Welcome to October

"I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead,
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south winds` plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass......
Mortimer Crane Brown.

"On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels....
Charles Dickens.

"It was a morning of ground mist, yellow sunshine, and high rifts of blue, white-cloud-dappled sky. The leaves were still thick on the trees, but de-spangled gossamer threads hung on the bushes and the shrill little cries of unrest of the swallows skimming the green spaces of the park told of autumn and change.
Flora Thompson.

Thrifty Walk

Woke to a lovely sunny morning, with windy blue sky, so decided to walk over to Paignton and `do` the charity shops, as I havent been for a while. The tide was high, and lapping the steps, and the wind ruffled the water into little pleats.

At Corbyn Head, all the beach huts have been taken in for the winter.
There were waterfalls of `old mans beard` and sprays of shiny berries along the way..

In the park there were clumps of hazy michelmas daisies, and the ducks eyed me up noisely.

And after trotting round all the shops, I found this little collection, what a result..

October

White rabbits, white rabbits..

Well this is what I always say on the first of the month, its supposed to bring you good luck, so fingers crossed..

October is my favourite month, not just because its my birthday month, but because it has so many lovely things...scarlet berries, leaves in shades of gold, orange scarlet and bronze, prickly horse chestnuts, clusters of hazlenuts, mellow sunshine, misty mornings, michalemas daises. It has a sad wistful feel to it, and is the best of Autumn.

It has been a lovely bright windy day here today, the sun has shone, but there was been a bit of cloud, which has passed over fairly quickly. Its my first day off, so I spent most of the morning cleaning, and catching up with the washing and ironing. After a sandwich lunch, when Pete came in from work, we decided to go for a walk..

On the way, we had a brilliant view of Haytor across the town, its so lovely to be able to see the shoulder of the moor in all its moods..

We followed this little path, which takes you away from all the houses, and makes you feel as though you`re in the countryside. It was quiet, and in between the trees and shrubs you could glimpse views across the roof tops, to the churches in St. Marychurch, and the hills in the distance.

The Elders had been stripped of their berries, probably by the birds, which seem to love them, unless someone had collected them for Elderberry wine!

There were some lovely hawthorn trees

and teasels..

and the ivies are beginning to flower...

with nice views..

and the Ash have large bunches of keys...

we took the path upwards through the wood, where the sun was shining through the trees

we had a nice view of Berry Head from the road along the top, and it was nice to walk home in the golden sunshine.

Decorating

I decided on the week before I went back to work after my holiday, I`d decorate the kitchen, it wasnt in a desperate state, but I fancied a change.

I wanted to do it in a French Provance sort of colour that grey/blue/lavender but I couldnt find it anywhere, well not in the price range I wanted to pay, so I plumped for green again, Chelsea by Crown.

If I`d remembered how awful it is decorating a kitchen, I would never have started, especially as I decided to paint the dresser too, so there were piles of stuff everywhere, and trying to do the usual kitcheny things around it all was a nightmare.

I had several `lows` on the three days it took to decorate it all, especially when I decided I wasnt sure I liked the colour of the walls, but when it dried, I thought it was a nice cosy colour for the winter months.

The dresser, which was brown and varnished, took huge amounts of sandpapering, I never thought I`d get to the end of it! I painted it in Antique white, which I thought was a nice `soft` colour. And I was pleased with the results.

The best part was putting out all my nice vintage china, which I`ve collected over the last months at car boot sales, and hanging my vintage lace on the shelves.

So now I can feel nice and smug!

A magical walk....

We woke to a lovely day of clear blue skies and mellow golden sunshine, so we decided to go out for a walk. We drove to Dartmoor, and walked in our favourite wood.

It was a magical place..hazy sunshine shone through the trees, and the air smelt mushroomy

There were secret hidey holes...

and pretty flowers.

the path wound on and on past ginger coloured bracken, high as an elephants eye..

tucked amongst the trees was an interesting little hut, with a delightful mural, and roughly hewn wooden seats....


it had some very interesting things to look at...

we walked on with birdsong in our ears, a robin with rosy chest thrust out, a wren like a small brown mouse hopping on a fallen log, the silver sound of long tailed tits in the tree tops, past strange fungi encrusted trees..

emerald green velvet mossy logs laid for a fairy picnic

ice cold water gurgled merrily over slatey stones and...

butterflies danced in shafts of sunshine and sunned themselves on bushes beside the path.

When we reached the charcoal burners clearing, we had a rest..

there was something new there, a wooden windchime maybe? I found a stick and played it, Pete didnt look very impressed

On the path back to the car, we stopped at the bird hide, and watched the coal, marsh and blue tits on the feeders

Autumn tints

Its amazing that you dont have to be away from home for very long, and you come back to find lots of things have changed. Although England seemed very green, after the harsh dryness of Spain, theres a distinct colour in some of the trees, especially the horse chestnuts, which have very pretty yellow leaves. I also noticed that the mornings are darker, and the nights are pulling in, which I actually quite like, I find it all rather cosy.

The garden seemed wildly overgrown too, (must have been all that rain while we were away) although the Sedums are lovely now, and I tend to have a wild sort of arrangement, growing flowers for the Bees, Butterflies and insects.

I must share this photo with you, I was unpacking, and had gone to put some things away, only to return and find Abbey nonchalantly sitting in the case, cant help themselves can they, whether its a box, basket or case, they`ve got to sit in it..

On Sunday we went to the car boot, which was enormous, and I found these lovely things, I thought the bowls were rather unusual, with tulips round the rim, its usually roses or the like.

And for just a pound, this rather nice sewing box, which I could certainly do with, as mines rather shabby, so another successful rummage.

Home again

Well we`re back, after having a simply fabulous holiday in Spain, and of course the best part was being able to see my daughter every day. She took us to some lovely little spanish towns, and we saw some really interesting things. The weather was perfect, with the temperatures soaring as you can see, which rather made up for the dreadful summer we`ve had, and we`ve gone from white and pasty, to golden brown.

We had a different apartment this year, as our usual one was fully booked. It was only five minutes down the road from the other one, and we found we were on the twenty first floor, with stunning views across to the lovely mountains

We had some lovely days, paddling in the sea in colourful little towns

And we ate rather a large amount of these

Which might just account for the fact that my clothes seem to be a little snug

We went to a fabulous Antique/Flea market called El Cisne, which was very much like a car boot sale, with ordinary things for sale as well as antiques.

I came across this lovely little Delft cream jug, which I couldnt resist, he`ll look lovely on my newly painted dresser.

Another purchase I made (but not from El Cisne) which was invaluable, was a snazzy spanish fan. My daughter always carries one, and with the sweltering heat it was very necessary, I also thought it would be excellent when I have one of my `hot moments` at work, far better than grabbing an old magazine to wave about.

It was a perfect holiday, but it was very hard saying goodbye to my daughter, but we promised each other at the airport, that we wouldnt be sad, but look forward to our next holiday together, hopefully next Spring.