Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Me too, OBL, must be our pagan souls!
Autumn has been my favourite season right from childhood & still is.
F x

Dottles1

for me Autumn has always had a feeling of "newness".  I think it must be all those years of going back to school, I always feel that I should pop out and buy a new pencil case :.)  It is also a time of a little sadness due to saying goodbye to the warm weather and hoping to hang on to a few bright days.  Having said that, once I get my head around it I love autumn day, so much more comfortable for walking.  I'll be collecting fir cones to put in a bowl on the table and there are heaps more brambles to be had locally so I'll be out there again with my bags.

carolbee

Dottles1 said:

for me Autumn has always had a feeling of "newness".  I think it must be all those years of going back to school, I always feel that I should pop out and buy a new pencil case :.)  It is also a time of a little sadness due to saying goodbye to the warm weather and hoping to hang on to a few bright days.  Having said that, once I get my head around it I love autumn day, so much more comfortable for walking.  I'll be collecting fir cones to put in a bowl on the table and there are heaps more brambles to be had locally so I'll be out there again with my bags.

I always have the pencil case feeling too!

Sayschezza

Autumn is the start of the growing year. Harvest festival marks the end of the year then ploughing starts to get the fields ready for sowing. Lovely time of the year.

crazy_cat_lady

I love the colours and feelings that come along with autumn. The leaves changing on the trees, and being able to snuggle up in warm clothes with a blanket and having the curtains closed by 7pm... Alas, no harvest for me this year, just a couple of very small cucumbers and a handful of tomatoes. 

foxgloves

Oh, I've read all your comments about autumn & am now feeling that I now need a new pencil case too! Yes, I think it is that thing of starting back at school in Sept, also I did 2 stints at university back in the day, so that was more autumn 'new starts'. And the lovely Mr F & I went on our first date on Oct 31st, have our wedding anniversary in autumn & also bought our house in October. I've always loved samhain, bonfire night, all the preparation for Christmas & tucking up by the fireside with a good book or film, etc. In more recent years, I do find the season is tinged with sadness because I lost my Dad in at the end of Sept & my Mum a year later in early Oct, so those autumn anniversaries are also in my mind because both illnesses & subsequent deaths were so difficult, but I am getting better at concentrating on remembering their birthdays instead & finding little ways to commemorate that they would have enjoyed....for instance always baking something on Dad's birthday because he loved my cooking, & going out for coffee & scones on Mum's.
Anyway, I'd better crack on with today's post before I get too sidetracked.
F x

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
I'd popped out to my pondside bench with a nice hot cup of tea & my book to enjoy a couple of chapters in the fresh (though chilly) air & I think I'd read all of about 6 words before raindrops started pattering onto the pages & I gave up & came in. I think tomorrow will be dry, so I shall aim for a morning in the garden then instead.
This is a 'weekend post' really, as I haven't posted much. So yesterday, we were back to our own company after 3 days of the builder being hard at work. Mr F had to work in the morning, so I cleaned the house a bit....it was a half-hearted effort as I couldn't see the point in doing the full works when dust & showers of assorted gubbins are going to be flying off all over from Tuesday, so I just emptied the bins & gave the kitchen & bathroom the most cursory of efforts. We've been talking about seasonal things, haven't we, & I absolutely agree with Sezchezza that Autumn is the start of the growing year. My new gardening year starts in October. I spend late August into September concentrating on getting our fruit & veg harvest ripened, gathered & used or laid down for the coming weeks & months. We have been completely overwhelmed with apples this year. The pear tree has thankfully decided to have a rest or we'd be up to our necks, instead of just our armpits. Yesterday I was delighted to use 4lbs of apples successfully - 3lbs went into a batch of a very simple apple chutney  - recipe from a preserving book my Dad bought me several Christmasses ago - & made 9 good-sized jars. Then I peeled & cored another lb & made Mary Berry's Devonshire apple cake & we are slowly eating our way through that over this BH weekend. I know there will be heaps more apples fetched down from the wind - I daren't look! I did pick 500g french beans & 1.4 kg tomatoes yesterday too. 
Today, we decided not to do a lot......Mr F popped out first thing & presented me with the 'Observer', a bacon roll & huge coffee in bed, which was a lovely treat as I've been getting up really early so as to be vaguely decent by builder arrival time. Then I skyped my sister who is just back from holiday & we yakked for nearly 2 hours, so that was nice. I've had a little tidy, sorted some clean laundry & made a batch of garlic flat breads to use up some slightly elderly yoghurt. Mr F is cooking Indian spiced chicken tonight, which will be served with the courgette curry I made on Friday & his favourite garlic rice (he has this down to a fine art, the timer is used for every single stage & it never sticks....it isn't his recipe, but he is always the one who makes it & he is unbelievably proud of how well it turns out, lol) so garlic flat breads will go well with the curry vibe tonight as we can pretend they are naans. I used to make naans actually, but Mr F banned them for our own good! They were seriously good & after he'd eaten FOUR in one go, he said 'You must quite simply never ever make these again or you will have to roll me to work!' He had a point, they were very more-ish, which I think was the freshness of them, serving them straight off the grill. Anyway, I am digressing yet again........there needs to be a special function on my diary where I get an alert message each time I go off at a tangent.....
There has been real progress with my long-term project to knit up my yarn stash. I have mentioned (probably bored the trousers off you, in fact) that I am currently knitting mittens for a charity stall my sister does each year. I have just cast on my 8th pair - I'm aiming for 10 or 12 pairs so that they will look nice displayed in a basket. Anyway, I discovered today that all my yarn.....every last ball, skein, scrap & oddment now fits in the chest of drawers I brought from Mum's house. She kept her yarn in it & I thought it would be nice to bring it north & use it for mine. The problem was that my yarn stash was too big to fit in it, so I have disallowed myself from buying new yarn (except for a gift I knitted last Christmas) with the aim of knitting up what I already have. Now that it all fits in, I will have to keep an eye on myself as I can easily get tempted by yarn shops/websites & I know my sister is sending me some knitting magazines. 
Anyway, I had better sign off or this risks being an even longer post than usual. 
Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday & stay safe......big Covid spike in our town supposed to be on the decline but I haven't seen any actual figures, so I am still being Mrs Cautious of Carefulville.
F x

savingmore

please don’t stop you’re tangents, I love them!   do hope you have great progress with builders this week.   can’t believe that school starts going back at end of this week, feels like our stupor coming to an end, it’s been such an odd few months.  went blackberry picking again this morning, although feels like it might be last, hoping to get another one in if poss, but definitely on the wane.

Blackcats

Crikey!  Look away for a few days and there's lots of interesting posts to catch up on.  

Personally, I think keeping the life insurance going is the right decision.  When I was widowed I received a life insurance payment as well as OHs death in service benefit.  At that time it was one less thing to worry about and gave me reassurance that from a monetary point of view at least I would be ok.  It also made OH worry less too in his last few months.  (You won't be surprised to know that we were not in a good financial position at that time).

The building work sounds well organised and you are doing well working around it.  It will be so worth it when it's finished, plus you've got the prospect of Inviting a feline friend to enjoy it with you.  
The garden produce of you and your readers is amazing!  I've been picking lots of apples from the garden and had the grand total of 3 edible figs 😂

blue_eyed_girl123

De-lurking to say good luck with the building work, we had some done at the beginning of this year and spent weeks feeling like everything was covered in dust. Hope it gets finished without too many complications 😁.