But we are prepared; we've got the wood, the oil for the heating, the woolly jumpers and the snow shovel. Let the winter come, I say. Mon Cheri is not so sure. He did his army service in the Alps but that was a long time ago, and as a somebody who is used to the warm, southern weather, he is not so confident of his winter survival skills anymore.
But it is important to stay positive, I say, even if the temperature outside is not. Look how beautiful the falling snow is, how intricately designed the snowflakes...I'm talking to the wall; Mon Cheri has put on his earmuffs and is no longer responsive to my words.
Ach well, so we have also put the winter tires in the car. Right on time, it seems. In this country they change only the two front ones, which is a good thing since it was quite a job to do even that, never mind all four. And I was only handing out the tools and pointing the light where it needed to be pointed while Mon Cheri did all the hard work. Sometimes it is good to be a woman. With a man whose is more than willing to do all the manly jobs around the house, I hasten to add! We're still squabbling over the saw and the axe but I just have to pick my fights, I suppose...
While the winter is taking its first steps around here and the days are rather dark and chilly, I like to look back and remember the last of the autumn days and all the colour we had around us. I have a feeling I will be looking at these photos a lot in the future and basking in the 'warmth' of the vibrant colours.
When I planted these Tagetes seeds, I accidently dropped a whole lot of them in one spot on the ground and since they are rather small I couldn't be bothered to pick the extras away but just left them there to do their thing. And look what a happy display they made!
All autumn I was collecting various flower seeds to secure an even better flower display for the next summer. I think it is safe to say that when it comes to these Marigold seeds, I have a reserve for the next ten years at least.
My neighbour Sylvette gave me some Cosmos seeds in the beginning of the summer (and the ones I planted are still blooming, believe it or not!) and here's the stock for the next year.
Little spots of colour in the forest.
Last of the few peppers I managed to grow and delicious they were too! Mon Cheri is planning to extend the greenhouse, so next summer we should have more than this.
One aubergine plant survived the move against all the odds and managed to produce a fruit as well but it just didn't have the time or the warmth to mature. Again, this shall be remedied next year. I have collected so many recipes I want to try, so I'm hoping for a better haul next summer.
As you all know by now, our courgettes were a success story. We got about 46 kilos of courgettes this summer and in the end were at loss to think what to do with them. Luckily they have kept quite well in the cold garage and now we're down to the last big one. And here's few of them (that we prepared earlier!), filled and ready for the oven. That's a couple of days worth of food.
One of this autumn's revelations were the rosehips. For years I have planned and promised myself to do something with them but I didn't manage it until now. Armed with gloves I went forth and didn"t even have to go too far from the house, since they grow pretty much everywhere. In no time at all I had a big tub full of them and I decided to make some rosehip syrup to secure the intake of vitamins for the coming months.
I also got a dose of colour-therapy while cleaning the rosehips outside in the warm sunshine. Aren't they pretty!
Picking the berries, cleaning them and preparing the syrup takes a lot of time and trouble but it is well worth it in my opinion; in the end you'll have a delicious, thick syrup which is so good for you! and here's the recipe I used:
https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/rosehip-syrup
After cleaning the kitchen from the spilled syrup, I could sit down and enjoy a very refreshing and delicious rosehip-tonic drink. Cheers autumn, welcome winter!
Looks lovely that rosehip syrup and I can imagine- tastes too!
ReplyDelete- nato