Change of season

 Good morning from a damp, dismal Devon! Autumn has definitely arrived, dark evenings, chillier mornings and the odd storm coming through.

 But I do love this season! I love the cooler temperatures, the cosiness of the darker evenings and the trees starting to change their colour of their leaves before eventually shedding them. I love wearing my boots and big jumpers  (once it gets cold enough!), going for walks and skittering thought the fallen leaves and I love the ‘Soup’ season! 

I’ve had a couple of nice walks in the last two weeks. I met up with my friend & Bruce, as usual for a walk, this time in Haldon Forest. Not our normal walk, as my friend had pulled a muscle, so we took a shorter walk, one aimed with children in mind. It was lovely to do a different route. The weather was somewhat inclement, but a lovely walk nonetheless...

We found the Stick Man....

and a fantastic little shelter, a bit small for us! 

My second walk was with my daughter and Bumble. We went to Parke at Bovey Tracey which has a lovely river for Bumble to play in...

I just get mesmerised by the tree roots, nature’s artwork.......and also nature’s booby traps. I tripped over more than once! 

Back home, my sunflowers are looking very very sad now, after the horrendous weather we’ve had in the last few days. However, last week, one of them had a baby, how cute! 

I have been trying out some different recipes from one of my Joe Wicks books. This one was delicious, if a little bit too much of it. Low on carbs, high on protein (all good stuff, but it is a bit high in calories) so next time I’ll just eat a bit less of it...

Baking-wise, there has been scones for us and Blue Cross and a chocolate cake with chocolate buttons for Blue Cross last Friday. Nothing very exciting but they appreciated my offerings. Today I’m baking bread and possibly a cake. I have the day to myself, as hubby left for work at 7 and won’t be home until gone 10 tonight and my son is working too in the office upstairs. 

What other things have been going on in the last two weeks? Well, I completed another jigsaw. I thought this one would be quite easy being books, you know, just pick up a bit of title or picture and look on the box to see where it belonged. What I hadn’t realised, is that the books are duplicated, or more and sometimes had the same neighbours too! But that said, I really enjoyed it, once I got organised....

I also made up two hampers for an auction the Blue Cross Tiverton are doing for Blue Cross fundraising week. They are so curtailed this year, with what they can do, as is every charity. But hopefully they can get a few pounds in to the coffers. In past years, they have raised the most of all the branches, during this fundraising week. So I made a ‘Cheese and Wine, but Bring Your Own Cheese’ hamper.....

and a ‘Taste of the South West’ hamper...

and someone has been taking no chances in this awful weather!..

So that’s about it for the minute. I’m hoping to get some cardmaking done, more baking and knitting in the next couple of weeks. Oh, and I have booked our Christmas Day lunch at the Cranberry Farm, which is near my daughter’s house. Whether those plans will have to change, who knows! 

Thank you for popping by, cheerio for now, Ann x