Mellow Fruitfulness

Here is the first book that I have made from scratch. I learned how to stitch the spine from Isobel Hall. I decided to make the cover topical as the Autumn colours have been astonishing this year.

The leaf has been glued on to the background of encaustic wax and Koh-I-Nor dye paint and the whole think acrylic waxed before stitching.

My journal has reawakened this weekend. We attended a memorial celebration for a family member at the beginning of October which I do not want to forget. The leaflet we were given  stuck on the left hand page has inside it some of the songs we sang and a poem which summed up Brigitte's attitude to life. I need to call this poem to mind often. I don't know who it is by:

I Will Not Die an Unlived Life

I will not die an unlived life

I will not live in fear of falling

Or of catching fire

I choose to inhabit my days

To allow my living to open me

Making me less afraid

More accessible

To loosen my heart

So that it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise

I choose to risk my significance.

To live so that which comes to me as seed

Goes to the next as blossom

And that which comes to me as blossom

Goes on as fruit.

This is the crab apple Evereste which we have just planted in our garden. It will have a wonderful cherry type blossom in the spring. The blackbirds eye the fruit.

 There has been an abundance of apples this year. I have two old trees in the garden - they are over one hundred years old and this time have flourished prolifically. There are two more in the allotment - one has huge eating apples and the other is a Bramley type cooking apple tree. Storing and eating it all has been the thing...

• I discover slicing and freezing apples on a tray with lemon juice on before bagging for the freezer
• shredding and mixing with orange juice for a better alternative to milk on home made muesli
• many apple crumbles
• more apple pies
• compost for the heap
• food for the rabbit and guinea pigs
• puree for sauce with pork

and today my son picked most of the grapes from the vine as there is to be a harsh frost tonight. They are a little tart but we juiced them with... you guessed it, apple juice, as a sweetener. This drink feels like energy on legs.

All these wonderful edibles need to be remembered and my daughter decorated journal pages with me.

That in itself is one happy, happy memory.