A Bewitching Night

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Macbeth ~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Harvest Picnic

"The gilding of the Indian summer mellowed the pastures far and wide.

The russet woods stood ripe to be stripped, but were yet full of leaf.

The purple of heath-bloom, faded but not withered, tinged the hills...

Fieldhead gardens bore the seal of gentle decay; ... its time of flowers and even of fruit was over."

~ Charlotte Brontë

Autumn Cottage

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

To Autumn : John Keats 1795-1821

Gingerness

Pssst......listen to me now, I don't have long.
It's me Oliver cat, I'm using mum's confuser thingy to tell you about the huge storm we had today.
Leaves blowing all over the garden, and swirly black skies, it was so much fun.

I got myself into a dispute with one of the neighborhood kitties, we tried to chase the same leaf and she slapped my nose, see !
That's OK, she told me she was sorry, and offered me her toy mouse.

Mum is outside, straightening up the garden furniture, and putting everything back in it's place.
Don't tell her I've used her camera, it will be our secret OK ?

What a fun day, I hope we get the same winds tomorrow.

Mum said NOT.

Got to run, I hear her coming.

>^..^<

Forgotten

And when the winds moan wildly,
When the woods are bare and brown
And when the swallow’s clay-built nest
From the rafter crumbles down;
When all the untrod garden-paths
Are heaped with frozen leaves,
And icicles, like silver spikes,
Are set along the eaves;

Verse from: The Old Homestead by Alice Cary, From Friends’ Intelligencer, Volume XXV, Philadelphia, 1869

Flower Delivery

Falling Leaves

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

Henry Beston, Northern Farm

Yew Tree Farm

If you share a love of Beatrix Potter as I do, I have a treat in store.....

Courtesy of Britain's ITV3 television program 'Living the Dream' we are treated to an incredible visit inside Yew Tree Farmhouse, home of Beatrix Potter.



The life of Beatrix Potter is a fascinating story in itself, one that has a lot to offer children particularly as an insight into the constraints and expectations of women in the Victorian Era. Ahead of her time she defied convention to become not only one of the great storytellers and artists of her age but also a landowner, farmer and conservationist .

(Helen) Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)

Yew Tree Farm with its distinctive ‘spinning gallery’ is in the beautiful Lake District, in a stunning picturesque setting it is ideally located for all Lakeland activities.

The Farm House was built in 1693 and is one of the most photographed farms in the North. Yew tree was owned by Beatrix Potter in the 1930s and is still home to many of her furnishings, Yew Tree farm featured as ‘Hill Top’ in the movie ‘Miss Potter’ starring Rene Zellweger.

Beatrix called the Lake District in England her beloved home. She owned several farms in the local area, Yew Tree Farmhouse being her favorite. Yew Tree Farmhouse is partly of 17th Century date or earlier, with a new end added in 1743.

This date, and the initials of the then owner, George Walker, are cut in the ironwork of the front door. The farm gets its name from the yew tree, some 700 years old when it blew down in 1896.

"…as nearly perfect a little place as I ever lived in, and such nice old-fashioned people in the village." -Beatrix Potter

Please turn off the PLAYLIST by scrolling to the bottom of the sidebar and clicking the LARGE round button.

Video credit: yewtreefarm1/ITV3

October Trees

"How innocent were these Trees, that in
Mist-green May, blown by a prospering breeze,
Stood garlanded and gay;
Who now in sundown glow
Of serious colour clad confront me with their show
As though resigned and sad,
Trees, who unwhispering stand umber, bronze, gold;
Pavilioning the land for one grown tired and old;
Elm, chestnut, aspen and pine, I am merged in you,
Who tell once more in tones of time,
Your foliaged farewell."-

~October Trees: Siegfried Sassoon.

Time For Tea

A Cup of Tea

When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.

There is magic in its' fragrance,
There is solace in its' taste;
And then laden moments vanish
Somehow into space.

And the world becomes a lovely thing!
There's beauty as you'll see;
All because you briefly stopped
To brew a cup of tea.