It was a nice, sunny, autumn day and I was at my dad's, helping him clean up the garden and make the necessary preparations before winter set in. It was the 24th of September, but looked more like a late summer day. I quite enjoy these days as the sun is still strong and gives you the opportunity to get enough sunlight for the next months and appreciate what you're saying good bye to.
Grapes were still not harvested at that time. You know what is funny? When you have plenty, you don't want any. When you don't have any, you'd love to have some. This is human nature. I remember, was looking at these grapes, thinking in a month or two, I'd think back with nostalgia and wish I could have them. Look at them, how delicious they look.
One of my favorite subject to photograph during autumn is leaves, especially grape leaves, when I'm at my dad's. These leaves are very different from any other leaves and age differently. They change color in a very unusual way and I can never miss that.
Look at those veins and colors, how can you not like them? They say mother nature is the best artist and this proves the saying is true.
One thing I always love to do is to have a very good look at the colors and the texture of the leaves and think of how could I reproduce that beauty on paper, using color pencils or watercolor. The truth is, I have no experience with either, so it would be pretty difficult for me, but it's a fun game.
These were different type of grapes, more sweet than sour and the leaves are different as well, not as colorful as the previous one, but still nice. Look at how the green gives place to he light green, which becomes yellow eventually.
These are my favorites and I could eat them all day long, but they are full of sugar 😬
Then there were the hazelnuts. I have a love hate relationship with them, it's a bit complicated, but let me explain. I totally hate Nutella, because of the hazelnut flavor. But I love chocolate that has huge pieces of hazelnuts and I can eat them as well, on their own.
These hazelnuts are quite expensive, so my dad bought two and now we have some each year. It's nice to crack a few each day and eat them as they have some nice health benefits.
Unfortunately, there's none left. I guess you can never have enough, but I'm not complaining. I'm happy and grateful to get some, no matter how much it is.
Pumpkins! These goodies are part of autumn and even though these are not the ones you can carve out, they are yummy, when baked. This year we're planning to grow those big ones, so fingers crossed.
Dry flowers. We've never had these, but last year we thought would be nice to grow some. I hung them to dry in September and they are still drying. I hope to bring them home soon. Would be nice to have a big bouquet at home.
The best thing in all this is that you can have your own wine, make it to your own taste, as you like it. I'm not a drinker, rarely have something to drink, but I love caring for the vine. It is not considered a work for ladies, don't ask me why because I don't know the answer, but these works are mostly done by men. Villagers are surprised to see me working the vine. I don't really care, I've learnt how to do the work and also have brought improvements to it, that is not proven to be needed. The problem is, I have less and less time for gardening. This year is going to be pretty busy, but what needs to be done, needs to be done.
It's the beginning of March, the first week actually and the weather is quite nice right now. A few cold days are predicted, but otherwise things look great for now. I hope it's not a trap by mother nature, like she does quite often, sending snow in April and so on. I hope this is really the beginning of the gardening season and we can start growing seedlings soon.
I hope you enjoyed these photos. Let me know what would you like from here. Grapes? Hazelnuts? Pumpkins? Dry flowers?
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