Woodland wander and an autumnal crown

Sunday lunchtime is usually "lunch with mr M's parents". This Sunday we turned up in clothes that seemed a little worse for wear, with our walking boots in the car. After lunch we set straight out for a short walk in the countryside. We set off at around half past two, and given that it would be getting dark by around 5 or half past we knew that we couldn't go too far.

We went to one of our favourite local walks, just a couple of km from home, and set out for a wander through the woods in the hills. It was an overcast but mild day and so perfectly suited for walking, and we had Mr M's dad's camera with us. It has no supermacro, so I'm still at a loss, but it was good to be able to record the progress of our woodland creation...

A couple of years ago our friend V. gave us a lovely autumnal wreath - she is quite a professional, unlike us. Well, the first year we kept in in the kitchen and then last year we took the same wreath (which was by then dry) and hung it next to the front door.

In the woods on Sunday Mr M. proposed making our own autumnal wreath, right there and then in the woods. It started with seeing a few large branches of pine tree that had been cut down and left by the pathway. We cut off some of the nicer end shoots and joined them together, forming a sort of ring-shape. We used pieces of broom to tie together the various shoots. After that we just kept adding bits to it as we continued on our walk. Vivid red leaves, dried flowers, dog rose hips, hawthorn berries, some other strange berry which I have no idea about and would never dream of eating (but which looks nice on the wreath!). We added some 'clematis vitalba' (I much prefer its alternative names of traveller's joy or old man's beard!) which I so love in Autumn. A few yellowing oak leaves and other bits and pieces and the wreath (or 'corona' - crown - as it is called in Italian) was done.

Now it is hanging over our front door to remind us of our lovely walk and shall stay there until just after Christmas. I read in one of my nature books (I don't remember which) that autumn wreaths should, in theory, be hung until a certain day after Christmas, then taken down and burnt, the ashes should then be spread on the garden to augur a good harvest in the new season.
I don't remember the date, so I'd better get digging through those books ...though, of course, if anyone knows any more about this, please do drop me a comment - all ideas most heartily received.

elgo

wow, it's so strange to be posting photos again, i almost forgot how to do it! mr mi's dad has let us borrow his camera and this morning while elgo was out in the garden i decided to take a few photos of him.

one thing that i really like about elgo is the fur behind his ears in winter-time - it gets thicker and starts to go into folds of fur, can you see the lines in the photo? he seems like a top-quality teddy bear to me when i notice this!

on the other photo you may notice that he has a crumb on his head. last night i made a chocolate and sesame seed cake, he had a little piece this morning and somehow managed this crumb on his head as evidence that he's been eating cake!

elgo, and padma of course, say miaow to the blogosphere.

Andy Goldsworthy

These are two little snippets that I found on youtube of the genius land-artist Andy Goldsworthy at work, taken from his DVD. Mr Mi. gave me the DVD last year to add to my much cherished Andy Goldsworthy book collection.

His work is really most spectacular and I do believe he is my favourite artist for many reasons, his breathtaking work, but beyond the work itself, it's also the ideas, the meaning, the philosophy of it all, his words, ...all very special, somehow sacred, very true...

The DVD, 'Rivers and Tides' is available to buy and it is well worth the small spend, being mesmerising, thought-provoking, meditative. I hope these snippets might tempt you into getting a copy, as it is one of the finest films I own!

I hope you like it.

fleeting visits

The combination of no camera and a busy time work-wise means that I'm blogging less than usual this autumn. Just a quick stop-by to send out a hearty hello in blogland!

Since I last posted:

- autumn has really settled in, with cold weather, rain, some storms, falling leaves etc.
- some days it's only 11 degrees outside
- some nights it's only 8 degrees outside
- we've started lighting the log stove again
- most of the house, computer included, has been moved back into the kitchen to survive the winter (remember, the only heating system we have in our house is actually only in our kitchen - the aforementioned little log burning stove)
- porridge has been eaten for breakfast on more than one occasion
- fleece pyjamas are out from the cupboard
- and so is the huge winter duvet
- cakes are baked in the log stove oven
- dinner is cooked on top of it
- hot water for hot water bottles and washing the dishes is heated in the stove's hot water compartment
- the "noooo, it's nearly gone out, agh!" panics are once again happening :)
- I've got two loads of dried fruit soaking in alcohol in preparation for making Christmas cakes

