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Saturday 20 September 2008

autumn is here!


as you can see in this photo - autumn is definitely in the air! funny though, throughout the summer we only had a handful of days with blue skies.... and now the sun is shining as if to try to make it up to us! well, better late than never! my potted strawberry has it all wrong though - it did nothing whatsover during strawberry time - and flowers and fruits now instead! whatever, we like strawberries in september too....

anyway, it's a lovely day outside and I did pick the berries I wanted - this is the tree (with blue sky - that's the proof:)) before I picked its lower branches empty. pity, there are loads of berries still up on the tree that I can't reach:((


and of course I had to roam about in the garden a bit - the pheasant berries look beautiful right now, little lampions with flowers and berries on the same pagoda-shaped pendant. the question is: will they give off dye too? there are quite a lot of them and even though they are supposed to be edible, noone here likes the taste. when they turn black they are extremely hot! we read that they are supposed to taste like chocolate when they are bletted (like medlars) - but we tried it and they were plain disgusting! so off to the dye pot they go - if nothing happens I'll throw the result (or lack of it:)) into something else..... btw - the coffee-dyed wool and silk spread a heavenly cafe scent in my wool room! I assume spinning will be very nice....

3 comments:

Helen said...

The coffee coloured silk is just the most fabulous colour. I saw cotton dyed with coffee years ago and it was such plain beige I have never felt inspired to try again, but now I htink I had better start collecting the dregs. I adore coffee! Ever since as a child at aschool I used to pass a coffee shop on theway home where they roasted their own coffee.

Anonymous said...

Re the strawberries
Autumn and spring at the same time here too: I saw an apple-tree blossoming yesterday after I picked apples in an orchad. In my garden the Common Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea, syn. Swida sanguinea) is also in flowers, second time this year. As if spring and autumn were getting married ;-)

Francine, Alsace, France

Woolly Bits said...

Helen - go for it, I think the colour is very nice and soft! and it still smells nice:)) I didn't use dregs though - I assume you just need more for the same colour, as the first "bath" for
coffee takes out some of the colour already!

Francine - the weather is decidedly more autumnal here now - but the strawberries still ripen bit by bit and we do enjoy them, even if there are only one or two at any one time. the marriage of spring and autumn sounds very poetic to me!