I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers

The title quote from L.M. Montgomery uttered by the flame haired Anne Shirley pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about this time of year.  Autumn is the season I start to grow back into my own skin.  I am calmed and comforted by its presence.  Autumn is my time.

This year October has seen every single weekend completely booked up with weddings, family events and other social arrangements which all seem to have lined themselves up one after the other.  This combined with dealing with 2 children with a combination of chicken pox, the usual coughs and colds, and the worst teething pain I've ever known a baby to suffer, means that I have not had time to even check my reflection of late let alone operate in blogland.  I am finding solace in the thought of my forthcoming holiday where I will be hopefully be able to spend a few days drinking in visual beauty similar to that depicted in these photographs.

All photos found on this blog 

I hope you are enjoying the change of season wherever you may be.

xxx

Postcards from Victorian Wales

Looking back at postcards of Victorian Wales.  They somehow keep me dreaming of autumn during the final, stubborn throes of summer


(yes that is a Victorian urinal -the mister knew I'd appreciate it)

EDIT - The 5th photo down is a urinal from the beautiful Lake Vrnwy Hotel, and yes I do love me some antique ceramics ;)

Autumn Wishing in a Welsh Village

Thank you for all the comments about my hair.  I'm quite pleased with it considering I did it myself. I'm looking forward to experimenting around it with my clothes and make up.  Speaking of which, a few of you commented on the sneak peaks of this dress from my last couple of posts. Well, here it is in all it's glory.   It's another vintage Etsy purchase from the States which I paired with a high street denim jacket and my Dr Marten knee boots for comfort and practicality.  These pics were taken last week during a trip to the Welsh village of Llanfyllin.  We stayed in an 18th century converted mill which, at dusk, looked like this 

It was set in it's own sweeping secluded grounds with a stream and a bridge, blackberry bushes and nooks and crannies aplenty.  The weather was extremely changeable but it didn't matter.  

In fact, lying in bed one night with the duvet wrapped around my neck reading on my phone so as not to disturb a sleeping 5 month old, I realised that Autumn seemed to have suddenly arrived out of nowhere and I was more than ready for it.  I'm ready for tights and cardigans.  Ready for more cuddling up and wrapping the baby in his giant rainbow blanket.  Ready for more darkness and fog and seeing my breath in front of me in the morning

Am I the only one?

Different colours made of tears

I recently spent some time in the sprawling New Galloway countryside.

Just down the road from our deserted rustic cottage was a 17th century church 

Spooky dancing children on these crumbling tombstones

The weather was wet and overcast for most of the week

It was the perfect place to contemplate the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the major life changes ahead

I love tombstones that look like sacrificial tables

5 months in I am weary, tearful and distinctly lacking in glow.  Impending motherhood this time around has manifested itself as an all out attack on my equilibrium.

But this part of Scotland at this time of year presented a welcome break and an ideal environment for gathering one's thoughts and spending treasured time with loved ones.  Photographs couldn't do justice to the miles and miles of unkempt and unspoilt countryside and vast rugged landscapes.  Pretty it certainly isn't, but it is so wild and beautiful

Octoberfest

It's October.  My favourite month of the year.  Autumn is here and my thoughts have turned to dark nights and graveyards, abandoned old buildings and foggy landscapes, Victoriana and pre-Raphaelites, skulls and faeries

All images found here