I am the only person out in the soft rain and the squirrels ignore me, rustling industriously through the beech leaves. I can hear the thin shriek of a kite high overhead and the muffled flap of wood pigeons as I disturb them. The creaking bellow of a stag resonates from tall bracken close to the path. He watches me as I cautiously walk past and I am relieved when he eventually turns away.
In my head I am making a shopping list: braising steak, eschallions, smoked paprika, chorizo, passata, soured cream. Tonight we will have spicy red goulash and I can see broccoli, bright green in contrast, and creamy mashed potato on my blue plates.
I walk on between fields to the edge of the woods, seeing the shine of limp leaves and the sodden linings of chestnut cases. The sky is a damp, pallid grey. This is autumn and there is no going back but there is so much to look forward to that I hurry onwards.
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This post is for Nicola to say thank you for the very thoughtful email - it was much appreciated.
Lovely...and that fern image is exquisite.
ReplyDeleteEven if you talked about dust, you would do it with grace, details and colour.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, and lovely photographs too. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteyou do write beautifully Alice x
ReplyDeleteWho was I to think you'd need my 'observe, observe, observe' last week when you wrote about what to do in autumn. And I love the word 'dreich'. Cath
ReplyDeleteI love that post, especially the moment when you encounter the stag. I love all the sensations you convey here, all the contrasts. Hell, I can even smell the goulash!
ReplyDeleteLovely. xx
ReplyDeleteA truly lovely post. Thank you Alice.
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