ABC Wednesday and Nurture Photography...

O is for...

Out and about in October with my camera. In the Arboretum.  Add atmospheric mist and sublime autumnal colours.  Nothing.  Better.

Also linking to...

Simplicity Photography Challenge... What makes you smile? And Texture Thursday

 

What makes me smile?

Autumn makes me smile - a lot.

As do my friends,

my cats (can also cause me to be immensely vexed)

David (ditto the above)

stars, 

snow, 

frosty mornings,

really good dark chocolate,

poetry, 

Bach,

Vaughan Williams,

and

photography.

Gradient in autumnal hues - opacity 65% - Soft Light blend mode
Kim Klassen texture - 'Old Whisk' - Overlay blend mode

Wordless Wednesday

Carrying on with the pumpkin theme from yesterday, this was taken at the pumpkin farm

And this is what can happen when veg goes bad... very bad.

The Screaming Squash!

To Autumn...

Let any, who will, still bask in the south

On the paradisal sand,

It's northerly here - and this year of the north

Autumn will be my friend.

 (From Let any, who will, still bask in the south by Elizabeth Akhmatova)

Ah Autumn, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...  I saw a post about how Autumn was her favourite season on Jag's Fitness Blog and couldn't agree with her more.  So here are some of the reasons why it's my favourite too.

I love how wonderful it is for photography, we still get blue sky but the sun is lower, the light less harsh and the shadows are softer.  Then of course there are the colours: leaves of breathtaking golds, coppers and crimsons, scarlet and purple berries, and vibrant flowers like sedums, rudbeckias and chrysanthemums. 

I like walking on a leafy carpet in woods and seeing horse chestnuts ready to fall, and pinecones and acorns, and squirrels hurrying about their business.  I like the stubble stretching away across the fields.  I love misty mornings when everything is hung with dew, and there is a crispness in the air that foretells of colder days to come.  I like the way that salads disappear in favour of comfort-food, and the fact that the children go back to school so I can walk around the park at lunchtime in relative peace.   I like the fact that summer dresses can be put away and scarves and hats and jackets in rich colours brought out.  I like the way that wonderfully orange pumpkins appear in the shops and make me want to carve a halloween lantern. 

I like it all so much that I have two weeks holiday booked for the beginning of October; I really like that... 

And after a mention of Akhmatova and Barrett-Browning, how could I talk about Autumn without quoting Keats in the same post?

Cue misty images...

And let's not forget

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun

(Oh those colours!)

Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

Leaks, and other vegetables...

Slight crises last night. I was a little over-enthusiastic when washing my hair in the shower and didn't notice the shower curtain had slipped inside the bath. The result was a soaking wet carpet in the bathroom and water dripping down the chimney breast onto the wooden mantel in the living room. David was running around with towels etc like a thing possessed.

This begs two questions: why is the shower against the wrong wall so it doesn't reach out into the bath? And why is there carpet in the bathroom? This doesn't acquit me from blame (I heard David telling Charlie it was my fault) but I think allows for mitigating circumstances, along with the fact I am very shortsighted and can barely see where the bath is let alone the shower curtain when I don't have my glasses on.

The evidence against me...

Oh well... the evening wasn't a complete waste of time as I threw half a butternut squash that was on the verge of being thrown out into a roasting tin with half a marrow, an onion, and a carrot, sprinkled them with cinnamon and nutmeg and roasted them. I then put them in a pan with some stock and made some soup that looks like mud but smells gorgeous. And I still have some home-made bread left to go with it.

Bought two magazines yesterday (HOW expensive????), Good Food and Country Living. I bought GF as I was hoping for a discount voucher for the Good Food show in November that Cath and I want to go to. I was very disappointed in the lack of veggie recipes in it, and astounded at the lifestyles of the people in CL. (It says it's a complete lifestyle magazine... I'm not sure what a lifestyle is, and even less sure that I have one). I've lived in rural England all of my life but this was a different world... houses overlooking National Parks, bottling fruit from the orchard, and interior designers used for advice on wallpapers. The cats seemed to like the magazine anyway - they each took turns to fall asleep on it.

Posky approves of this particular lifestyle...

From the ridiculous to the sublime - went to St Mary's Church to browse their bookshop at lunchtime.  Came back with a haul of classic children's books (plus a William Boyd), one of which was Anne of Green Gables which I had to start reading straight away.  I'd forgotten how well written it is, wonderful characters and so funny too.

Book haul...

As if that wasn't enough to raise the spirits, my favourite season of the year is on its way as evidenced by the leaves on my acer - Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, etc etc etc.  I sense some good photo opportunities coming up...