I love halloween...

this love of halloween really came when I moved to the USA, they LOVE it!! I don't really have any memories of really getting dressed up on Halloween as a child...it was all about Guy Falkes Night in our house, and I loved it! Off we'd go all bundled up to the fireworks display possibly having a few sparklers in the garden before we went. But not having lived in the UK for a number of years now and Halloween going global it's all about the 'Jack o Lantern'. After several trips to various shops in & around Verona I finally found my pumpkins! they maybe small but the excitement in our house last night when they were lit and put on the window sill...size really didn't matter. I have one more to carve, hoping for a flash of inspiration for that one. 
Doesn't look like I'll be getting dressed up this year, Italy just isn't the place to find good Halloween costumes or parties for that matter, so next year hoping that we'll be in a bigger place I'm gonna bring halloween to our house.

sunday

                                                         lunch

For my second trip to the garden centre this year I was definitely feeling a little more confident and prepared.

I've had great success with my Basil & Sage this summer and will hopefully get one more batch of pesto made before it dies off.

With the enivatible about to happen to the basil I needed some new colour for my window sill...

Mum inspired me with the planters she'd just done for The Cottage with some winter heathers - I'm slightly nervous about how to care for them...but right now they look wonderful, we also picked up 3 new herbs which seem to be a little sturdier for the winter months ahead. We found a super red container for them.

The start of Autumn

Will I ever have a lie-in again...

Saturday morning we took ourselves off to Molina for a walk with a small group of friends.
We managed nearly 7 km not bad for a morning of stopping, chatting with the locals and generally dordelling. 
There was no escaping the tones of brown & grey Autumn is well and truly on it's way. Lots of fun was had funghi spotting although one or 2 were lost underfoot unfortunately the red & white fairy toadstool is still a mythical figure to me, luckily the donkeys where there to brighten my spirits! 

home comforts

Being home always brings a sense of relief...the familiarity of it all and the comfort of not having to do anything...my weekend was spent catching up with old friends, picking fruit, cooking fruit & eating.

It was a little late in the season for blackberries but Dad & I scavenged the hedgerows and found enough to make Jam...we  bulked it up with an apple or 2...next on the list of things to try is piccalilly Mum has given me the recipe her Mum used to use so I'm super excited to try it.

 Woody decided to help too.