Autumn continues here with long Sunday afternoon walks in the woods and the clocks going back. At least I am able to see some of the day now when I rise at 6.30 and the dawn is beginning to break. My evenings are now just long and dark but the living room at home is cosy and welcoming as usual.

The trees are now showing their bare boughs as their summer coverings are blown to the ground in blustery gales or shimming october breezes in beautiful swathes of russet, gold and crimson, crunching and mulching underfoot.

The Mallow is still going; its pink heads alert to the onset of Winter, they begin to whither slightly in the chill but still shine on against the deep, bright blue skies and warm, toasted colours of Autumn.

The Vine: 2009

What was left of the late Summer sun has already withered the poor grapes into little shrivelled clusters. Last Sunday at dusk I took this picture just before leaping into the pool. Although there were very chilly temperatures in the open air the pool still has a vestage of warmth left and the steam rising off the surface into the dusky, autumn air was irresistable, like a scene from Iceland or open air baths in Budapest. I waded into the comparative warmth, the air all around me thick with autumnal sights and smells; bonfire smoke on an earthy breeze, the nip nip of evening bird calls in hedgerows.