Seasons of mist....

One of my favourite times of year is now with us - the smell of Autumn is in the air, and there is a real sense of looking back over summer, and forward into winter. There's something quite comforting about the change of the seasons ....and the sentiment is eloquently express by this passage from John Keats poem -




ODE to AUTUMN (1820) 


Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more
And still more, later, flowers for the bees
Until they think the warm days will never cease
For Summer has o'er brimmed their clammy cells








A few of my favourite things about Autumn....

• Long low sunshine that seems kinder, and less harsh on the eye
• That Autumnal nip to the air that makes you think of warm sweaters, and cosy blankets
• Looking for conkers, and kicking up Autumn leaves
• Hearing migratory birds pass overhead
• Hot bowls of soup with good French bread
• A good thick blockbuster of a book
• Downton Abbey on the television

Autumnal Equinox 23rd September 2011


Also known as the September equinox, the event signifies the first day of autumn in the UK. The autumn equinox is also used to determine the date of the traditional harvest festival which is held on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the autumn equinox.