...and that's what's happening here. 'Hope your autumn is also going well.

country walk journal

yesterday we went for a nice walk in the countryside, not too long, about 4 hours, passing through the woods on high-lying lands. it was so beautiful to be in the world in autumn. i gathered lots of leaves and decided to look them up in my tree book at home. afterwards we went to a fair of 'old varieties of fruit and quality craft' which was just as lovely in a different way. spoke to some very nice people who are passionate about the heritage of such things. it was a soul-warming experience.

this morning i looked at my woodland treasures and decided that it would be nice to keep a little journal of our country walks. so i wrote up a few pages. here are some of the highlights from yesterday's walk:

- meeting a family of twelve wild boar who were out on their trot through the countryside. it was almost scary, except it wasn't. our instinct was to get out of the way, but there was no "out of the way" to get to. we realised we should just stand still and quietly watch as they crossed the landscape in front of us and were out of sight. there were 4 adults and 8 smaller boars, and it was a wonder to watch.

- a red admiral butterfly

- seeing a field full of dwarf elder for the first time, though i understand it is poisonous

- having a picnic beneath a very large beech tree

- gathering tiny wild pears in the woods which we've been told are edible

- elm trees, beech, oak, sycamore, hawthorn, and some other trees (leaves i have yet to understand in my tree book!)

- picking just enough dog-rose (rosa canina) hips to make an infusion with apples - yum!

- lychen, of the most amazing pale-mint colour

- strange mosses in vibrant greens

- tiny lilac coloured flowers which i think belong to the cyclamen family, but are smaller. any ideas?

- gathering acorns to try making acorn coffee... has anyone ever tried this? is it worth a try?

today was also a very autumnal day, a stormy one at that, followed by a very autumnal evening. i've taken the dishes out from under the potted plants so that they don't get too cold standing in very chilled water. and i've brought the miniature rose indoors. ...all in all, so much autumn hanging thick in the air makes me much the happy squirrel!

a list of likes

things i'm liking right now:

- autumn mornings, crispy with dew
- the latest copy of country living just posted in from the uk
- making "grape, fig and apple" jam
- shortbread biscuits
- finding old furniture that people throw out (a lovely wooden chest and a wooden cupboard are the two latest finds to be done up and made part of our home)
- watching the cats play-fight
- homemade carrot-potato-nutmeg soup
- framing lots of lino print cards from england and hanging them around the house
- my new magic-healing cutting mat for christmas-time lino printing
- finding small onions to make pickled onions
- autumn leaves and their mouldy smell, reminding me of the walk to infant school
- wool blankets
- cardigans
- corduroy jackets
- scrabble
- rumikub
- craig morgan robson

without pictures

i think that my recent lack of blogging activity derives in large part from the fact that i accidentally left my camera in the uk, at my mum's house. being without a camera is a little akin to having mild laringitis for me.
so at the moment i see things but can't take photos of them. i suppose really i should use this as an excuse to post up some summer photos. maybe i will.

the summer's chutney making sessions have drawn to a close, having made about 25 jars in all, and from tasting a little it seems that this year's chutney is better than last year's.

the other day we also went for a short country walk to pick sloes, which are now sitting in alcohol for a few weeks in part of the process of making sloe liqeuer. the walnut liqeuer has been completed and bottled and (as with the chutney) is awaiting it's "I'M READY TO BE USED" date which is near Christmas time (...hey, that's handy!)

otherwise been busy studying, making bread, baking biscuits and marvelling at the amounts of tomatoes that Mr Mi's 130 tomato plants have produced this summer (MAAANY bottles of tomato sauce have been made). ooh, and an abundance of pesto too with our excesses of basil plants. and many jars of jams and bottles of cordials. the only thing i think is missing is apple jam - apple trees haven't been as fruitful this year (last year was apple heaven, so maybe the trees need a bit of a rest). Mr Mi has also gathered all the huge and intriguing squash from the allotment before the big porcupines eat them as they did last year. so all in all, with stocks filling the cupboards i feel like a squirrel getting ready for winter.

and speaking of winter, autumn is here! happy autumn! it's my favourite of seasons and it really "feels" here too, which is a wonderful thing indeed.

on that note i shall end for today, enjoy your autumn day!