♥ Early November brought the first frosts and our seven o'clock morning walks were suddenly very chilly. Such a beautiful and invigorating way to start the day though, I love the energy it gives me.
♥ Continuing to walk around my lovely little rural home town, observing the beauty of the changing seasons.
♥ Even on damp, dull days the autumn colours cheered my spirits and I took so much pleasure from being out underneath the trees.
♥ Most weekday mornings I head out by myself for an hour or so, mostly to pick up groceries or run errands around the town. I realised just the other day that this has kind of taken over from the school run that used to be such a big part of my routine, and the thought of that made me smile.
♥ Two weeks ago we celebrated a whole fifteen years living here at number twenty four. This house, in this friendly town with this remarkable hill view fill me with gratitude every single day. I'm so glad we live here!
♥ Ahh, a random photo of a leaf, of course. This is the exact kind of thing that literally stops me dead in my tracks as I'm walking up the street. The colours in nature fill my brain to bursting, it's no wonder I can't remember stuff - there's just no room for information in amongst the leaves.
♥ November is a month full of cosy. The rapidly shortening days and cold, snappy weather makes me appreciate the comforts of being indoors, covered in the all the yarn. Socks, mitts and blankets, layers and layers of warmth.
♥ Waking up and realising it's Friday - allllllll the happy feels. I get to jaunt down the hill to the café to spend three delicious hours drinking coffee, hooking up something colourful and chatting with my very good friends. I bloomin' love Fridays.
♥ The joy of sharing a love of yarn and colour with my tribe. Sitting opposite my talented friend who's been knitting a circular blanket in the most glorious shades of Autumn. My Fireside cushion really looked good with her blanket, such a photogenic pair.
♥ Haha - mid November, and I was still hanging onto the last remains of summer, I just couldn't seem to let it go completely. The little wood and wire sculpture is a recent purchase from one of my favourite makers Helen of Thimbleville. I love the simple words because they remind me to stay positive on days when it feels like a struggle.
♥ Cheap and cheerful autumn flowers on my table, bringing colour into the room for almost three whole weeks.
♥ November has long been the month of the indoor hyacinths, ever since I first moved here and found them in the supermarket in November 2008. I've had them in the house every single year since and look forward to them very, very, very much.
♥ Here's an observation though - they really don't seem to smell any more? The scent of hyacinths would easily fill the room once upon a time, but in recent years, not so much. They are still the most beautiful things to observe though - there are six days between the two photos above, don't they grow fast?
♥ A weekend family walk at Bolton Abbey, taking advantage of some unexpected afternoon sunshine.
♥ The low sun was blindingly bright at times, but I couldn't get enough of it. Sometimes I just stand still and face the sun with my eyes closed - J says I'm solar powered and need to recharge my panels. I think he might be right.
♥ Gorgeous, gorgeous light as we drove home over the moors - it's just after 3pm in the above photo. The long, tall shadows are me and Little Lady prancing about while the boys sat patiently in the car waiting for us to finish.
♥ Cosy crochet by candlelight - very, very Novemberish I'd say.
♥ The first mice pie of the season, such a perfect little afternoon sweet treat. I adore these little mini ones that you can buy from the supermarkets and much prefer them to the big filled ones.
♥ November is generally waaaaay too early for me to think about anything Christmassy, but it's hard to avoid as little signs creep in everywhere you look. I can cope with the odd bauble here and there, and maybe some extra twinkly lights about the place.
♥ All in all, November was a good month, really good actually. Ohh....yes! There was also this.....
....a few days spent by the sea which was absolutely, wonderfully restorative and energising. I'll show you some more photos in my next post xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx