Enjoying our lovely Autumn ...

I unashamedly love Autumn - the feeling that earth is winding down after a busy summer, that it is acceptable to catch ones breath & enjoy a slower pace of life, hibernation & hygge / hyggae are inviting, it is the season of contentment ...

‘Notice that Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature’ Friedrich Nietzsche

I love the contrasts between the white frost, blue skies & the carpet of russets, crimsons, gold, scarlet, saffron orange, and luminous yellow leaves lift the spirit.

I love how fallen leaves accentuate individual leaf shapes - the edges curl up elegantly as they gather in beautiful heaps that crunch as you walk through them.

I love the filtered light through the canopy of leaves & how a breeze, however light, brings them tumbling down - gently.

I have got out early on my day off to wander in the local woods & to just breath in the beauty of Autumn.

Autumn is a time beloved by many of our favourite artists - Van Gogh's Landscape with four trees  is a favourite, the colours & trees represent Autumn well.

My students have used David Hockney’s stunning ‘Woldgate woods’ as an Autumn art inspiration before, I think we need to revisit this beautiful art

'Everyone must take time to sit & watch the leaves turn’ - Elizabeth Lawrence

‘Falling leaves hide the path so quietly’ John Bailey

‘Leaves are falling, Autumn is calling’

‘My favourite colour is Autumn’

‘ I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as Autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air’ Nathaniel Hawthorne

‘Wild is the music of the Autumnal winds amongst the faded woods’ William Wordsworth

‘Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall’ F. Scott Fitzgerald

I hope you are enjoying Autumn wherever you are, get out & jump in those leaves. Do you have a favourite Autumn quote?

Thank you for your company,
Dee ~💕~

Jardin Majorelle YSL Gardens in Marrakech

I have to share a very special garden I visited in Marrakech, Morocco.

I knew little of the Jardin Majorelle  in Marrakech other than the briefest of notions that it paid homage to Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Berge

The gardens were created by the French painter Jacques Majorelle (1886-1952) in the heart of Marrakech & as an amateur botanist, he created a haven of calm & coolness in the heart of this bustling city. The blue he used was named after him - Majorelle Bleu

The gardens cover two and a half acres & it is an absolutely joy to visit with its cobalt blue features, the lush planting & the calm amidst the busy city. 

In 1980, Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Berge bought the gardens & they are an absolute joy to visit with vibrant colours, water, towering bamboo, cacti, tiles, memorials etc

Perfect views with colour & structural plants punctuating the scene ...

Beautiful reflections & details of the varied foliage ...

The intricate details are very evident in Morocco & in Spain, how lovely are these colours?

The gardens serve as a green space in the sprawling urban setting, almost at odds with the noise & bustle just beyond the walls ... 

The vibrant blues, tiles, fretwork & pot plants just set a perfect scene ... 

The cacti are so structural against the intense cobalt blue walls ...

The on site bookshop echoes this attention to detail ... 

The stunning shop with beautiful wares ...

The vibrant colours work well under the hot, blue Moroccan sky; the whole space is so calming, a haven in the business of Marrakech.

I hope you have enjoyed this inspirational garden as much as I did. Thank you for stopping by,

Dee ~💕~

Time stands still in the bakery in Al Jadida in Morocco

I hope you have enjoyed the previous post on the Unesco town of Al Jadida in Morocco.

The little bakery deserves its own post because I think it is quaint & yet still functioning after so long.

The bakery is accessed from a courtyard, just off the street & down from the Le Citerne Portugaise - the subterranean water storage building.

The round, cellar like ceiling & the poles mounted in the wall to hold the trays have not changed in all time.

This is a community bakery - people who live in this little town, bring in their bread daily to be baked in the oven.

Our guide Mohammed explained that the baker knows which bread belongs to who & he has a system for stacking it in the oven so that when he takes it out, he knows who to put it by. These trays are all from different families ...

I know the baker has a system but I know I would mix things up when the town ladies bring in different amounts of bread to be baked so you are never certain that a person has a set number of loaves ....

Mohammed explaining the system to us ...

I admit to getting distracted by the view in the bakery - the wooden window opens on to the harbour & this is his view - wow, just wow. How is that for a work view?

The town ladies also bring in trays of the most beautiful biscuits to be baked too - how tempting are these?

The baker in his massive, sunken inglenook type oven. Imagine him getting distracted & not timing the baking well?

Stunning biscuits ready to be baked ...

The baker lights the fire in the massive oven to start baking the cookies

Mohammed had told us that towns folk also bring in the food to be cooked & while we were there, a lady brought in the skillet of spicy Portuguese chicken. The smell was so good & she was pleased with our compliments - imagine a system like this which has not changed in generations? The expectations of the whole town rests on one man ....

I walked up on to the town walls overlooking the harbour & could see the bakery window from the top. A cat has come to sun itself ....

Can you see the bakery window / door / opening just close to the harbour wall? It personifies a time less hurried, a time when life was much simpler & when things had a slower pace ...

A fascinating place, an interesting concept of the baker taking charge of many people’s food. I wonder how other bakers would cope with such things. I wonder if the baker ever thinks: Mrs D, your biscuits & bread is not too good today? Could do better .... 

The pretty Unesco town of El Jadida - a place that has stood still in time.

I hope you have found this as fascinating as I did, thank you for stopping by,
Dee ~💕~