Kicking through leaves

Cooked quiches, made chutney, played scrabble, drank wine. Friends came calling; tea, chat and a chill. Caught out in the rain on a short monkeybike trip, sheltered in the trees. Kicking up the leaves.
Happiness ten-fold.
Passion-a-plenty.

Autumnal passion too

Enjoying the golden brown drive this morning - vivid reds and yellows made brighter by sunglasses on a cloudless day.
Passionate thoughts turn to whether I'd like to make love on a bed of leaves. Or wrapped in blankets on a winter deserted, sunset beach.

Or whether I'd prefer a nice cup of darjeeling and a piece of shortbread by the woodburner, watching Ugly Betty. I sometimes feel old age creeping up and tampering with the odds. Well. It's something to fight against...

Autumnal passion

My drive to work, over Chumbley Warner Corner and beyond takes me through the woods and forests on the way to Thetford. From my birthday onwards, I love to see the gradual brightening of the trees as greens turn to many shades of brown, yellow, red and gold. A month of lively change, brightly lit by a low, cold sun. Beaten by rain, whipped by winds, until the leaves give up their grasp and flurry to ground.

It's man without soul that doesn't find passion in kicking through a carpet of crisp, dry, autumn. Take your time to do just that this weekend if you can. I will!

BOGOF tofu

And tonights not so hidden ingredient. They spotted it straight away in a stir fry sauce. Is this Tofu?!
Yup. Two for one in the supermarket - they'd better like it as there's a freezer full!
Seemed to go down well.

Didn't spot I'd fried it sweet chilli and sesame oil though...

Halloweeeeeennn....

All Hallows Eve.
Growing up - it meant only one thing. Getting tortured by my one year older neighbour as his birthday treat. Little older and it was probably around the village, door knocking and carbide tins. BANG!

Wasn't me.

Going to Halloween? A strange request made sense of by Tarby Davenport. Event organiser. promoter, all round lovely person. Created a once a year, all things to all men, Halloween Fair in Thornham Woods. Acrobats amongst the trees, children's crafty things, bar, juggling and drumming, bar and brilliant bands into the night. Success caused it's demise, hoards of cars abandoned along dark lanes...

It's where I met Kate. Her dressed in a bowler hat and black cape. Lovely sparkly eyes. Me, dressed as a vicar. Cassock and surplus, black nails and eyeliner, wooden cross and dusty from hair to boots with flour. Wholemeal obviously.

Dancing like a loon. Badly.
By the time we went the following year, Kate was pregnant. Happy. Tired, left early to find we were blocked in. Blagged a cup of tea and a comfy sit down in a nearby cottage waiting for the roads to clear.

Years on - home with the kids and I remember the first invasion of trick or treaters. Alice answering the door to a masked face and screaming down the hallway. This year, carved her own pumpkin and went out amongst them. Robert on duty handing out the contents of the larder as his friends came calling.

And I had the chance to play for an hour or so with Them One Night Only Boys down in the town. Home to a woodburner warm house.

Lovely.