Wednesday, 28 September 2016

Autumn's arrival

At last it's here. Crunchy leaves under foot, steaming cups of tea, long scarves and warm jumpers. Just a few of the reasons I love autumn.

It's a beautiful time of year if you ignore the one or two damp days that accompany it. Even as I type, the view out of the window is stunning - blue sky, bright sunshine and burnished leaves. I've been going out and about recently, enjoying the scenery, and the benefits autumn affords us. Local to me is a wonderful community orchard, and the community is invited to pop by and help themselves to some of the tasty fruit on offer. I went there last week with the aim of filling my fruit bowl (and maybe making a crumble or two). Just walking to it is a pleasure, it feels like you're making your way to a secret garden.


I love the anticipation of what's to come when we reach this season, there's so much to look forward to. In the next couple of weeks we have our big annual beer festival happening, the Apple Day celebrations at Bromham Mill, film festivals, Halloween. you then have Bonfire Night to look forward to and then (whisper it) Christmas. Everybody else seems to see summer as their social peak of the year, but I've always preferred autumn.

I even broke out my slow cooker yesterday. It's great coming home to your dinner already prepared after work, plus my house smelt amazing! I love having friends over for dinner, so did just that last night, testing out one of my recipes on her. Luckily she seemed to like it!

Even the food and drinks available to us seem to be getting into the autumnal spirit this year. I know it's almost obligatory to drink nothing but pumpkin spiced lattes from September onwards, but now there's something better, pumpkin spice Baileys. And I have a bottle all to myself. Don't look at me like that, I'm an only child, sharing can be difficult for us...
In between all the fall festivities, this is the best time of year for reading that book you haven't quite got around to, or watching those movies you've had on your list for ages. So if anyone needs me, I'll be found curled up in a blanket somewhere with a good book and a cup of tea.