First of November

'Public holiday today,' said Tom, contemplating the absence of post 'the one when the dead all have to be held down with chrysanthemums.'

Toussaint, All Saints, All Hallows, the day after All Hallows Eve.  No trick-or-treaters last night, though we saw some in the afternoon as we came through Quessoy, after heading to the coast for a day more warm and sunny and glorious than any in the summer. I made a Jack-o-lantern anyway, since I had a pumpkin handy, and there was a bit of excited squealing and some coming and going from our new young neighbours, but they're a bit old to give sweets to, and rather reserved with us, which is fine. The weather's due to change, they say, but today it looks just as fine as yesterday. We've still not lit the fire; so lucky really to live in such a mild climate, though it may be a different story when the winter rains sweep in.

So November again, and against the current of my, and most other people's, tendencies these days, I'm going to see if I can't get the blogging muscles toned a bit and have a go at daily blogging again. I may not have much to say for myself, but that means I shouldn't prevail too much on anyone's time and attention (my own included) and I do have some photos from over the year, including the last Finistère trip, which I should pick over and edit and make a few posts of, as well as a lot of knitting I've been meaning to write up, which I'll perhaps do item by item, since you can have too much of a good thing (though I've some nice photos of other people good-sportingly wearing said items of knitwear, which deserve my gratitude and an airing). Also my pledge to try to scan and albumise some of the old family photos I have in my care may yield some interest.  I still appreciate my blog, as a means of personal record apart from anything, despite being less assiduous about maintaining it, and appreciate even more yet the people who still stop by here, despite being a less conscientious blog-friend about stopping by theirs (I am often reading, you all, but find myself with less to say by way of comments too).

So to kick off, I owe the blog two months' worth of end-of-the-month collage, so here are September's and October's.

September (left to right, top to bottom, as always): 

1. Misty morning from the bedroom window.
2. Dewy spiders' webs. I took a monstrous number of pictures of these, which are often at their best this month, and have yet to edit them, so expect more.
3. Moncontour donkey festival, now an annual event.
4. Coefficient 115, magical evening out, tickets available from Mother Nature.
5. Non-stop nasturtiums, some of those big yellow daisies that are something like artichoke flowers - BN gave us a bunch of the plants, which have thrived, but I think it's a good year for them generally, I've seen them growing self-sown on verges and among the maize - and good old Michaelmas daisies, whose French name of Reine Marguerites is pretty but I still love the English name best, with its whiff of childhood autumns, back to school and Bonfire Nights.
6. Last California poppies, which curl in the sun and close in the night, even when cut.
7. View from our bedroom window at Kerbiriou, the inlet at Terenez like a mirror.
8. Bittersweet garland.
9. Further up the coast north east of Kerbiriou.
10. Lyse's fabulous tomatoes.
11. Tom's birthday socks.  He always begged me not to knit him socks, since he feared wearing holes in them and feeling guilty, so he'd be afraid to wear them, but these were a quick thick knit with thrifted wool, and he's come round to wearing them in the house.
12. The way through the poplar woods. Poplar leaves, golden hearts, among the first to fall.

October: 

1. Princeling's birthday sweater, with a chart designed on Tricksyknitter sent to the Kindle for reference. More in a knitting post later.
2. As well as the beautiful Irène, whom I mentioned earlier, we also had visits at Quessquitricote from her friend Lulu, rather shyer but in fact a little more poised, to model doggy knitwear and publicise Levriers Libres, including a collection organised by the indefatigable Soize, of blankets, towels etc for the dogs in the refuges. I was just about able to put some of Molly's older and less intimately associated items into a bag and slip them furtively past Tom (at his request), knowing they would be well used and appreciated.
3. Concert hall at the Cité de la Musique on our Paris visit, still enjoying the memory.
4. Still a splash of blue on the hydrangeas.
5. Chestnuts, a reasonable number this year, though rather small ones, generally clean and bug free. Plenty for soup with pumpkin or butternut, toasted and chopped for stuffing, or simply skinned and frozen for later.
6. Turning chestnut leaves in front of the house, the westering sun flickers through them onto the walls of our rooms.
7. View from the bedroom, maple and liquidambar.
8. Liquidamber leaves.
9. Following the last quince post, I was able successfully to re-home most of the quinces, a very satisfactory solution, including a bag to BN, who gave me in exchange the most delightful bouquet of peachy roses, plummy hydrangeas and wine-red chrysanthemums. I think I did rather well out of that exchange.
10. Sumac and insect.
11. Last day of October, sun on the sea at Erquy, just astonishing.
12. Halloween lantern, good soup.

See you tomorrow!