Indian Summer

I was going to do another holiday post - but I am in an Autumn frame of mind at the moment - and, my holiday seems a long way away now.  On my other blog  Ramblings from Rosebank  I have been talking about The Turning of the Season - Autumn Fruits.  This season seems to make everyone wax lyrical about the colours and the end of summer, made more poignant because we have hardly had a summer - no sooner had it started than it ended.  We can only hope for a wonderful Indian Summer in October. 

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I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying indoors

So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air

Nathanial Hawthorne

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Autumn begins with a subtle change in the light,

with skies a deeper blue,

and nights that become suddenly clear and chilled.

The season comes full with the first frost,

the disappearance of migrating birds,

and the harvesting of the season's last crops.

Glenn Wolff and Jerry Dennis

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In the garden Autumn is indeed the crowning glory of the year,

bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.

And at no season, save perhaps daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects

as from August to November.

Rose G. Kingsley

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For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.

For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.

Edwin Way Teale

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The hazy, cloudless skies of Indian Summer.
Leaves scurrying down the street before the wind.
The cold shiver from an arctic blast.
Indian Summer.
The last warmth of the sun.
Chilly mornings and glorious warm afternoons.
The touch of frost on grass and window pane.
The smell of burning leaves.
Keith C. Heidorn

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Youth is like spring, an overpraised season
more remarkable for biting winds than general breezes.
Autumn is the mellower season,
and what we lose in flowers,
we more than gain in fruits.
Samuel Butler

Nothing but Blue Skies

Well, haven't we been lucky - the weather decided to be kind to us for our September break.  As usual we went to North Norfolk - as regular readers will know - this is my favourite holiday destination.  We kept our fingers crossed and prayed the good weather would hold - and it did.  Every waking hour was spent out of doors - walking, eating and relaxing.

The cottage we stay in is in the old part of Wells-next-the sea in a street that used to be the centre.

 All the houses have plaques on them to show what they used to be before the centre of Wells changed and all the shops and businesses located nearer to the quay.  All the holidaymakers  gradually drift towards the quay to consume their fish and chips sitting on the sea wall and the children spend hours trying to catch crabs on bits of bacon.  There is a large wooden ship permanently anchored there called the Albatross which has 'live music' and produces Dutch pancakes for those who want to eat looking out to sea.  On the first evening we sat on the ship drinking warm beer and watching the tide come in - it was warm and balmy and the sky was lavender-coloured.

When the tide goes out the quay area is so picturesque with all the boats glistening in the evening sun, and if you fancy a stroll, then there is the coastal path with conveniently placed benches to stop and take in the view.

We visited all our favourite haunts

walking on the board walk at Holme-next-sea behind the sand dunes where rabbits proliferate and the buckthorn is full of berries.

A bird-watching trip to the RSPB Titchwell Reserve where they have opened up new 'trails' that lead into the reed beds where we saw Bearded Tits (a rare sighting for us) flitting through the bullrushes.

Lunch at the White Horse at Brancaster where I had a delicious Norfolk-style BLT sandwich using tomato jam, egg mayonnaise and crispy bacon.

On another day lunch at the Red Lion in Stiffkey where I had an excellent crab salad

and the beloved had Sea Bream with salad Nicoise

The beach at Wells is vast with a row of beach huts and pine woods behind

We usually walk in the pine woods collecting pine cones which are excellent for starting fires in the log burner come winter.
I'll save the rest of the holiday for another post as this is getting rather lengthy but it will include a new walk we found to a 'hide' on stilts where you could see for miles, a visit to a beautiful walled garden and a surprise
we found when we stopped on the journey home.