Monday, September 22, 2008

Autumnal equinox

Summer used to be a hard season for me to let go of but these last few years I have been coming round to the beauty of Autumn. Our backyard continues to provide in abundance and keeps me busy putting aside pears, apples, grapes, plums and ever more tomatoes for the Winter. Summer seems to slip away as we enjoy walks in the sunshine, fresh fruit off the trees, baking treats in the cooler weather as well as a last burst of busyness before a frost takes the remains of the garden. The coldroom starts to fill up and the freezers are bursting. Soon we will be collecting the walnuts and hazelnuts. It really is a gorgeous time of year. Last night we celebrated with a good dinner, yummy dessert (made by S) and a fire outside. We'd had an incredible weekend and as I sat out on stools and a bench (built by my lovely husband) with my family it really did seem to me that life just doesn't get any better.This has been an unusual year for my family - full of challenges but full of incredible learning experiences too. I happily say good-bye to this past year and look forward to moving on but I also really appreciate the lessons I learned this year. Here's to a wonderful Autumn.

3 comments:

sheila said...

Oh, that looks nice. The fire really draws me in. Lovely little patio area - when we rebuild our deck I think we need one of those fire thingies.

I still hate to say goodbye to summer. I always feel weirdly sad, even if it is pleasant to be able once more to bake without that oppressive sweaty heat egging me on!

Heather said...

Hi Shelia, the fire thing is just an old wood stove that someone took out of their house. I saw it and thought it would be perfect for our patio (and free to boot)and so convinced my husband to bring it home. We all love it, especially since we don't have an indoor fire place or woodstove.

Mary-Sue said...

wow! the bench is beautiful, but i love the stools even more! do they have casters under them so you can wheel them around? and the fire is magic. what a beautiful life you live...