Long-awaited September!

Happy first of September to all my readers! At last it is here! I have been waiting for it since at least June, if not May. Today is, for me, the true beginning of autumn. To commemorate and celebrate it, I share here a basket full of crap abbles and apples, and their jellies, home-made by my parents. They took this picture back in 2008 I think, took a lot of them actually. I think it makes for a perfect horn of plenty. Boy am I a happy fellah knowing that September is finally here! Be warned: this blog is now mostly an autumnal chronicle.

September At Last!

Happy first of September everyone! And I don't care what people say, as far as I am concerned, it is the first day of autumn. As always, I celebrate and commemorate the day with a picture of the fruits of the season in a basket, a sort of horn of plenty. Apples, crabapples, jellies. In sum, harvest. It was made by my parents a few years ago and it is a tradition on this blog. Tell me about your September in the comments, what you think of the month, etc.

The Horn of Plenty in Tavistock

 I was googling on cornucopia recently, when I stumbled upon the website of a luxury hotel in Tavistock, Devon, called... The Horn of Plenty. I got curious about it, because I think it's a nice and original name for a hotel. And because Devon is a lovely place which I hope to see more of one day. And well, I was in awe by the idyllic look of The Horn of Plenty. It is a bit above my price range, at least for a long stay, but I would love to visit the hotel one day, maybe even have lunch there, or only a drink. Or just walk around the venue. Ten years ago, my wife and I took our holidays in Devon. But we saw only a small portion of it, as it is a large county with a lot to offer. So maybe next year, we could visit it again, but in a different part of it, and with Wolfie this time. Anyway, be that as it may, I love these kinds of fancy hotels with a bit of age, I think it gives them a charm the most modern ones never have. Maybe I will visit The Horn of Plenty one day, who knows.

September, Blissful September!

Happy first of September everyone! The first day of autumn, at least for the meteorilogical season and for autumn lovers like myself. I have been waiting for it all year. As it is tradition on Vraie Fiction, I share a picture of this sort of cornucopia: the fruits of autumn, apples and crab apples, and their jelly versions. Because September and autumn also means harvest. Of course, I don't take anything for granted: I have seen the weather and it will be warm, up to mid 20s (argh!). But September is here, cool times are coming, whether people want it or not, this is autumn, by any practical means. And I am very grateful for it.

Blessed September!

Happy first of September everyone, especially to all the autumn lovers and the spooky minded people reading this blog. As we all know, autumn starts with the month and does not wait for the equinox. To celebrate the new month, I share this picture taken by my father two decades ago or so. It represents autumn in a nutshell: harvest of apples and crab apples and jellies of said fruits. It is a cornucopia of sorts. In any case, happy September again.

Sweet September

 Well, I have been waiting for it for a while, and here it is at last :we are the first of September. Which means, the beginning of autumn. And what lovely start of the season it is: temperatures have been looking autumnal for a while and the colours are already here. As it is tradition on this blog, I start the month and the season with a picture of a sort of cornucopia celebrating autumn harvest: apples, crab apples and jellies made of them. In a basket. Happy September everybody and enjoy autumn.

All Hail September

Happy first of September to all the readers of this blog! This is for me (and for many of you I know) the true beginning of autumn and it could not arrive early enough.So to celebrate the month and the season, I share here, as it is the case every year (one of Vraie Fiction's many tradition), this sort of cornucopia, made by my parents. A basket with apples, crab apples, apple jelly and crab apple jelly. Autumnal harvest, in sum. Let's hope this year's is bountiful.

Celebrating September

Happy first of September everyone! It is also the first day of autumn, at least methodologically and in my mind. When it comes to my favourite season and this blog, it is all that matters. So to celebrate the month and the new autumn, as it is a tradition on Vraie Fiction, I share a picture taken by my parents of a sort of horn of plenty, showing the bounty of autumnal harvest: apples, the fruit most associated with the season, crab apples and crab apple jellies. I hope it puts you in the same frame of mind as me.

September, Autumn, Harvest...

Happy first of September everyone. The first day of autumn (yes, yes, it is, at least meteorologically speaking). And to celebrate the coming of my favourite season, as our usual tradition on Vraie Fiction, here is a basket display made by my parents a few years ago. It is a sort of horn of plenty, with apples, crabapples, apple jelly, crab apple jelly and other stuff. As autumn is also the time for harvest.

Welcoming September

Happy first of September everyone! For me, it is the beginning of autumn. To start the month and the season, it is a tradition on this blog to upload a picture of this basket full of fruits and crabapple and apple jellies, the bounty of autumnal harvest in a sort of horn of plenty. I have been waiting for that moment a long time. I will of course blog more about my favourite season and what it means to me this year, as it has gained new significance. Until then, happy first day of September.

September at last!

At last, September has arrived! For those who have not noticed it. I love September and consider its first day the true first day of autumn (that's right, not the equinox). As it is a tradition on this blog every September (although not always the first), I upload to celebrate the coming of autumn a picture of this basket my parents made, full of the products of harvest: crabapples, apples, apple and crabapple jellies, flowers. This is, a sort of horn of plenty. I always long for September, but this year it could not happen too quickly as we are expecting our first child this month. It is a very fitting time for him to come into this world, what with his father loving autumn so much.

