autumn colour

Loving these autumn days. The light is so lovely and gentle. The grape vine on our back fence has changed into its autumn shades and the leaves are slowly dropping to the ground. Crunchy dry leaves from elm and plane trees are floating down the streets all over town at the moment. So lovely to walk in! A favourite spot to ride my bike at this time of year is the gorgeously autumnal Royal Parade, apparently an old northern stock route in the 1800s. The canopy of leaves is so lovely along there. Such pretty golden yellows.

It's definitely chai weather now. I'm aiming to make this classic French pear tart over the weekend. I made it last year and cannot describe how good and rich and buttery it was.

succulent thoughts

The end of summer is a funny thing. The garden starts changing, mornings are darker, the birds get up later (a good thing as we have some noisy ones around here), even the cat sleeps in :) And the season of serious chai drinking begins!

I rescued these succulent blossoms as they were beginning to wither and dry out on their plants a few days ago. When they're fresh they have a beautiful orange colour, but when dry as you can see here, quite pink. Am I a bit of crazy woman for having dried out succulent blossoms, old seed pods, and driftwood all over the house? Other people have fresh flowers, me the deader and more dried out the better. I love the way their stems go a boney-white, a bit like Georgia Okeefe's paintings of cow bones dried out in the New Mexico desert sun. I just love that washed out look.

Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, Georgia O'Keefe

I quite like pressed leaves and flowers too. Here's a quick wikihow link to flower pressing in case you're keen.

Are you a fresh or dried flower person? And are you a collector of things?

soft light

Isn't the autumn light just wonderful at the moment? So gentle, yet such gorgeous blue skies as well. This leaf fell off the rather vigorous grape vine that hangs over our back fence. I just love it when the leaves change colour.

Happy Easter!