Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness

We are falling into Autumn in England the leaves on the trees are changing into beautiful colours, there are misty mornings and the air has a chill in it.

These leaves are from a pattern that Jane designed and I have been wanting to make them ever since she showed them to me last year.  Then Sue Anna so very kindly sent me some samples of the new Lizbeth threads and that was it I knew exactly what I had to use them for.  Two are tatted with Autumn Spice and the other Leafy Greens.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

From John Keats' poem, To Autumn 1820

These gourds were outside a village flower shop and they looked so beautiful so I decided to photograph them, which was a bit of a cheek as my intention was not to buy any, well not at the price they were charging!

Here is part of the menu showing what we had to eat at our harvest supper on Saturday evening. I made all these soups catering for 38 people and my hands were so sore after chopping up all the vegetables especially the butternut squash which like all gourds has a very hard skin.  

You will notice that the member of our congregation who typed and printed this menu has a very good sense of humour!