Autumn days and frosty nights to come.

I always feel kind of sad on the day that the first real frost is expected because that is the day I have to bring all of my fuchsias and geraniums in. Now the window sills are bare and there are no hanging baskets because I haven’t found time to plant the pansies for winter. I have bought some of them, so I’ve put them on the patio table still in their trays to show my good intentions!

Although it’s cold at night and will be colder tonight as the temperature drops to zero, we have been having beautiful October afternoons. Today I was mesmerised by the black poplars on the other side of the road. Their leaves were shimmering in the sunshine. They reminded me of the aspens I saw on our trip to Colorado. Of course aspen and poplar are from the same family.

We’ve had some beautiful sunsets lately. Right now the pink sky is shining through the dark green branches of the Christmas tree. And that makes me a bit sad, too, as all of the family insist that we must cut that tree down soon as it is very close to the house. Chris watched a tv programme about how trees cause subsidence. He’s also worried about the water pipes.

I wish I had had more forethought when the children planted it there after Christmas in the early 90s, but it was so tiny then!

I came across this lovely quote from Vincent Van Gogh recently –

As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colours enough to paint the beautiful things I see.