Autumn Garden Rainbow

Red and Yellow and Pink and Green

Orange and Purple and Blue

I can sing a Rainbow, sing a Rainbow, sing a Rainbow too.

So many vibrant colours in the autumn garden - they just sing out loud.  We have been listening with our eyes to this wonderful rainbow growing in our back yard.
 
Lyrics to Sing a Rainbow by  Arthur Hamilton (1953)

Equinox

We spent the day thinking about Autumn; gratitude for the harvest; and the balance between light and darkness that hangs on this day.  We read seasonal stories and made apple candles for our harvest meal.

We enjoyed local food that reminded us of our festival - a bowl of steaming chunky root vegetable broth with  sourdough bread, followed by earthy baked potatoes and yellow Scottish cheddar, washed down with apple juice.

 James and I created a special Equinox cake - half dark and half light.  It was most impressive.  I had the idea for this cake several equinoxes ago, but never seemed to find the time.  We made time today though - a simple sponge cake recipe - remove half to another bowl - add orange zest to one and sieved cocoa powder to the other. Make up a buttercream icing and in the same way, add melted chocolate to one half, and the juice of the orange to the other. This will have to be a new tradition - twice a year too!

And then, with full, thankful bellies, we retired to the front room, to enjoy our first indoor fire since the vernal equinox.  James was enthralled by the flickering flames and the crackling and hissing of the logs, and excitedly whispered to us to 'listen - listen!'  How lovely and cosy it was to sit together and weave pictures from the firelight, as the rain rattled off the windows.
Wishing you Autumnal Blessings and an abundant harvest.


Edited to add.
I have been asked by a lovely reader for my sponge cake recipe.  So here it is

6 oz soft butter
6 oz sugar.
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
8 oz self raising flour (or 8 oz plain flour and 3 level teaspoons baking powder)

Cream both together until very light and fluffy

Add eggs one at a time and beat well, scraping bottom of bowl each time.
Add vanilla essence
Fold in  sieved flour (and bp if using) and mix gently until just combined.
Pour into well greased 7 inch sandwich tins and level with a spatula

Bake for 20 -25 mins at 350 deg (180c or Gas mark 4)

Leave to sit in tin for 5 mins or so, then remove and cool on rack.

Autumn Walk

We are so enjoying these fine early Autumn days.  Mostly we just stay around the garden, but at least once  a week, we visit local woodlands or parks. We appreciate the inevitable changes in the trees and country side as the month progresses.  Here are some snippets from out walk this week.  The main find under the canopy was acorns.  Mostly still green, but beginning to fall.  James is always on the look out for those Acorn boys from one of his favourite tales - Woody, Hazel and Little Pip.

Fallen trees make great rocking horses,

and this wide sunken walk is great for running along, and up and down.

We find many interesting and beautiful delights in this woodland park.

and then we finish off with the last ice cream of the Summer (the little kiosk in the park is still open until the weekend),

before we wend our way home with treasures for our Autumn table.

Join in Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions to see more Autumn - or Spring treasures from around the world.

Another September Birthday

My Dad's this time.  So, another birthday, another lunch, another cake.  Traditionally for Papa's birthday, though, we have a Clootie Dumpling. The boys, of course are always very happy to assist if there is a candle or two to blow out!

They were very keen to help him unwrap his present, but only because they had plans for the box.  Well, a watercolour easel isn't really very interesting when you are 2 and 3 - but an empty cardboard box!  Now that has some serious possibilities!

Day to night

I saw this Day to Night bag  on the Autumn edition of Rhythm of the Home magazine.  The idea really appealed to me.  It is a reversible bag with a night-time side and a daytime side. In the morning, it is packed with your night-time essentials - jammies, cosy socks, bedtime storybook and  cuddly penguin. All day it waits, ready on the chair by your bed, and then -

 
it's all there for you at bedtime. No more frantic hunt the slipper and disrupting the evening flow.  And then, once you are ready for bed, the bag is filled up with the clothes you need for the morning, enabling you to spend those extra minutes doing something more fulfilling than scrabbling through drawers and laundry baskets for vests and a matching sock.
Fabulous time saving  idea, and  a great addition to the bedtime/morning routiney thing.  Well, of course I know that you don't  need an actual bag, and, maybe I could be more organised and simply lay the things out under the pillow, or on the chair or whatever, but this is much more fun.  And besides, I get to show off something I actually made myself!

