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Happy Thanksgiving to all who partake in it! I have a lot to be thankful for, apart from my lovely family, I think the thing that I am most thankful for, is my home. My Mum was a great homemaker, she moved homes many many times in her life and she always said 'your home is in your consciousness', and because of that she could pick up and start again,wherever she happened to be.At this time of year I often think what it would be like to be a homeless person, living in a cardbord box, sleeping on the street. My heart goes out to all who find themselves in that situation. I could go on and write a long list of all the blessings I'm counting, but instead I will show you some lovely images to represent them. Sparky, our West Highland Terrier. Paul and Lois. Looks like butter wouldn't melt doen't it? Happy Thanksgiving! Love Linda x  Images which are not my own are from pinterest  and Tumblr , for which I also give thanks.  

 I thought you might like to see some late bloomers from the garden. I rather love little tiny, unpretentious posies scattered around the place. They make you stop and look. I am begging, borrowing and stealing Hydrangea at the moment to dry for Christmas. In Vic Brotherson's wonderful book 'Vintage Flowers' she makes a huge ball out of dried Hydrangea and hangs it from the ceiling, see below..... I plan to do the same. I am having great success at drying some, but not all. The lovely lilac specimen below is from my own garden. I tried by having some stems in a small amount of water but they shrivelled up. I tried hanging them upside down, they did the same. The white ones, also from my garden seem to be drying upside down but I am not sure what colour they will end up. That is the exciting thing about this process, seeing all the incredible variety of shades you can end up with. Gosh wouldn't the world be drab if it was only in black and white? Wishing you all a fun-fi...

I made a Halloween wreath for the door using orange roses, chinese lanterns, crabapple, eucalyptus, hydrangea, and even some green tomatoes! The spiky bits around the edge, I don't know what it's called, but if you look up close, they look like little teeny weeny pumpkins. Unfortunately the weather is wet and windy and I thought this may get a little too battered outside, so I decided to use it as a table decoration.  Sadly my husband won't be sharing Halloween with us, as he is taking care of his mum.So I decided that we would have a lovely meal this evening  instead and go mad with the table decorations! I made Rioja-braised lambshanks with garlic and chorizo. Absolutely delicious, but not for the faint-hearted, the sauce contained 250ml. of Balsamic vinegar as well as the red wine. The recipe is by TV chef Lorraine Pascale and if you would like to check it out, here's the  link . We had Poached Pears with Blackberries for dessert, but everyone was too full to eat it!...

I found the above images on Etsy. They are the work of Susan Templin at Firstlight Photography . I think they are wonderfully evocative and atmospheric. How do you feel about Halloween? I have to admit, I am not a big fan. I love the autumn, the harvest, the pumpkins, fires, cosy blankets, apples and all. I am just not too keen on the scary, spooky stuff. I have to make an effort to decorate for my daughters sake, but I try to keep it to cute cats, pumpkins and friendly witches. Neither of us are too enthusiastic about bats, spiders, snakes and de-capitated things....uuuurrgghh! So with this in mind I will show you some of the more pleasant Halloween things I have found. All the above images are from Pinterest . Look at these adorable Folk Art patterns for cute creatures you can make.....I love them! The three above are from The Cheswick Company on Etsy .   The above images are from http://www.countrystitchesonline.com/ . Brenda also has a lovely blog http://withthyneedleandthread.b...