It must be about time for tea....

not much charm here! dark, wet, very low cloud.. proper miserable november I'm afraid!
your photo is lovely--and an open fire too!

Each season has its charms, doesn't it? I love the sun,but even though the winters here have been vile lately, I would not like to be without those cold crisp days that come along now and then on the way to spring.
This autumn has been quite unusually mild here and the trees are just glorious, just like those in your photo.

It's a woodburning stove, Pam - an open fire would be a bit dangerous in a house with so much wood everywhere. Very cosy, though! We had the kettle sitting on top of it, just ready for the pot.
I do like November - the beginning of the homemade soup and fresh bread for lunch season. Scrummy, and very good for you, too! I'd heard it was quite mild in the UK - it probably depends where you are.

it is Gattina but so depressing-- everything just dripping-- especially my washing....
we've a logburner too wonderful thing, much more efficient than an open fire-- enjoy your soup x

OMG, Pam - you've just reminded me - I've left my washing on the line and rain's forecast for tonight! Thanks.

Lovely picture of your home gattina.Our weather is still not too bad at the moment , but we do have our solid fuel heating on as the nights are chilly and its too much of a pain to keep lighting the fire so its in now until spring.By the way ,we went to my son's in Leicester for the weekend and we had foccacia bread. It was lovely and I told my daughter in law about your recipe , but I'll whisper this...She bought it!

Pleased you enjoyed your gardening Gattina and how lovely to have Ave Maria as background music., that is a lovely photograph.
We have had some gorgeous days but now its typical Nov, very dull and grey.....

When I looked at your photo, all I could think was 'wish I was there'. We are having a bit of a miserable spring over here in NZ, but at least all the rain is good for the garden .... but it is making the lawns grow like weeds. I actually enjoy the winter months, as it gives me the chance to sit in front of our open fire snuggled up beneath a quilt which took me two years to make by hand (a legacy of my time living in England over ten years ago) .... knitting for my little grandchildren in America, in time for their winter. And I am also a great fan of soup with fresh bread! Hoping to install a wood logburner within the next couple of years, as the house was freezing cold last winter, but I do love the look of an open fire.

Oh, I wish you could be here, too, Dwyllis - I could do with a good gardening natter with tea and cake by the fire. We just snuggle up under the summer-weight duvets in the armchairs. (No posh quilts for us - all the cats pile onto our knees and fall asleep with us) The trouble is, after a long day's hard work in the garden, the warmth of the stove sends us to sleep all too easily, and we miss all those intriguing-looking programmes we have lined up for the evening's viewing.
I was supposed to be chopping great mounds of vegetables this evening for chutney making. It just didn't happen, did it?

I find I only like the onslaught of Autumn and Winter after we've had a glorious Summer - like this year. After so many sun-baked days I'm now ready for the soup-making (already got two ham bones and a box of chicken carcasses ready!), made bread yesterday, eyeing up the apples stored in the boilerhouse for more chilli jelly and got all my pots stored on the patio on rock 'feet' with a swathe of fleece ready to be thrown over. My toes are already toasted from the log fire and I nodded off during 'Jamie' last night and got packed off to bed! Ho Hum.

my year living in the mountain region of Puglia showed me all four Italian seasons Gatty, quite an experience.

I love the changing seasons. I hate cold weather though, just like you.
I hope you enjoyed your tea ;o)

Do you find Gattina, that a cup of tea over here doesn't taste quite the same as the cuppa we used to brew in England? I religiously use PG Tips so p'raps it's the water ....

Actually, we were expecting there to be problems in the tea-taste, given that we came from soft-water Manchester, and here the water is as hard as pure chalk, but maybe we just adapted quickly, and we made do with what we got. We were quite grateful to get a cuppa at all, having learned NEVER to request tea at a bar, when you get water that's been heated (never boiled, though) in the coffee machine and tastes like it's been through the filters, too. We use Sainsbury's Red Label tea, and it travels quite well!
We are rather fortunate in that the water is very good here, and tap water is indistinguishable from aqua di sorgente.

I know EXACTLY what you mean about luke warm water when you ask for a cup of tea in a bar and HORROR OF HORRORS their look - should you ask for latte instead of their usual limone.... Oh and I've also trained them (at least those in our local bar) to put the teabag in the water (hopefully hot) and not bring it sitting in the saucer ... ... !

It's difficult knowing what to ask for in bars round about coffee time, since I don't drink coffee, but, gasping though I maybe for a cuppa, I wait until I'm home. Hot chocolate is too rich, calorific, and not very thirst-quenching, hot milk is rarely more than lukewarm, and soft drinks just don't fit the bill. I sometimes ask for a latte macchiato and grit my teeth and drink it just to be sociable..!

I'm a Flat White gal myself ..... I don't like strong coffee at all, yet I am married to a man who likes Double Short Blacks! So many different coffees & teas to choose from, so it's a Flat White or Breakfast Tea (no matter what time of day it is) when I am out. At home its cheap instant (my OH says my wish-washy coffee is both an insult & a disgrace lol) or Dilma tea. We moved home a few months ago, within the same town & just a couple of blocks away & the water in this house tastes totally different from our former home .... thankfully better. I can drink it straight from the tap, which I could never do in the other house.