Firsts #2

Do you REMEMBER a long, long while ago i wrote my first 'Firsts' -shaped post?  If you'd like to refresh your peepers you can hop along to it HERE.  I wrote a post about the very first peepings of summer time and i enjoyed it so much that i decided almost then and there that it would become a little bit of a series:  that i would write one to record the start of each and every season and all that it meant to me.
It feels like a squillion years ago, because the last one marked the start of British summertime and all of the good things that came along with it.  That, my friends was a l-o-n-g time ago.  Not that i am complaining.  But if i am really HONEST with you, i have always counted 1st of September as the start of Autumn.  Except here in Blighty this year there has been somewhat of a month long extension to our usual summertime.  So we find ourselves right at the beginning of October instead.  I don't mind telling you that i have been chomping at the bit to get started on my second 'Firsts' post:    a few words on the first peepings of Autumn, some pictorial-pie and some natterings on what's been going on around these parts of late.  Pull up a chair, cross your legs and WRAP your hands around a warm drink…cinnamon optional.  

Whilst a part of me DELIGHTS in sleeping in my almost-altogether throughout the summer months, i can't tell you how much i ADORE curling up in layers and layers of soft brushed cottons and well-worn oversized cardigans instead.  Whilst we are not quite at 'take a hot water bottle to bed' time just yet up here, i have been relishing requring to slip on a pair of soft pastel socks come morning, and sling a cardigan and soft blanket around our knees on lazy sunday morning breakfasts.  It's the ULTIMATE in wake-up shaped comfort for me.  
What else means AUTUMN though?  For me everything just feels warmer, richer and that little bit heavier.  I get excited at the thought of switching up what i eat too.  It's always a pleasure the very first time i get to get stuck into back porridge and to dream of all of the exciting toppings i can lace it with too.  I also can't wait to AUTUMN-up my bread recipes and to have toast slathered in ginger preserve.  Summer salads are eagerly replaced with wilted spinach, kale and buttery leeks.  And i never need an excuse to crave a roast chicken and leek pie.  Baby new potatoes with torn mint leaves are replaced with buttery colcannon mash, savoy cabbage with salted butter and roasted carrots drizzled with honey.  And i might need to start adding in an extra few laps on those two-wheels of mine while we are at it if i carry on like this!

Sunsets come fast and SUDDEN and i am left chasing the sun home for the very first couple of weeks of Autumn. Soon my evening park route shall be no more as there simply wont be enough light left by the time i return from work.  With that comes the temptation and in equal measure, big sigh at the thought of FORCING my little legs round and round on those pedals before i start work in the morning.  More often than not i'll settle for the extra hour in bed and resign myself to adding on more laps to my days off.  It's all about balance and i am a Tasmanian devil without enough sleep!  
The LIGHT is one of my very favourite parts of Autumn though.  Even of there is less of it, the hours we do get are pretty spectacular.  It's rich, amber glow breathes magic into each and every thing it dances upon and no matter how cold your hands and feet become, it's all worthwhile.

 Bike ride re-fuelling is always NECESSARY and it's time to kiss goodbye to iced coffees, freshly pressed juices and smoothies and yoghurt and crumbled nuts and seeds.  Autumn brings hot drinks laced with a syrup of cinnamon or ginger, and heavier oat flapjacks or granola bars wrapped in foil and SQUIRRELLED away at the bottom of satchels.  

Autumn SHOWERS too, are heavier, filled with might and persistence.  Gusts and WHOOSHES of winds blow leaves and fasten them like glue, dotted prettily along walkways and pavements.  The air smells of coal fires, dampness and of forests.  

Soon it shall be time for socks, tights, more layers and for hats and mittens.  And i am more than ready to take it all in, each and every last drop.

What's your very favourite thing about AUTUMN and what does it mean to you?  I'd love to know!