Flames and Feasts

I promised to introduce you to Will in this post, but it's been too dark and murky and filled with magic over the last few days, and these pictures wanted to come first!

First is this wonderful poem by my friend William Todd-Jones, read by Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 music. The music is by Hilary Tann, and the images by Carol Amos. It perfectly captures the mood of the last few days......

We went to a spooky, candlelit apple party .

Where magical creatures lurked in dusty corners

And small ghosts played with flames

And we all threw a lot of apples. Extra cider for the people who managed to get an apple through the smallest hole in the board(I did!)

And yet more cider.......

And a fabulous toadstool cake!

And finally, after a couple of days recovering from the cider, I finished the last Welsh painting.

Beetlejuice, guardian of the Pumpkin hoard.

I have still been so busy harvesting that I have little time for much else. The cats have been doing their best to help too! We have had a fantastic crop of pumpkins and squashes this year, our best ever, and they taste heavenly. Our favourites have proved to be the Crown Prince - I like to cook squash in savoury dishes rather than sweet, and this has the perfect flavour and texture for roasting ( or currying, or making into soup .......).

The quince tree, too, is weighed down with more fruit than we have ever known it to bear. I LOVE quince, despite the fiddly preparation and am madly trying to make it into marmalade, or stew it for the freezer, as it doesn't keep too well.

Which brings me to the exciting bit! My followers have reached the 500 mark, and I think this deserves a celebration! So I am going to have a little giveaway on the next post, just as soon as I have finished a little original I am working on. I think you will like it, so keep watching for the chance to win it :)