zoom in on the spooky

Halloween related aisles are appearing in lots of my local big shops - plenty of dressing up items and ghoulish decor

what really surprises me is the number of specially themed confectionery items on sale - I'm amazed that the market is big enough for so many of the manufacturers to create special shapes and packaging for Halloween - scream eggs was too good a name to miss out but everyone seems to be joining in now.

looking forward to the range of topics you will share this week

me on Monday

a grey weekend – but seasonally correct

it was a monthly organic market visiting; German bakery enjoying; news of new neighbourhood artisan bakery rejoicing; ivy trimming; flat white (coffee) sipping; rain dodging; alien encounter reading (Ken McLeod); Strictly Come Dancing watching kind of weekend

waving to Sian for this lovely meme to start the week and hoping you all have a good week even if your weather is grey (as is forecast for the coming week here)

September summed up

season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, as the poetic (in this case Keats) would say of autumn and September was indeed foggy with plenty of produce to harvest. 

We had fog for 10 days in a row which really makes you double-take on a familiar view until you work out what the fog has obscured.

I picked and enjoyed 9 apples from the tree in my garden and left 2 with the insects that had taken up residence; I received enough plums from my Dad’s trees to make 4 jars of chutney (with Shanghai seasoning mix) and eat plenty too; I picked enough brambles for 1 tasty cobbler.

I filled my garden waste bin twice with the end of summer tidy of the garden and pruning the raspberry canes and planted 5 hyacinth and 12 gladioli bulbs for even more colour next spring.

I spent 5 hours with 4 of my charity crafting group (and 2 of their husbands) at a village fair selling items that we had made.  I sold 32 of my pocket friends and enjoyed seeing lots of big smiles when people spotted the different characters.

I crocheted 1 rust coloured hat for me, using 1 ball of wool and my biggest (7 mm) hook - ready for when the temperatures drop – it has been warm but there are chill edges to the day.

I also crocheted 12 blanket squares to be sent off to charities, each in 2 bright colours which meant I got to play with lots of lovely colour combinations as I measured out the lengths needed for each (30 arm lengths). 

I joined 3,623,343 other people in going to the polling place to vote in the referendum on independence for Scotland then stayed up until 2.30am watching results then slept for 3 hours before getting up to watch the end of the results.

I read 7 novels, 5 of which were from the police crime solving genre (Tanya French, Karen Rose and Craig Russell are all excellent if you are into this genre).  The other 2 followed a woman across the Sahara and young gamers taking on exploitative bosses. 

Joining Julie for her monthly provision of a safe place to revel in counting things

zoom in by the river

A lovely relaxed walk by the river on a sunny autumn afternoon when drama unfolded as walkers noticed a dog walking around on the stones in the river searching for someone - one dogwalker tried to coax it over with treats - after some discussion another rang the local animal welfare people

who arrived after 15 minutes and eventually captured the dog (after a chase involving 4 people and 2 dogs) and took it off to the shelter - and the tranquil afternoon returned (until the geese started honking to gather a gaggle for a practice flight)

week 40 already - anticipating an autumnal from some this week