September in Photos

Ah September you have been a wonderful month.  So much time spent outside nourishing and restoring me.  So much time going slow and noticing those things that pass you by when life is busy.  I am once again joining in the Photo Scavenger Hunt over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me.... here are my photos that inspired by words and words inspired by photos.

Cosy

Camping in a cooler month means that warm layers are vital for the evenings, actually they are vital for camping all year round here who I am kidding.  Packing for a trip at the beginning of the month meant that my favourite winter warm layer was dusted off and placed lovingly in the bag.  I knitted this, the pattern is mine, inspired by many I looked at on Ravelry, made up as I went along.  It was a labour of love, stitches unravelled as often as they were knitted until I reached the perfect pattern, shape and size.  On taking it out of the basket where it has been for the warmer months I realised that it could do with a wash, that will have to wait until it warms up again next year.

Changing Foliage

The great wonder of nature.  The beauty of Autumn.  

Scarf

Not so much a scarf but a cowl which does the same job.  I made this at the beginning of the month when it was cold enough for the hats and scarves to come out of hibernation.  The yarn was leftover from a cardigan I made for my nephew last year, an end of ball that was the perfect amount.  The pattern is here  if you would like to make one for yourself.

Baking

I love flapjack, it is my favourite snacking food, I make savoury and sweet versions.  I don't like using syrup to make it as I find it too sickly sweet, I have experimented over the years with alternative ingredients.  Medjool dates are great at sticking everything together, along with some butter and honey.  I have been trying to find other ingredients that compliment each other and provide that stickiness that will hold the flapjack together, a recipe I found online sounded hopeful.  I didn't have all the flavour ingredients suggested so I used what I had.  I love the taste combination of ingredients, sour cherries, cacao nibs, chopped almonds and desiccated coconut but I haven't yet perfected it staying together.  One particularly crumbly batch made a great breakfast with yogurt whilst we were camping this month so not a complete failure I would say!

Cobweb

I looked out of my bedroom early one morning the light, so special at that time of day, was catching shimmering silver patches on the hedge and the green roof.  It took me a few moments to realise that they were cobwebs covered in dew.  It bought this poem to mind:

The lawn is the fairies' washing green
And there, by the moonlight's mystic sheen
Their garments are spread in the soft night air
All fashioned neatly with skill and care
Until the dawn of the morning

Such gossamer gowns of silver-grey
All 'broided with pearls and diamonds gay
Must need to be dried by the moon's pale light
The sun's harsh rays would ruin quite
These dainty robes of the fairies
Janet Armstrong

Own choice

We spotted these acorns on a tree, a Sessile Oak Quercus Petraea, whilst out walking on our recent camping trip to Wales.  This tree is part of an Atlantic oak woodland, a habitat that is sometimes call the Celtic Rainforest, as important globally as tropical rainforest.  This is an ancient woodland that is mentioned in the Welsh legends of the Mabingion written down in the 12th century, and has been thousands of years in the making.  It was a really special and magical place to walk in.