The Autumnal Christmas Chronicles Preamble - Thread 2 further ramblings

[HannahDefoesChristmasHamper]

Hope nobody minds me starting anew thread as old one nearly full

Will pop some links in 🍂🍁

@IngenTing lovely photos, thanks for sharing! I do love the sight, smell of the world in snow. Plenty of it too here in Scotland. However, I hate walking on it (fear of slipping), and driving in it (fear of skidding on ice)!

Goodness, @IngenTing thats beautiful. We lived in Canada for a few months whilst dad was working abroad and were there through snow season - many feet of snow and cold temperatures. I learned to ice skate and did a little skiing.

Ds has FaceTimed me from by the pool at my aunt’s in the us. He wanted to show me the hummingbirds feeding on one of their flower bushes. Oh my! Lucky lad.

is anyone hoping to try for the Northern Lights later? - apparently there’s a good chance tonight.

What beautiful snowy pics, @IngenTing We've had some awful weather here in the past three days. The trees have gone from turning yellow to bare thanks to high winds (we get a lot of winds here on the NE coast of England) It's quite shocking how quickly it can turn, even though it happens every year.

@Confusedmeanderings I love your posts about your antiques business. I wish you lived near me. I'd likely be a regular customer. Nothing better than browsing antiques. This possibly explains why I have too much stuff. Much of it too precious to get rid of, but I'm quickly running out of display and storage space.

I've given away a load more via our street group chat. I still have a lot of vintage teacups etc. Who was it last year who had the lovely teacup display?

Trying out my new Le Creuset cups. Not sure they look right on a mug tree, but I don't want to hide them away, either. More shifting around of precious things required, I think.

Ohhh they're pretty @RainbowZebraWarrior! Does your DD like them?

Amazing photos @IngenTing - not sure I could endure snow from now until June. That sounds quite extreme. Found some little pumpkins today so have created an autumnal table arrangement. Hope your DD is ok @RainbowZebraWarrior and your dad.

Yes, she has claimed the red and green ones (Christmas colours as she says)

Just been for a walk around the village and collected a few last conkers in the dark. It's very cold, with a clear, starry sky.

Will be going out into the back garden later tonight as the Aurora forecast looks very promising!

No snow but we have aurora again in SE England

It’s an Aurora pile on! Here from the NW

Too early really, (due to peak here at around 11pm) but here's mine.

Humph I can't see it at all in Herts. Too cloudy.

Getting stronger here

Keeps coming and going here

Fabulous northern lights photos.

Morning all. Beautiful day, here. Cold, but bright and very wintery feeling.

This was the best of the light show here last night. Strong chance again tonight if the sky stays clear

A Thousand Feasts now £10 on Amazon

Not the clearest but still gorgeous.

Huge fan of Nigel Slater,but found 1000Feasts just a book to far..and I have all the others. Just too cloyingly twee( yes,I know that's what NS does) that I ended up doing more eye rolling than was necessary. Having no knowledge of middle or far Eastern cuisine it was quite hard to relate to that section. If it was a recipe I would say overcooked and over seasoned..but I love the cover and end papers.

I meant to share this photo from our early evening walk last night. I was taking some pictures of the almost bare trees, and DD flicked through them to see how they had come out. She pointed out this one and asked how come it was all lit up. I remember that a car had just driven past, so I'm guessing it was the rear lights / brake lights illuminating the tree. A rather striking accidental effect.

A lurker dropping in to say that ATF is currently on offer for £10 in Amazon. I've never read any of his books but I'm enjoying reading all the lovely posts here.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=a+thousand+feasts+nigel+slater&crid=EDHMWJU9ZOHI&sprefix=A+%2Caps%2C100&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_4_2

That’s a stunning photo @RainbowZebraWarrior (the red tree)

Found a Caithness glass candle holder - popped a st evil inspiritus candle in for a Friday evening chill.

happy Friday!

Hope everyone is well. We've just had our usual evening walk. A very spooky moon tonight. My original ATF signed book has arrived from WH Smith, 3 weeks late. It will be finding a new home tomorrow with a friend who I'm sure will love it.

@Bimblesalong I love Caithness and used to collect the paperweights. I got some real bargains at car boot sales back in the 90's (pre internet, when we all used Millers Antiques guide). My friend once got very lucky and found a lot of Lalique among a box of odds and ends.

I accidentally happened across a delicious treat this afternoon whilst on the hop. Didn't have time to stop for lunch, so popped a couple of potato cakes in the toaster, sandwiched some 'naice' ham and mature cheddar between them and wrapped in foil. I devoured the still warm 'potato cake sandwich' in the car while I waited for DD to come out of school. It was the best thing I've eaten all week.

Oooh, delicious @RainbowZebraWarrior

@RainbowZebraWarrior that potato- cake-sandwich-snack looks insane. I could inhale a couple of those now quite easily.....

I decided to look for a tall glass vase or hurricane lantern in charity shops this morning for my paperwhites, found this in the second one I went into. Last year I used a stumpy one which didn't support them enough so that can go to the charity shop now. I will probably use marbles in the bottom as I have a huge collection of them.