Ode To Autumn

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage- trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er brimm'd their clammy cells..."

An extract from 'To Autumn" by John Keats

In the front of my very old poetry book, it says that Keats wrote in 1817 "I find I cannot exist without poetry- without eternal poetry- half the day will not do..." His artistic career only lasted some five or six years, but he is described as one of the most wholly and completely obsessed English poets, which is why he wrote so much in such a short space of time. Here is another man (see yesterday's post) who found what he loved to do.

I love reading his ode to Autumn, because I can relate so much to his love of this season, and it fascinates me that nearly 200 years ago, Autumns came and went with the same fruits and smells as they do now. There is something hauntingly beautiful about the way that I can relate to someone who lived such a long time before I did.

I have been crafting away this week, purely for pleasure. It's been quite a restful week, letting go of the pressure to perform and putting my heart right back in the centre of things where it belongs, following inspiration, allowing for disruption, and not worrying if things seem very unproductive!

I took some inspiration from Kelle Hampton's blog and I made some Autumnal decorations for the house. First I picked some leaves, then I drew around them onto cardboard and then used these cardboard shapes as stencils. I drew around them onto felt and fabrics, I was digging the purples and yellows. It was then a quick needle and thread job through the fabric leaves to join them together. I made one leaf bunting swag for the fireplace and some falling leaves decorations for the window. They look great and the children love them. I love the leaf shapes so much that I now feel inspired to make other things decorated with leaves... we'll see if I have time!

I'm enjoying our first fire tonight, it's very cosy :)

I've just remembered I wrote down some of my own thoughts about Autumn a few weeks ago, so I'll leave you with that:

Acorns litter the floor like confetti
the Orchard is shrouded in mist
apples scattered on the floor
like the ones who didn't make it
on a battlefield, a faint wiff of cider
The trees black and delicate against the white sky
yellow leaves lie softly on the ground
they'll soon be brown.
The song of blackbirds
and other birds I can't identify
light up the morning with their song
Spider webs brush against my cheeks,
some speckled with dewdrops
The light, broken by tree trunks
reaching for the sky
the light through the trees is always magical
Mushrooms push their plump heads up through the leaf litter
like proud marshmallows
the water droplets drip through the leaves of the canopy above my head
Rabbits scurry in the path ahead
I try and stay quiet
but the heavy clonk and squeak of my khaki wellies gives me away
Oak trees reach to the sky like pillars in a temple
in a copiced clearing
their beauty gives me strength inside

My baby boy is getting big!

Night all.