Autumn Seems To Have Arrived At A Gallop.

Thanksgiving is in order though.

Of course you'll get plenty of moaners. Those few who lament the end of summer and sunshine. They might as well enjoy the winter time as they can't have summer come around any sooner. Yes, the colder half of any year is not as bright or warm, but it has charm of its own.

Autumn quite rightly has been and always will be the most important season on the yearly calender. Autumn is the time to harvest. To reap what we have sowed, so to say. In centuries past, this was the season to stock up for the rest of the year.

Like most else in our busy lives, we tend to forget to give thanks to the event of harvest. Most of us just pop into our local supermarket and pick up what we want, whenever we like. Do we even know what vegetables or fruits are in season? Everything is available anytime.

As a child I remember that:

• Walnuts, chestnuts & mandarins were only eaten just before Christmas. At the start of Advent.
• Cherries were an early summer event and often we could pick them straight from someone's tree.
• Mulberries and bramble berries could be picked in the forest and we could get leaves for the silk worms at the same time.

The next nine months before the start of summer will of course have challenges in them. Winter will make us shiver but then again it will make us cuddle up as well. Snow has an ethereal beauty and if you don't believe me, just try and book a vacation on the beautiful Austrian / German Alps during winter season. Everyone wants to be there to be an extra in the Winter wonderland playground.

You know regardless of how old we are, the minute the first seasonal snowflakes fall, we have our noses glued to the window in awe. There is nothing nicer than watching the lawn get blanketed in a layer of white.

Bob morphs into a young lad when the first snow of the season appears. Everything is wondrous but only for a while. Once the reality of shoveling snow hits him, his love affair with snow wanes. Of course I then pipe up from the sidelines of a warm window sill and shout:

" Schatzi, just think how big your biceps will get. Don't stop shoveling! "

In the next few weeks the leaves and vineyards will change colour and what a spectacular one it should be. I will post pictures for you and just to set the record straight...I also shovel snow off our driveway!

Biggi