Shades of Autumn

It is certainly feeling more and more like autumn and looking around there can be no doubt about it...

The shades of autumn are everywhere, from the brightly coloured fallen maple leaves...

To the muted shades of the ripening pears still on the tree

The grapes, too, have their own palette of burgundy and indigo...

And still the cosmos continues to flower, as yet undaunted by the changing season..

LIkewise the dahlias, to the delight of this brightly coloured Comma Butterfly..

Their colours are rich and vibrant; perhaps to cheer us before winter takes hold with it's often monochrome landscape.

But then, of course, there's always Christmas!

A Celebration of Time...

Autumn feels as if it's coming a little too early this year. Or maybe it's just that the passage of time is speeding up. Age does that to you!

We will soon be celebrating the third anniversary of moving into the house; where did that go??

A dear auntie of mine celebrated her 90th birthday this week; I hadn't realised she turned 80 yet!

We hit a milestone today on the stats for all time pageviews, topping 90,0000 since we began in January 2011. We could never have foreseen back then where the blog would take us as time went by; the wonderful friends we've made; the advice we've sought; the recipes we've found' a source for the seeds we wanted and a gift from the Isle of Man to boot!

Out dividing some perennials in the garden today, I was aware that for the first time we are in a position to give away plants because we are running out of space in the garden; it's not that long ago we were begging any specimens going to stock the newly created borders.

Some things in the garden try to trip us up in terms of time. The primroses are out in flower; is that late for 2013 or early for 2014? The advent rose hasn't stopped flowering for the last two years!

But one of our favourite trees today reminded us just what we are facing, all too fast...

Autumn is upon us and the colours are changing at a reasonable pace now.

The maple tree has supported my craft work each autumn/winter for the past three years, I've pressed the leaves and used them to make pictures, like this one above our hearth..

and to make paperweights to sell....

We'll watch the colour of the leaves changing and deepening again and we'll be out there collecting the best of the freshly fallen ones for me to press. thus preserving their shape and colour against the normal ravages of time.

It's perhaps a good job we can't preserve ourselves in a state of suspended animation. Change brings with it so many new opportunities and experiences which we'd miss if time could stand still for us.

So whilst time may be going too quickly, I suggest we celebrate it to the full!