Bewitched, Beguiled and Besotted ...

 

 

Saturday, 29th October
The village was full or horses and riders - a hunt meeting.  The roads congested with hunt followers in their 4x4's.   There is one old gentleman who always follows on his bicycle - he cycles a long way to keep up with the riders.  He must be in his late 70's/early 80's by now - fit as a fiddle.  He has been doing it for years. (shame about the quality of the picture, I took it through the bedroom window)!

In the afternoon I collected sloes from the blackthorn bushes to make sloe gin and sloe and apple jelly.

Sunday 30th October
A dull, bland day, with no weather to speak of.  The clocks were turned back and it began to grow dusk at about 5 o'clock.

Monday 31st October
After a really foggy start the sun came out and stayed out all day - so warm.  I worked in the garden spreading my home-made compost as a mulch around the plants; raked up leaves and swept paths.  A very satisfying day - a bonus day really, and I am happy that I made the most of it.  As the afternoon began to fade the fields around were hazy with blue mist.

Wednesday 2nd November
Frost overnight.  Sunny morning - blue skies.
I have taken a lot of photos this autumn - because it has just been so spectacular - I don't think I can remember one that has been so colourful, so pleasant to be out in and one that has lasted so long without rain to spoil the effect.
Mother Nature has put on a wonderful show this year and I don't want to forget it - in years to come I will say 'do you remember the autumn of 2016, wasn't it grand', and I will have the pictures to prove it.  Even the words to describe the colours are beautiful - copper, russet, amber, and gold.  I have become besotted with trees.  They way the sun shines through the leaves; the way a slight breeze sends showers of them floating down to carpet the ground.
What could be better than kicking through the leaves; finding horse chestnuts still in their cases; seeing a little mountain of perfectly formed fungi or chopping logs for winter in the sunshine. 
Yes, this autumn has me bewitched and I don't want it to end.  We have already had a frost and the temperature is dropping and the evenings drawing in rapidly - so end it must, but it has been beautiful while it lasted.

 

Thursday 3rd November
After Wednesday's early morning walk where I saw many people, riding, walking, pushing baby strollers and horse driven carts I decided that today I would prefer solitude on my walk so I followed  the WayMarkers over the fields tracing the paths that have always been used by village folk as shortcuts, via the scenic route, to their destination.  I hadn't taken this path before and was excited to see what I would find.  I found a particularly curious horse along the way.

Friday 4th November
A rainy morning to start so I stewed the last of the tomatoes for the freezer and cooked the apples and sloes and set them to drip for the jelly, but after a couple of hours the weather changed and brightened up.  After lunch I went for a walk on another footpath I hadn't taken before to see where it would lead me.

So that's it for another week - a new month lies ahead.  Sorry for the long post and the autumn overload I just can't help myself :)

Elaine

p.s.  A collage of October miscellany that didn't quite make it to the blog :)