Light & darkness meet evenly at the Autumn Equinox

Yesterday was our Autumn Equinox, the time when day & night shared equal lengths & from now, the night takes over & the light retreats each day, bringing with it shorter days & longer nights.

The equinox is a barely discernible difference in light but it soon will be noticeable. The air is cooler, you suddenly notice your breathe in the morning air & scarves come of of the cupboard to wrap around the neck. 

The light is softer, more gentle, especially when seen against the vibrant colours of the changing leaves. 

After our hot summer, we will have impressive autumn colours coming through of russet, chocolate brown, oxblood red, rich gold, burnt orange, soft plum, fern green, golden honey, buttery tones, muted earth, jewel tones in the hedgerows - they all sit quite happily together. 

I love raking up the maple leaves from our tree. They are raked under the hedge where they breakdown to rich leaf mould but they also give homes to many over wintering creatures. Blackbirds love scattering them & the visiting hedgehogs will gather them for nests.

I love walking the local woods in autumn, picking up pine cones, noticing the wonderful light through the tree canopy, finding a few conkers from horse chestnut trees. 

Spiders are supposed to avoid conkers & I pop some in  corners at home but our spiders seem to happily ignore this & appear anyhow which is not welcome.  

I wish the spiders would find someone else to ambush & terrify. 

It is the time when cobwebs are persistent in corners of the house & garden, most evident outside with morning dew shining on them. 

My long duster is never far away in autumn, clearing the cobwebs so the house doesn't look like a Halloween  prop ... 

I notice that the shortening days brings a settling too when you want to be more cosy, have candles & books about, a fleece at hand on the sofa to tuck your feet under. Hot chocolate becomes more welcome, a warm mug to wrap your hands around while reading. 

We are busy in the garden, tidying up, final moving of any plants while the ground is still warm, cutting back & staking plants before the winds pick up and of course cutting the long stems of our honesty plants before the winds damage the much prized seed pods. More on that in another post ... 

It is also the time my thoughts turn to some crafts & indoor activities. I like to do some little sewn gifts to go in my Christmas cards & this is the time to start because they are labour intensive. 

Autumn also brings a subtle change in foods - richer foods, more root vegetables, hearty soups & generous baked puddings start making the menu. 

It is a different rhythm of life that we settle in to, preserving energy to appreciate nature more so we can tune in to the changing season. 

We hold on to the summer but gently give way to autumn to enjoy the change, the coolness, the different pace of life. 

Autumn invites us to gather our thoughts too, to be aware of what has changed - relationships, friendships, situations, experiences. We can gently release the ones that no longer serve us or match our energy. 

The change is part of life & we are part of the rhythm of nature, we just need to follow its lead. Have a blessed start to Autumn, 

Dee 🥮🍂🍁🪾🌲

The Tolpuddle Martyrs connection ...

 

During our trip around Scotland in 2024, we stopped at the New Lanark World Heritage site near Glasgow & were surprised to see reference to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. 

They were connected to Robert Owen whose mills these were. 

The site referenced his efforts to uplift his workforce through education, better working conditions & rights to be treated well. 

Hubby is connected ancestrally to the leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, George Loveless. Three of the six men were Wesleyan preachers  and were guided by their faith to be fair in all they say & do. 

While showing visiting family around the Dorset places of the ancestors, we stopped at the little Museum (unfortunately closed on the day we visited) and then at the Wesleyan chapel nearby set up in their memory. 

The booklet gives a really good summary of their convictions to their cause & the punishment they received. 

Their actions was the start of the Trade Union movement, fair rights for workers. 

They were all transported - taken by ship to the far flung corners of the empire, mainly Van Diemens land. 

However, they were later pardoned & returned to England. However, several then left for the Americas. 

It is an interesting story, worth researching & remembering that the rights workers enjoy today were a hard struggle & a huge cost paid to stand up. It is worth respecting the memory of those who fought for the rights.

I hope this has given you food for thought, thank you for stopping by. It is always appreciated. 

Dee 

The joy of proteas ...

Proteas are the national flower of South Africa & they have always been special to me. 

I blogged about them after a previous trip to South Africa - proteas in many guises. 

I have them at home too, a reminder of my roots. Daughter had them at her recent wedding too …

I have a generous vase of faux silk proteas in the living room, they look real with the red & silver foliage branches too. 

I recently sewed two cloths with proteas, as well as doing them as my glass painting design. 

