Autumn Days Are Here…

Autumn is the time of year when we realise that change is good.
When the cool breeze refreshes and revitalises our senses.
When mortality is evident in the air as leaves fall,
and living becomes full of urgency and passion…

© Lisa Shambrook

After a very difficult summer and slipping into the grip of depression, autumn is very welcome in my life. It’s the month that recharges my worn batteries and lifts me from doldrums and anxiety.

I dig out my soft, cosy jumpers and relish a hot chocolate on a cold day. Scented candles offer autumn fragrance and leaves fall in red, gold, orange and brown ready for me to kick through! I pull out my favourite hat and scarf, both stolen from my daughter, and delight in the bliss of my beloved leather jacket. Apples, fresh from the tree, and rich purple plums, and pumpkins ready to be carved fill my Halloween, and nothing beats homemade soups and bread to fill the autumn belly.

Tell me – what are you looking forward to most this autumn?

Reasons to Love Autumn…

“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!”
Humbert Wolfe

Autumn is my most favourite season, closely followed by Winter…
find out why and tell me why you love Autumn too!

Dawn’s blush © Lisa Shambrook

Watching dawn’s sliver of pink spread across the indigo sky…

Autumn’s fruit – conkers and acorns © Lisa Shambrook

Acorns, conkers, horse chestnuts, hazelnuts…
not the actual nuts, but I love acorn cups, shiny conkers and nut shells! 

Ward off the chill © Lisa Shambrook

Hunting out your favourite hats and gloves,
twining soft scarves around your neck and wrapping up in the chill.

Boots… © Lisa Shambrook

Boots…need I say more?

Discover discoveries… © Lisa Shambrook

Apples are finally in season and our trees offer a
harvest of Discoveries and Worcester,
and then I enjoy my most favourite Russets.

Soft woolly jumpers! © Lisa Shambrook

Jumpers. I’m Scrooge when it comes to turning on the heating,
so I grab a jumper instead. Find your favourite cable knit and stay warm.

Time to dress up – way back in the year 2000! © Lisa Shambrook

Halloween, the best chance of the year to dress up and have fun!

Don’t ever miss a hug… © Lisa Shambrook

Cuddles to keep warm, nothing better than cosying up with the ones you love.
Hugs, especially when they last over a minute, make you feel good!
Cuddle on the sofa and enjoy the new season of TV after summer’s screen drought.

Slipping on the leather jacket… gloves, hats and scarves… © Lisa Shambrook

Jackets, leather ones to be precise…
I live in my leather jacket and love slipping back into it!

Twilight magic… © Lisa Shambrook

Twilight and dusk…I adore being able to stand in the chill of evening and stare up at the stars. Darker evenings give me a sense of adventure and awe.

Hot Chocolate…Mmmm… © Lisa Shambrook

Hot Chocolate… hot chocolate with marshmallows (if that’s your thing) and cream,
wrap your hands around a mug and stay warm!

Glitter in the sky! © Lisa Shambrook

Fireworks! Watch the sky light up with sparkles of fire on the 5^th of November!

Autumn crimson © Lisa Shambrook

Leaves…the turning of the leaves as the trees shed their summer apparel.
The colours of autumn delight, inspire and invigorate me…

Soup and bread… © Lisa Shambrook

Soups and casseroles, and fresh bread. My favourite is butternut squash
seasoned with black pepper and thyme…

Dragon smoke… © Lisa Shambrook

The enticing hint of frost that makes our breath swirl like dragon smoke!

…and the fact that after Halloween – Christmas is on its way… Yay!

“It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider
and a sky so blue you could drown in it.”
Diana Gabaldon, Outlander

Why do you love Autumn?

10 Material Possessions I am Grateful For…

My first post for the Gratitude Project… see here for original post. I decided to think about the things I own…

You know when you’re a child writing your Christmas list? The list goes on and on…(my kids scour the ‘Argos’ catalogue and as far as I can see then copy it out word for word!). As you get older the list generally gets shorter (and more expensive, but we won’t go there…). When I was a child I wanted books, drawing pads and pens…still do actually, but my adult list began to include laptop, Kindle, phone etc, these latter items are better included in a later post about modern-day inventions that I’m grateful for…so I thought I’d think about other (less expensive) things in my life that mean something to me.

1. The best birthday gift I ever received was a much longed for item…a leather jacket. I could never afford a leather jacket, until I discovered ebay! My beloved Joe Browns leather jacket was a present that I adored from the moment I slipped it on and felt like it was part of me! A £125 jacket for £50, I wore it to death, the one pictured is an identical replacement for a few pounds more, but ebay again. I wear it every day throughout the year and miss it in the Summer when it’s too hot for a jacket! It’s the gift that has given me the best value ever!

2. I also like a good pair of leather boots, and have found amazing bargains for under £10 in charity shops, once I find a pair I love, like the jacket, I live in them…

3. Next is my most expensive possession…my European style Bracelet. I bought a cheap Pandora imitation bracelet and then got addicted to collecting the beads, silver and murano glass. I was happy with the cheap beads and bracelet until I bought a couple SRA beads and fell in love… I eventually bought my own Trollbeads bracelet and filled it with a mixture of beads that each represented something in my life. You can read the post about my bracelet and each bead here.

4. Most of my jewellery is inexpensive, my fascination with dragons is evident in my broach and dragon’s tail necklace…lots of wear and love. My cat earrings always make me happy, cats clinging to my ears! It’s also clear that I favour silver and am keen on filigree. My second favourite present this Christmas (second to my Kindle) was a cheap filigree heart necklace and earrings, I’m easy to please!

5. Let’s talk about my watch. I’ve worn one since I was about eight and cannot not wear one (sorry for the double negative)…I wear it on what is considered by most of my family, the wrong wrist…or the right one quite literally! My current one is radio controlled so, I’m never late (or at least can never blame my watch). I’m very OCD about my watch…

6. I’m OCD about my diary too…been keeping one since I was fourteen…yes, every day. A big diary to begin with which has shrunk over the years to a little notebook diary instead, after all I blog and journal the important bits!

7. Pens, yes I still love pens, and my favourites are Uni Pin Fine Line (from Mitsubushi, Hmmm thought they did Motorbikes?) and I only use sizes 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8. Wrote my first trilogy with a 0.5 in Pukka Pads…

8. I treated myself to the furry hat just after my birthday last year…I struggle to spend money, I can talk myself out of anything, but my daughter saw that I loved it and wouldn’t let me put it back… thank you! I love that the tassels are different.

9. I’m not big on perfume, and have pretty much exclusively only ever bought The Body Shop scents. My favourite scent is Jasmine, nothing better than the wafting fragrance of white jasmine flowers… another blogpost on my favourite scents here. I love ‘Neroli Jasmin’ and ‘Love etc’…beautiful.

10. My final favourite possession (the chocolate pictured will have to go under food I’m grateful for…) are my Scrapbook albums. Memories are so potent and important…and collecting them creates magic… I love photography and capturing a moment creates an imprint that will last forever in my memory! I have three albums and I love making scrapbook pages…I love remembering…

So these are my 10 material possessions, the ones I am truly grateful for…