Sunshine And Shadows

The calendar tells us it's almost November, and yet our days are still filled with hours of sunshine.

86 degrees worth of the stuff, and no rain in over five weeks now.

Watering the shrubs has become a ritual, the ground is parched and cracked.

November days ahead and we are still wearing shorts and flip-flops.

At this rate, we'll be doing our Christmas shopping in them.

 

 

Orange

In Tennessee the colors of the season are making a show, we seem to be surrounded by orange, browns and reds.

The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.

Henry Beston, Northern Farm

 

The Durrells In Corfu

Our local Public Broadcasting Service station was off the air for ten days......ten long days.
The broadcasting tower required maintenance, which apparently can  only be undertaken by a few specialized technicians..
One thing that appeased it's regular viewers was the offer of watching most of it's content online, you didn't have to have the prestigious PASSPORT code, which is issued to it's contributing members, so programs like Poldark, Downtown Abbey, and the new series The Durrells in Corfu were available if you had internet access.
The Durrells in Corfu is now my latest love from Masterpiece Theatre.

Keeley Hawes (Upstairs Downstairs) stars as an intrepid widow who decamps from dreary England to a sun-dappled Greek island with her four recalcitrant children, ages 11 to 21, on this six-part adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals and its two sequels. The Durrells in Corfu airs Sundays, October 16th - November 20th, 2016 at the special time of 8pm ET on MASTERPIECE on PBS.

Treat yourself to a fun-filled hour on Sunday nights, it's a lovely escape.

http://www.gpb.org/television/shows/masterpiece/episode/5b68c4c3-67b4-4e50-969a-313420e45ace#.WA5sFOulhDc.link

Scarlet Ball

 

"October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band."

~ October's Party, George Cooper.

Older Than Dirt

I've been busy giving some of the Blue Willow and Staffordshire Ware pieces a bath.
I'm not sure why, it seems I often get the urge to spring clean in the fall.
I think it has something to do with the changing seasons, the coolness of the Autumn air, the heady scent of spiced-mix candles magically weaving their spell.

This gathering of antique 'blues' are collectively over a half millennium in age. They are still beautiful after all their years of service, and oh, what stories they could tell !
I often find myself wondering what tales the little creamers could tell, if only they could talk.
Sitting around a Victorian ladies tea table, listening to the latest fashion news from Europe.
Or quietly displayed in the cabinet of a fine Southern Antebellum home laying in wait to be used for a special dinner, in celebration of a loved one, returning home from some foreign war.

 

Lots more to go.....

Home Sweet Home

                                                 " A person travels the whole world over

   in search of what he needs

   and returns home to find it. "

           ~George Moore

 

Rain Dancing

No rain in over a month now, the ground is parched and cracked.
Normally this time of the year, we are having a peak show of color, when the trees magical transform from summer greens to their brilliant fall palette, but signs of brown, dead leaves are all around.
I've noticed the deer have been venturing closer to the house, they hear the splutter of the pond pump, and it must sound mighty inviting right about now.
 

Slowly Changing

The days are noticeably shorter, morning mists linger.

The leaves are beginning their annual show of colors, slowly turning from greens to brilliant reds, yellows and oranges. 

Sweaters and trousers will soon replace flip-flops and shorts,

And heavy blankets return to the foot of our beds.

The nesting season is upon us.

 

 

English Country Folk

A little treasure from the Royal Doulton, Beswick, English Country Folk Collection,

Mrs Rabbit Baker.

I found her on one of our many trips to the antique shops in England last Autumn.

She reminds me of my grandma Elizabeth Jane, who owned one of the towns local bakeries.

 

" No matter what time you call in at Mrs. Rabbit's homely* cottage, you're sure to find her hard at work in the cozy, wood-panelled kitchen.
Whether a traditional Sunday roast, delicious cakes, or her famous homemade scones, Mrs Rabbit's care and skill make every mouthful a special treat."


* for American readers the use of the word 'homely' in England means cozy and comfortable.