Signs of autumn

 All around the garden, autumn is making itself felt. Beautiful tree colours, drifts of leaves, flocks of birds heading north, the acrid smell of burning from nearby properties.
A good time to start working with wool again, and OMG! there is some awesome wool around!
Managed to get to Tylden last week and found some gorgeous yarns at the wool shop. I was very restrained among all the glorious wool; supersoft merino, fat multicoloured 'cakes', glittery novelty wools (at $26 a pop!), fuzzy mohair, all made up into scarves and samples, plus knitting and crochet paraphernalia, luridly coloured needles, bamboo

hooks, scissors, buttons, scarf pins...oh, a girl can dream!
I did invest in a couple of beautiful balls of  Bamboo Blooms Handpaints; half the fun is finding just the right pattern for it. Good old Patons 8ply was on special at our supermarket, always good for a blanket.
And I just finished this mens scarf for a friend, such a simple pattern and it knitted up in no time.
Managed to capture a couple of visitors, one was a black yellow tailed cocky, who was having a rest on the ground (quite unusual). And a pretty beetle, but I'm afraid he's an ex-beetle....

 Saw two good movies this last week. One was the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (what a mouthful!), set in Guernsey in the late 1940s. Excellent movie, I highly recommend it. And I'm told it's just as good as the book. I never knew Guernsey had such a dramatic landscape.
The other was "Peter Rabbit", of Beatrix Potter fame. Cute kid's film, and just as much fun for adults. I was very happy the voices were appropriately British. Cannot imagine an American voice coming from Peter and his friends.

Confusion reigns!

It's October - a month I usually look forward to here in Australia. Daylight saving starts, the days are getting longer, occasionally they're even getting warmer. Spring has sprung, the trees are putting on fresh green finery, fruit trees blossom, the birds look frisky, little rabbits appear in the paddock, and DH is out mowing grass. The passing of the seasons is reassuring and familiar.
This year, I'm feeling my northern roots a little more, probably because I just spent nearly a month in the northern hemisphere. I saw squirrels busy foraging for their winter stores, bears gorging themselves on salmon to bulk up for hibernation, elk fighting for their right to rule their harem for another year. The trees were starting too show their autumn finery, gentle rain nourished the rain forest and the air was crisp.
I tend to change my surroundings with the seasons; with scented candles and warm throw rugs in winter, and flowers from the garden in summer. At the same time, my quilts and soft furnishings change. The Christmas quilt and decorations give way to my summer quilt, and in October I would bring out a spring quilt, depicting pretty florals and cats in pastel colours. But this year, I'm in a muddle! I want to go all out celebrating the northern autumn, All Hallows Night, and Thanksgiving, with quilts in rich earth tones, orange, and Jack-O'lanterns! I want to see my orny turkey and pumpkin teapot on the dresser, and hang my little Halloween quilt. And I'd really like to make a turkey feast and celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving!
So I'll have to find a compromise between the southern and northern seasons. Why should that be a problem, since we do the same for Christmas in Oz every year?! I'm quite used to Santa at the beach in December, and Christmas Day in 40C heat...
Do you find your cultures sometimes warring inside you? I'm sure a peaceful solution will eventually emerge!

More Autumn Foliage

Seasons

Autumn is my favourite season. I love the cooler weather, the crisp mornings, and especially the change of colour on the trees. March and April especially are just divine here in our little corner of Oz! In Victoria, we get four distinct seasons every year, and living at approx. 700m above sea level means we have a rather cold winter, too! I've lived in the dry country of California, in Germany, and now in Australia, and have spent time in a variety of climates. After all that, I must say I do like a change in season! There's something reassuring about the rhythm of the seasons, and I look forward every year to the changes they bring to the garden and wildlife, and to our own activities. This morning I scared a few crimson rosellas from the shrubs, so I went to see what they were doing there. Of course, the cotoneaster is bearing fruit, and the parrots love the little red berries. Even the insects have a time and a season - currently we're being overrun by little black centipedes! The climbing Angel Face rose is having a last hurrah! and producing some huge purple blooms and a heady perfume. Scores of little red riding hoods (rosehips) bring colour to the other rose bushes. The native trees and shrubs don't change colour all that much, except when they're flowering, of course. But the imported trees are magnificent in their autumn splendor! After planting a little maple in spring, I love seeing its ruby red leaves now, so much that I went to the nursery and got another one! They need more watering than the natives, but reward it with a dazzling display. The liquidambar is just about to start turning red and orange, and the ash, birches, and robinias add their golden colours to the garden. This year has seen some good rainfall, and the grass is quite green. Claude the Retriever loves a good roll around, and even Mitzi ventures forth in the afternoon sunshine to inspect her domain. Not that she ventures very far...