Whispers of Autumn

Today felt like the first real day of Autumn.

I've been in France for the past two weeks, which is still in the last leisurely days of summer. It was bright and sunny and even the wind was warm.

Here, it's a different story.

When I woke up, I felt that the weather had changed. There was a slight chill in the air, and I had to wear a dressing-gown - not out of habit, but out of necessity. 

It was one of those days where you can't quite tell what the weather is going to do. At first, it felt cold and blustery, so we piled on the layers of jumpers and warm socks. And yet, when the sun came out in the break between church and lunch, we found that we were too hot, and had to undress. Our afternoon walk, too, was deceptive: we walked into the chill wind, heads down, hats on, only to find that when we turned around to walk the other way we needed to unzip our coats and walk at a more leisurely pace.

We picked blackberries this afternoon, dashing out in between the showers of rain to pick handfuls of glossy, sweet berries. We made blackberry and apple crumble for pudding, and I gathered some more to make into compote for tomorrow morning.

I had forgotten how much I truly love Autumn.