My Autumn baby is 21!

Hair the colour of the season she was born in, my baby girl is now 21!  Vivacious, funny, beautiful and kind - hearted. It seems no time at all since that evening she was born, and I fell head over heels in love with that head of red fuzzy hair.  Now here she is all grown up, ready to enter adulthood in her own inimitable way.

 
We gave her a piece of keepsake jewellery and also this beautiful, gentle angel to watch over her.  Handmade with love by the very talented Tracey, who blogs here.

We had a family lunch at our favourite restaurant on Saturday, which was a mad riot as usual.  Lots of laughter and lovely food, and then back home for a squidgy chocolate cake and something fizzy!.  Grandson Finlay, at 2 years old, obviously considers himself the candle blowing out expert. 

Not quite sure what secret those two boys were sharing, but I think it might have had something to do with cake!

So, since we were altogether,  we thought we would use the opportunity to have one of those nice, wholesome, family photographs taken. Not much chance with my cheeky bunch and probably just as well there is no audio accompaniment. Well we tried.... not the most artistic series of shots, but they do make me smile:)

We went to the woods,

 and we thought we saw a wood sprite flitting in and out the trees!  He was just a blur at first - so fast - where did he go?

Is he hiding in behind a toadstool?

Wait!  Is that him sitting down on that mossy rock?

Quietly now - don't scare him away.

If we're lucky, we might see him doing his Autumn dance.

There are many more sprites and fairies dancing on  Friday's nature table at The Magic Onions. 

Apples for jam

The fruit harvest this year is abundant - I am sure the proper Winter had something to do with it.  As we will soon leaving for the Island again, we made a start with the first of our two apple trees. James loved trying this strange fruit picking contraption for the higher branches.  It became a game - 'Higher - higher - over a bit - got it!'

Experience has taught me not to pick more fruit than I can deal with at one preserving session.  So we picked enough for our first batch.

And we had to leave enough to eat straight from the tree - the best way, according to James.

Into the pan to cook with cinnamon and cloves,

and then the juice dripped slowly through a jelly bag.  We boiled up this juice with the same amount of sugar until set - and it sets very quickly!

 So there we have our spiced apple jelly - served here with a nice, but blurry treacle scone. (usual scone recipe, but melt the butter with a dollop of treacle/blackstrap molasses and add a teaspoon of mixed spice to the flour.) Then there are the plums, the tomatoes,  and the pears; and then back on Lewis, the crab apples... Happy canning:)

Messing about on the river.

Today we awoke to an Autumn mist, which by mid morning had burned off to reveal a gloriously hot Summer day.  After our chores and a bit of shopping, we headed into the woods and straight for the whispering water.  There we spent the rest of the day, messing about on the river. Just paddling about..

watching the dappled sunlight play on the water and leaves...

... playing with bark boats - we wondered if the Acorn boys and Hazel were on this one -

...and, of course, no day on the river is complete without a spot of fishing. 

A perfect way to spend the afternoon.

And we found some treasure for our Autumn nature table.

There are more Nature Table posts at The Magic Onions every Friday. Sail over on our bark boat and see.

Wandering into the world.

Here I stand at in the doorway to my elder son's bedroom. It is bittersweet moment as I look at the tidy shelves, empty surfaces and spotless floor.The walls are bare, for now his posters hand on a different wall. He has moved out. - into the world - into his second year of studying chemistry at university - into a flat with three of his friends.

 Now his feet will wander the same streets as the young Sean Connery. He is a city boy now. How did this happen? Time is such a strange thing - as I stood on his new doorstep it felt as if nineteen years had passed like a sonic boom.
His little brother will miss him.  I will miss him - his sense of humour and playfulness, his calm reassuring presence, those huge, unexpected bear - hugs that swept me off my feet, and yes - maybe even those wet towels on the bedroom floor :)

Visit Gardenmama and see where everyone is wandering this week.