It is taking all my will power not to wish away November and get the Christmas decorations out. I have already cleared a path to the boxes of baubles and tinsel, cards and festive washi tape and I have chosen where the tree will go. November is going to be great though, lockdown will give us the opportunity to get out in nature without worries that we could or should be doing something else. The request for shops and cafes from the children can (hopefully) stop for a few weeks and we can take a thermos with us and make our own coffee shop at home (I have already bought some of those hot chocolate lumps on sticks that you stir into hot milk as they love them). I am trying to find the positives in it all and see the privilege in getting to spend extra time with my favourite little people.
It feels a bit like winter now, even though we are still not wearing coats every day, but the heating is on, my slippers are out and the trees in the garden are looking bare, the ground a sea of brown but disappearing fast. Before the last leaves fell, we collected some up to celebrate the consistency and inevitability of the seasons and made leaf crowns. Unfortunately our glue has had the lid left off a bit too long each time so I ended up popping tape round to keep everything on which feels much less like a nice natural activity. The little two loved creating their crowns though and both wearing them and putting them on the dogs that are dotted around the nature garden in our local park. They wore new clothing, sent to us as press samples, which is not only made of organic cotton but is also certified fairtrade, from Little Green Radicals.
Every year I think I declare each season my favourite, Spring is full of promise, flowers springing up, bright colours and the feel of the sun on my skin after so long, Summer is long days and going to the beach after dinner for a swim in the sea, the freedom of sandals and salty hair. Winter is the magic of Christmas, the feeling of hot chocolate by a toasty open fire, snow if we are lucky, but I think of them all Autumn is the most beautiful. The rich rusty tones, the sound of leaves crunching under my feet, reds, browns, I love the colours the most. Of course this year has been unlike any others, but we swapped trick or treating for a pinata and snuggling up with a film and it was just as wonderful and special and the children maintain they enjoyed it just as much. Autumn is passing and the leaves have fallen but I am going to carry on walking without a coat when I can get away with it, marvelling at any leaves still clinging on to the branches and crunching through (if the ground actually dries out enough to!). I took these photos because I couldn't resist the tones of Autumn and I want to share them so I can look back at these strange days of unpredictability coupled with the consistency of the seasons beginning and ending, the leaves changing colour and falling, just as they always do.