In this blog post, I shared buying some unique wire & bead proteas I bought at a craft market in Howick, Natal, South Africa. I had previously visited the same market with both my parents & revisiting brought back memories of my parents choosing a hand crafted picnic basket there that I still use. My now late Dad chose the beaded proteas with me & they are a reminder of that shared experience. 

The 2 vases are in the same space, the beaded ones on a side table next in the corner by the clock, the faux ones on a console table along with the assorted drinks etc. 

My good friend Ellie messaged to say she had been out browsing & had found 3 large wire proteas like the ones I have & she immediately bought them as a gift for me. 

It is special when friends know your home well enough to know your likes. She came by for tea this week & brought them over. 

They are a perfect match to mine - slightly larger but perfect. 

I am naturally delighted but then realised the vase I have for them will not be able to take another 3 stems because the beaded ones have chunky stems. 

I switched the faux & beaded ones vases but that did not work out either. 

On my travels today around a local market town chunky vases were on my list to keep an eye out for. 

I struck lucky when I spied a generous vase in passing one of the charity shops. It was not as heavy as the ones I have but a more generous size & at only £4, I had to have it. 

Once home, it was washed & then I tried out the vases - the heavy jug shape vase that had the faux proteas could hold all the beaded ones - now a weighty 10 stems. 

The charity shop vase could hold the 9 faux protea stems as well as the red & silver foliage too because the neck was wide enough. 

It will need some weighting down with pebbles in time, but that is a minor adjustment to this elegant new vase. 

The previous narrow necked vase (left) is replaced by the heavy jug shaped vase to hold the 10 stems.

 

After faffing with the various protea stems in the two vases, they could be returned to their 2 spots in the living room & they look impressive with their generous stems.

What a thoughtful gift that goes well in my space. The curtains will soon change from the neutral creams to heavy berry coloured ones for winter to keep out the chills & the proteas will hold court with their elegant ways. 

Am I the only one inclined towards certain flowers & colours. Tell all. Thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated. 

Dee 

A much needed tidy of the Auricular theatre plants

In 2020, during lockdown, I made an auricular theatre for my small collection of those sweet plants.

We used materials we had & a piece of reclaimed wood we were gifted. 

It was painted in our shed paint because that was all we had & everything was shut in lockdown. 

It is against the house on the patio where they can be enjoyed for their tiny flowers in summer. 

However, they do not like to be too wet in winter & I cover the whole theatre with a sheet of horticulture fleece to keep off too much rain. They do not mind the cold, just not being too wet. 

This works well & is an easy solution.

In summer, they do not like scorching heat directly on their leaves so I pop a small garden umbrella over them to keep off the midday heat. 

They do like their specific growing conditions - not too hot, not too wet, just right, like goldilocks.

After a very hot summer, they were not looking their best so I bought some new terracotta pots to repot them ahead of winter. 

The soil needs to be gritty / light to stop waterlogged roots so I mixed in some perlite. I always use some of our leaf mould in the bottom of the pots to cover the drainage 

After clearing the theatre, the plants were re potted, some split & then a light covering of gritty soil on top because they don't like their leaves to sit on wet soil. I will have to buy a bag of small stones for the surface when I pass the garden centre. 

However, it is much improved & they are looking neat & tidy again ahead of winter. 

I look forward to their tiny flowers next year. Once they flower, I will know which I have & will buy in a few more. 

This was their flowers the past summer - delicate, tiny, little pops of perfect colour. 

Does anyone else grow them & what advice would you give? Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated.

Dee 

The scheduled ancient monument of Shrawardine castle

While out on a jaunt in the Shropshire countryside, we stopped at St Mary's church in the village of Shrawardine. 

It was unfortunately locked but there was a brochure in the porch for the Shrawardine castle ruins just opposite. 

I had a quick browse of the brochure then we did the short walk to the castle remains - which is not very much. 

The Shropshire council website has this info about it. 

The village's landmarks include Shrawardine Castle and St Mary's Church. The castle, known as Castell Isabella by the Anglo-Normans, was built in the reign of Henry I of England, and dismantled during the English Civil War in 1645.^[1] It had been held since 1644 by the Royalist commander Sir William Vaughan, whose aggressive tactics earned him the nickname "the Devil of Shrawardine".

It would be interesting to see an overview from a drone which might show the castle outline better than at ground level. 

There is little information on wiki on it too. 

We walked up the slope towards to high point, there is little left except a few remaining sections but from the top it offers lovely views across the countryside. 

I always find it sobering that centuries of history lies in a field in a small village. The small castle fought over during times of tumultuous history. History really is all around us, & it all fills in little gaps. 

I hope this unplanned stop was interesting to you too, 

Dee