Autumnal September

We are the first of September, which is for me the true start of autumn. My favourite season. I know it officially says it starts with the equinox, but I don't care: autumn starts with the month of September. Period. Meteorologists consider it the beginning of autumn too, so it is not a flight of fancy from me. In any case, September is starting as cool and very much autumnal, so there you go. And as the season is associated with harvests, I have decided to mark its beginning with this picture, of apples, crabapples and jars of crabapple jelly and apple jelly. In a basket which could be considered a horn of plenty. It is a seasonal tradition on this blog. It is now time for harvest and hearty food. I hope you are enjoying the beginning of September as much as I am and that this picture will make you enjoy it more.

Fruits for Tuesday

The fruit baskets were back at work today. I mentioned them here and here. I think I understood the schedule now: basically the first Tuesday of every month. It brightened my day, as it always does. They had the usual bananas (not ripe enough), apples, satsumas (I think they were satsumas) and I did not see any pears. I think they were all gone by the time I went to the kitchen. I did not have them for breakfast this time, as I was too busy at my desk, instead I took a banana in lieu of dessert after my lunch. Gosh I cannot believe how healthy I am these days! Or try to be anyway. But I discovered that I enjoy fresh fruits, especially when they are free.

A few trivial observations about the fruit baskets:

-"Always remember to give the fruit a quick wash before eating it." Well, I do.
-The picture of the fruit basket is a still life.
-The fruit basket is also a sort of horn of plenty.
-Fruits are surprisingly popular among my colleagues. The baskets are empty at the end of the day.

Well, that's it really. I will try to say something new in a month's time.

The Autumn Equinox

Today is the autumn equinox and if I didn't know already Google would have told me. It was a lovely Google Doodle. Well, now it is officially autumn, for everyone. For me, it truly starts with the first day of September, as I often say here. Nevertheless, the day needs to be commemorated and celebrated. On this blog at least. I thought to put the Google Doodle, but I wanted something more original and more personal. So instead I have downloaded a picture of fruits harvest, apples and crabapples, and apple and crabapple jellies, with flowers, in a basket. And yes, I have downloaded similar pictures on this blog before. Because autumn is of course associated with harvest. This is a sort of horn of plenty and it fits the day perfectly.

Harvest

This picture was taken at my request by my father. The content of this harvest, which was mainly root vegetables, cabbages, potatoes and sweet corn, was used to make what we called in Québec a bouilli, basically the Québec version of a pot roast. You can see a picture of meal my parents make here. We often associate autumn harvest with fruits, but for me it also means sweet corns, carrots and, well, the content of a pot roast, the meal that marks for me the beginning of autumn. So I thought I would upload this picture as a sort of horn of plenty. I wish I could have a bouilli tonight.

September

Happy beginning of September everyone! If this picture looks like one you have seen before on this blog, it is because I have uploaded one very similar last year. It shows apples, crabapples, leaves and flowers from my parents' garden, with apple and crapabble jellies made by them. It is almost recycling a picture, but I wanted to welcome the new month with a relevant picture. For me, September represents the beginning of autumn, which is of course the season of harvest. This basket is a bit of a horn of plenty, so this picture fits this day perfectly. September is also the time where I am slowly getting prepared for Halloween. But I will blog about it more in future posts. Right now, enjoy and celebrate the first day of September.

Harvest season

This picture was taken by my parents back in September 2003. I am not into those kinds of basket displays usually, but this one, which I found in Dropbox, I find particularly charming. It is a sort of horn of plenty and an embodiment of autumn and harvest. You can see in there apples, crabapples and apple and crabapple jellies. And some flowers. All home grown and home made. For years, between August and September, this is what my brothers and I used to do: pick apples and crabapples, clean them and make them ready to turn into jellies, or apple sauce, or apple pies. I have never been much of a cook, but being the fruit gatherer, that is something that comes naturally to me. Your hands smell lovely afterwards. Anyway, I am missing doing the harvest like this.

Musing on Easter

It is Easter Sunday today! So have a happy Easter everyone! I love Easter, for various reasons, and like Christmas I celebrate it for its Pagan roots. I am a primitive man, but at least I am conscious of my primitive nature. For more on Easter's Pagan significance, I recommend this Atheist Eve strip by Tracie Harris. Always interesting to read her. You can also have a look at this article in the Guardian. Mixed with celebration of fertility and return to life, Easter, like many holidays we love (Halloween, Christmas, etc.) is also an excuse for eating excesses, taking as much as we can of nature's goodness. A chocolate Easter bunny, a Cadbury's egg, it is simply a sugar coated (literally!) Pagan symbol. I remember of a birthday I had around Easter (I believe it was in 1987, when Easter Sunday was on the 19th of April), we celebrated both the same day that year. We had a brunch in a restaurant my godfather owned at that time. On the center table there was a Horn of Plenty made of croissant dough, filled with fruits. Years later, I still wonder who thought about it, but I am still amazed at how powerful those symbols live in our psyche.

This picture was taken last Easter in Québec, in a sugar cabin. It was a dreadful sugar cabin, but they had rabbits. I thought that I would put one on the blog that is not in chocolate, for a change. I will not eat rabbit (or lamb) this year, but I might have an omelette for tonight's dinner, which is just as appropriate. I already had plenty of chocolate.