It really is!

Expand full comment
Carol Whittaker's avatar

I want to thank everybody for your wonderful inspiring comments. It has been a long journey, not over yet! But Lia's site is so comforting and you all have your own problems I know, I think of you all as well xxxx

Expand full comment
Kelly's avatar

Lovely! This week, I am planning my first ever advent window, as a group of us locals wait to be told - by an unknown neighbour in a Facebook group for the local area - which December date we've been allocated, to decorate our front room windows for passers-by! Looking forward to a bit of crafting for this!

Expand full comment
Emma Adams's avatar

How festive! X

Expand full comment