September 3rd - Bright and Breezy!

Today, there really is the first feeling of autumn in the air ... or at least there was first thing this morning - a very slight mist, and even a few leaves falling.  Now a breeze has popped up and the leaves are rattling in it - they sound dry and papery, almost ready to begin falling in earnest.



Sloes.




There's so much fruit in the wood this year!  Maybe because of the warm spring, who knows.  These are sloes - the fruit of the blackthorn bush - much used to create sloe gin!  They are terribly bitter to the taste but the birds still seem to love them.

The birds are enjoying windfall apples, too!  On the village green, blackbirds are trying the fallen apples which are already beginning to ferment!  They get a bit tipsy and can't quite fly straight after a while!

I made a few sketches of the leaves and berries - they are always useful to bring back to the drawing board ready to prepare new embroidery designs.  This is a honeysuckle in fruit ...

The finished embroidery would look like this: