The Knowing Leaves

March 16, 2016 Annette8 Comments

The weather might not know that we’re officially in autumn, though we have had a few delicious moments of chilliness in the past week, but the leaves know. The leaves always know.

Seems I don’t have much to say at the moment, which is fine, I’d rather keep quiet than crap on just for the sake of posting something. I still exist offline.

I am drawing every day. I’m longing for proper autumnal weather. I’m looking for a new job.

I’m reading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown.

I’m reflecting on who I am and how I got here, as my 48th birthday draws nearer.

I’m reading my favourite blogs and I have a new Instagram account (@createdbyannette) just for following clever, colourful, artistic types.

I ate a sensational chicken and avocado sandwich today. Next time you’re in Olinda, you should definitely visit The Deli Platter. They know what they’re doing!

Do you have a great blog you’d like to recommend to me?

Do you admire/follow a talented artist I should know about?

Are you longing for autumn too? (Proper autumn, not this 30 degrees in March rubbish.)

From up among the trees,

Annette xx

Autumnal Joy

April 10, 2015 Annette14 Comments

I love autumn.

Let’s make this crystal clear – I adore it, always have, always will.

Let me count the ways…

The chill in the mornings and evenings.

The colours.

The changes that autumn signifies.

Dusting off the slow cooker, planning your Easter break – autumn’s here!

I love the end of daylight savings, when we all feel like hopping into bed at 8.30pm because it’s so dark it must be later.

Needing a blanket.

Grabbing a cardigan. What is better than cardigan weather!?

That smell when your neighbour lights their fire for the first time.

The crunch of leaves underfoot.

It makes me so happy!!

It’s kind of like seasonal puppy love. And I’ve got it bad.

The light.

The sky. Just look at it!

I feel like these flowers today, joyful and bright and content to just be me.

I hope you feel like that too.

Try looking at all the beauty around you this weekend, even if you’re busy. When you’re at the traffic lights – look at the sky, not your phone. At the sports ground early with the kids? Grab a coffee and look at the trees. Aren’t trees magnificent?

Autumn reminds me that it all just goes on – this life, the seasons, the sun rises and sets, day after week after month after year… and we can’t control any of it, so let’s REVEL in it.

I feel so grateful to be here today. Life is beautiful.

Are you in?

Let’s REVEL in autumnal joys.

Yours in a cardigan,

Annette xx

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A new season for 52 Paintings

March 7, 2015 Annette2 Comments

Good morning!

I’ve ventured into new territory this week, to match the changing of the seasons.

Drumroll and standing ovation for the best, most colourful and glorious season of them all….. autumn.

You’ll probably see #crushingonautumn pop up a lot on my Instagram feed, as I post snaps of chilly, cloud scooting skies, the changing colours of the leaves and my kitchen bench loaded down with delicious things to slow cook and roast and turn into soup.

Swoon.

Even the language of the season gives me a thrill – think about the word autumnal and how it conjures up crunching leaves underfoot, fireside catch ups with friends, putting on your cardigan before going out, reaching for a scarf, loading up the kids and driving through the hills to find a pub with a great roast lunch special and a playground you can see from beside the fire.

The wine drinkers change from enjoying crisp chilled whites to warming reds. Salads give way to soups. Dining out morphs into staying in, being cosy and the age-old dance of the clothes horses in your living space commences.

The days are getting shorter, but we’re not in the depths of winter yet… oh, it’s just heaven I tell you. Easter approaches, we seem to collectively be changing gears as we prepare for the colder months.

I decided to try and capture my love of all things autumnal with my watercolours.

I’d love to be ‘better’ at this kind of painting – perhaps with practice that will come, but for now I’m happy to be exploring, playing and wishing for the temperatures to drop so I can pop the heater on.

Are you an autumn lover too?

Tell me your favourite things about my favourite time of year.

Cheers, keep creating.

Right now, it’s time for a warming cup of coffee.

