I really like the autumn, the food has a warm slightly greedy feel to it, a welcome repost to the summer's salads. Stews and warming soups predominate, which build well upon the abundant harvest of vegetables. I know it rains more and the winter and dark evenings with bare trees are coming, but as the leaves turn the colours are pretty. The light also drops to a more flattering angle and lights up the sides of buildings, giving views which surprize you.
Time to start wearing a jacket again, I've needed one most days in the last week or two, rather than the default jeans and a t-shirt of the summer. An umbrella too, I've got soaked once already running from work to the tube.
The rain and continued sunshine has meant that the gardens are confused and even the grass is flourishing, recovered from the dry summer. Epping last weekend was damp and muddy in places, but there were dozens mushrooms lurking in hollows, or brazenly growing in the open under trees. All this under a canopy of still green leaves, which felt wrong, perhaps the leaves will turn by hallowe'en.
I'll miss the sun when we get to the darker afternoons with journeys to work and home in the dark. Each autumn I think I should become a morning person to make the most of the daylight and with Oscar maybe I will, he wakes at 7ish most mornings. I've never been a morning person though, so we'll see what happens. He is a ray of sunshine each morning though, so that makes getting up easier. Beaming smiles and excitement at each new day, it must be thrilling to be that age. Everyday has a sense of novelty and discovery is a daily joy for him.
