And…. we have a winner for the signed Arne and Carlos books giveaway!
Chosen randomly by the helpful algorithms at random.org, the winner is entrant number 58:-

…which on my list of entrants translates to Mary Beth Wiggins‘ entry over on Facebook. Wa-hey! Congratulations. 🙂 I’ll be in touch to get your address, and then two lovely shiny signed Arne and Carlos knitting books will be winging their joyful way across the globe to you. Thank you to everyone who entered – you made it fun. I definitely think that the next giveaway should be stork scissors.
Meanwhile, I’m busy with the final-but-lengthy stages of a new and rather exciting crochet/painting project for the kitchen.

Details of the finished result to follow soon in another post.
It’s a strange time, here. The last traces of summer are holding on, but there are hints of autumn, too. I saw the leaves of this tree at work, which pretty much sum up the current seasonal ambiguity:-

The Stoic Spouse has been on leave from work, and busy varnishing doorsteps (stoically, of course), whilst I paint chairs. The Toddler Twinnage have been rampaging round the garden, high on varnish/paint fumes, pretending to be horses, or sometimes zebus.
The good thing about the Stoic Spouse being around (other than the sheer, unalloyed, joy of his company, obviously) is that I can occasionally leave the house, sans toddlers. So I’ve been for a run several times, and have seen many lovely things. I’ve blogged before about the lines of poplar windbreaks that stand guard over long-uprooted cherry orchards in our village. They look especially fine against a late summer sky:-

And again:-

And there are tree-lined places to run:-

And, finally, a rainbow of vegetables picked fresh from the garden for our lunch. (They’re all so small, though! Why are our veg so small this year? Surely it can’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that I’ve been quite lazy about watering them?)

And that, my dear friends, is all for now. Back to the crochet…
Oh I like that running route you’ve got 🙂 And that crochet project for your kitchen looks very intriguing, can’t wait to see that finished!
Thank you. In fairness, I should point out that I’m quite lazy and actually loathe running. But it needs to be done.
Lovely photos! Your kitchen project looks fabulously colourful:)
Thank you – I just hope it all comes together looking vaguely respectable…
We have some trees here in Canada that are in the same strange state — partly green and partly red/orange. Early October, around our Thanksgiving holiday, should be peak colour time here, but leaves are beginning to put on their fall dresses already in some places. It got very cool here last night –7°C Good sleeping weather, mind, with no need for the a/c. OK….sorry. Canadians do like to talk/complain/rejoice about the weather. 🙂 That is a lovely tree-lined path in your photo. You really do have nice scenery around your brewery/house. Much lovelier now than it was in the spring! 😉 Aren’t you happy about that?!
Naaah, give me spring any day. 🙂
I do realize that you Canadians do seasons properly – one of the things I love about your country. (I once spent three happy months there.) Your opportunities for amazing autumn pictures probably exceed ours.
Sorry! that was a dash! It was not meant to be read as -7°C !!! OMG! how misleading.
I guess we could have a contest on fall colour photos….{grin}
OK, +7 doesn’t sound quite so alarming.
Happy to lose a contest to you with fall photos. 🙂 Our cherry trees are beautiful but, well, you’re in Canada. 🙂
Ooh I am liking the look of the painted chair, the fabric and the crochet. Cannit wait till the big reveal. Lovely giveaway. Very generous x
I will be making it VERY clear in my post where the inspiration and practical advice came from. 🙂
Love your blog! Love your writing style! Love the colors in your photos and what you are doing with your kitchen chairs! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting on my disaster slippers. I’m so excited to be following you and reading your awesome posts. 🙂
Awwww thank you. 🙂 I’m glad I’ve found your lovely blog, too. And although I realize that a large amount of stress and effort went into trying to felt those slippers, they do look lovely.
Lovely pictures. I am almost tempted to go for a run myself.
And I can’t wait for the kitchen project. It is surely not only attracting bees.
Running is over-rated: it HURTS. And thank you for your kind words.
Those are some nice looking veggies.
They tasted pretty good, too. 🙂
It wasn’t me – I didn’t win 🙁 The scenery almost makes up for it but the kitchen chairs definitely do! I can see where you’re going with it all and it is most gorgeous!! Congrats to the lucky winner of two Arne and Carlos books – I’ll just have to go buy my own…….. sigh………..
I know, I’m sorry. I wish I’d had as many prizes as entrants, especially for the people who sounded super-keen.
Such pretty scenery to accompany you on your runs! I am sitting here feeling a little loopy from nail polish fumes…I can’t imagine the effect of an entire painted kitchen on two toddlers!
To be fair, the twinnage is fairly bonkers even without solvent fumes. Hope you’re enjoying the nail polish high…
Hmmm let me guess—are you crocheting seat cushions for that lovely chair??? Can’t wait to see the end result!!!
How on earth did you guess?! 😉
When do you find time for your profession? You seem so busy with all these fun projects (and not-so-fun running)!
A mere two days per week, at the moment. For the other five days, I spend a LOT of time simultaneously reading stories to the twinnage whilst knitting/crocheting. This blog strategically edits out the sand on the carpet, the washing up in the sink, and the structurally unsafe pile of laundry.
Congrats Mary Beth Wiggins.
Looking good in the kitchen, I like it very much.
Stunning colours in the trees. We are slowly getting our green back here, and soon we will have summer again in full swing.
Thanks for sharing your lovely world with us, it looks so peaceful. 🙂
ps: I love cows, and those in the pics are just so cute.
Thank you. And I love watching the different seasons evolve in other people’s blogs from around the world. When our view turns grey and damp and gloomy, I can sigh over happy summer pictures from the far side of the globe. (Not sure my world is entirely peaceful: two small children, a falling-down house, working on an acute psychiatric ward…. but thank you anyway. 🙂 )
I think that is exactly why we have blogger “friends”. They become very special, and we learn so much and see so much. We get to see parts of the world we would never be able to travel to. 🙂
Congratulations to Mary Beth Wiggings. Great winning.
Yup, I posted the books to her today. More giveaways to follow in future…
Congratulations to the giveaway winner… Good to see the photographs of awesome views and very interesting WIPs… Happy crafting! TC! Keep smiling 🙂
Thank you. Happy crafting to you, too. 🙂
Can’t wait to see the chairs. Perhaps you could put some chairs out along the running route so you can take a break every now then; just to admire the view, of course.
Ha ha, good idea. I’m not a natural runner, so that would be just about perfect.
The veggies may be small but they look delicious! We’ve grown a few veggies this year, they haven’t looked anywhere near as tasty as yours, they did however, actually taste fantastic. Looks aren’t everything I suppose!
Looks most definitely aren’t everything with home-grown veggies. Glad yours were delicious. 🙂 What did you grow?
We had loads of tomatoes, potatoes and lettuce, along with some beautiful blackberries and raspberries too! We had such a good turn out we ended up giving lots away 🙂
Beautiful photos! I wish we had autumn here in Central California, but next year, I’ll probably be moved to the Washington DC area via the military, and will see Autumn again! I have a toddler and a older baby, and it’s funny that something that used to be a chore like running is now a fantastic getaway when you’re getting a break from the howling kids!
Oooh, enjoy having a proper autumn again. And enjoy the running. 🙂
beautiful pics!!! I want to learn to take beautiful pics….what camera do you own?? 🙂 sorry for being nosey lol