It’s autumn again, which I quite like. It isn’t cold although the family does start complaining that they need the central heating on. It’s a good excuse to light the open fire in the living room and start having proper Sunday lunches, ones that last all afternoon until five or six o’clock.
It isn’t often we have a boozy Sunday lunch. With 4 kids, for the last 16 years there has always been a small one in the house, which invariably means hard work in the afternoons. They don’t entertain themselves. The computer can of course do it all for them and then it is a conscious decision you have to make. Screens or no screens. Easy time or hard work. So sometimes you have to let go and opt for the easy time and enjoy the afternoon. The log fire means nodding off on the settee with that last drop of wine or brandy just about polished off.
It is also the time of year that I think about cooking, be it plum chutney, or getting the Chrismas cake going. There must be an inbuilt conditioning that around harvest time people think about preserving food in preparation for the long winter ahead. It came as a surprise to me to realise that in days of old the winter food stocks had to last until mid summer, at which time the following year’s harvest started and supplies became plentiful again.
In the garden the apples still need harvesting. We pick them but as often as not they go too mouldy. There are more than we can cope with. This year the apples, blackberries and raspberries have been good but no pears or plums.
The leaves are also starting to show up on the lawn. Leaves are a real nuisance for us as we are surrounded by next door’s sycamore trees. It’s not just the lawn. The gutters fill up. Every year the soakaway drain in front of the garage gets blocked and I have to empty it of compost that has built up from decomposing leaves. It’s amazing how many worms find their way in there. The compost is of the rich earthy type and is a useful addition to the heap at the bottom of the garden.
This year I am going to buy a chainsaw. Last year we cut some branches from trees overlooking the allotment. I kept them thinking they would be useful for the fire. They would be if they could be cut to size. The problem is that there are so many of them it would take me days to chop them. It would do me good I’m sure but it ain’t going to happen. I have always shied away from the idea of a chainsaw for safety reasons but this is the year it arrives.
Of course the grass still needs cutting but it is now too wet. Ah well. Another job that didn’t quite get done in time before the rains hit, although it seems to have been one long rainy day this year. I do like autumn though.