Annette x

Autumn, how I love thee… let me count the leaves

May 12, 2014 Annette6 Comments

It isn’t a new revelation but it is now OFFICIAL, I am utterly besotted with autumn. I’m in awe of the changing of the colours in the trees and the blue, blue sky. I’m a goner for autumnal beauty, and for the word autumnal. I think I know why the Yanks call it fall, because you FALL in love with the beauty and cleverness of Mother Nature, year after year. Swoon!

I took these today, and I didn’t have to search high and low or catch a plane, or take a four-hour train ride… it’s right outside my door. And it is GLORIOUS.

There’s something about the vibrancy of the colours against each other – the red and yellow leaves against the too blue to believe sky… I just love it. These crisp autumn days make me so happy. They remind me that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Every year, sometimes early, sometimes late, but without fail, the trees put on this awesome display.

I took a photo of this amazing yellow frocked tree last year, in its autumnal glory, and as I passed it again today, I thought, look at that tree, it’s still there, still strong, tall and beautiful. It hasn’t uprooted itself in search of greener pastures, it hasn’t tried to change who it is, it’s not making apologies for the beauty it has, this tree is proud and shining. I think that’s awesome. Perhaps there’s something in that for we mere mortals, or maybe I’m slightly drunk on today’s sunshine and colours.

This tree is at home right where it is, quietly drinking in what it needs from the earth, and giving back to the earth, and it is majestically beautiful.

I think I want to be a tree when I grow up – okay, maybe not an actual tree, but to have a tree’s steady presence, to stand tall, to know my purpose and to let my colours shine. Trees take only what they need, and provide shelter and life and shade and beauty in the world. That’s not a bad checklist of ambitions is it?

Oh, and for bonus points, dappled light.

Is it autumn or fall where you are? I’d love to hear about how autumn looks in your neck of the woods.

Annette x

Autumn – season of soups, staying home and being cosy

March 25, 2014 Annette13 Comments

It finally happened yesterday. I made my first soup of the season – the chopping, roasting, seasoning and blitzing was so enjoyable and calming. A hot bowl of pumpkin soup, is there a better way to welcome autumn than this?

There’s something so comforting about hunkering down on a cold day – for me that meant a morning reading The Folk of the Faraway Tree, drying laundry in front of the heater and pulling up the drawbridge on the outside world, except to peek at Facebook and Instagram occasionally.

Mid-afternoon I turned on my ‘Christmas’ lights – to me they’re more cosy-makers than festive bulbs, and I sat in my little rented house, on my lovely green couch, happy to be ensconced in my warm home, Blyton characters alive again in my imagination, soup on the stove – just me, recharging, and loving every minute of it.

It’s funny to think that I was once the girl that didn’t like being alone, who always needing to be in the thick of the action. I think a lot of that was a seriously bad case of FOMO, combined with not really knowing myself, which I could keep at bay by being a social butterfly.

Fast forward several decades….

Now I crave my own company, especially when I’m working with people who are draining, or after a few social outings. In fact, I declined what would have been a great outing over the weekend, because I already had several things on the calendar, and I am much more in tune with my limits and capacity for being the life of the party these days. Don’t worry, I can still throw down, but it has to be balanced with lots of solo time.

I think autumn is a season that really suits introverts – there’s something about the weather changing, lighting the fire or cranking up the heater, staying home more, even the way we eat, that seems very different to the outdoorsy, sociable days of summer, which seem to be an extrovert’s paradise.

Though I usually buck labels and their limitations, I’m happy with this ‘label’ of being an introvert. I’m also happy to confound people who think introverts can’t ever be sociable, or aren’t vibrant and funny. I’m all of those things, and much more.

So, whoever you are, whatever labels you wear, I hope you feel good about them, that you can embrace them, make them a pot of soup and love them.

I’ve missed you autumn. I’m so glad to see you again.

What’s your favourite thing about autumn?

I Give You The Verbs

Tag: autumn