Early Autumn

Early autumn is a glorious season of crisp mornings and warm afternoons, of dappled light and shadows, days shortening. When mama cows beginning to calve and there are rich colours all around us: tomatoes ripening, hedges awash with hawthorn berries, sycamore leaves yellowing, sedum and pig face and calendula flowering. I feel the urge to sort and knit and drink my tea in the sun. I feel the excitement of my tiny house arriving; a bespoke egg cleaning and packing space long dreamed (and saved) for. There's a pair of quilted slippers on my feet made entirely of scraps (using this wonderful pattern) and shawls around my shoulders. And the first round of colds and stomach bugs and sniffles, first batch of elderberry and honey syrup, savoured spoonfuls. There's jobs to be attended to: beehives to prepare for winter and firewood to cut and stack.. It's not cold enough yet for the mosquitoes to quit waking us up in the middle of the night. We collect wild quinces and eagerly await the rain. The pace of early autumn is unlike any other time of year. Studded with busyness,  birthdays and Easter - laden with work, beauty, anticipation, rest and celebration //