So it is that time of year when our “endless” Summer is drawing to an end. There is an eruption of Spring all over the internet, which means that for those of us in the lower part of the world, Autumn should be looming. The days are definitely shorter and I can slide supper an hour earlier without anyone noticing. Not to mention short people are going to be bed in the dark for a change. Some people might go for Bear Hunts but we decided to go on an Autumn hunt instead. We headed out to a local field.
We armed ourselves with cocoa first, clearly temperatures are dropping. A week or two ago we were absolutely roasting, but suddenly the mornings and evenings are as crisp as a fresh cut lettuce.
Back to our hunt: Oak trees as far as the eye can see.
Awesome oak trees that look like they came straight out of The Big Honey Hunt.
There were ropes to be found.
And heaps of running.
There were some laggers.
And masses of jumpers.
Some were more challenging than others!!!
And more jumpers.
And a heap of Parkour training.
But remember we were looking for Autumn, we got a bit distracted and found a spider nest.
And the leaves are browning.
We found a couple of leaves, but we can hardly call it fall.
While there was no lack enthusiasm it was not the most successful hunt for Autumn. I will be honest, I for one am not too excited about the prospect of winter. I have nothing against the things that winter brings: snuggling on the couch with a pile of books, endless cups of cocoa and whales in the bay. It is the fact that we live in a part of the world that doesn’t actually believe in winter and we are all hopelessly ill-equipped for it!!! And I mean hopelessly!!! There is no heating, no double glazing… Nobody owns a raincoat, there isn’t a single gum boot in the house – there is no need for them, Winter is so short, after all!!!
We do live in a place that was originally called the Cape of Storms… We do, like most South Africans believe in eternal summer and we do suffer, because of our disbelief, for a couple of weeks every year. We will continue to search for Autumn, but only as a means to anticipating Spring on the far side of Winter!!!
That’s us done with exploring for the day!!! Why don’t you tell us where you went exploring this weekend!!!
I had such a good laugh – now I understand why we suffer during winter! Thanks for clearing that up for me!!!
Hay Jacki!!!! Not to mention our car leaks like a sieve, and the windscreen wipers don’t work!!! I could go on about our bad preparation but I think I will just continue to plod along one sunny day at a time!!! Hope you guys have a fun week!!!
What fun! thanks for sharing your adventure. I also love the start of autumn and the leaves falling. Here in Tasmania we also don’t prepare enough for winter. Often we have four or more months of very cold weather. It is not extreme (little snow in most places) but it is very cold! We just don’t build for it though, and many people have only plug in electric heaters.
Hi S, Nice you have you stop by!!! Tell me about the months of cold weather!!! We have a month or two of snow on the tippy top of the surrounding mountains and weeks and weeks of torrenting rain – usually July and August and … then September and October!!! But no we don’t really have winter and wouldn’t dream of taking blankets off the blanket shelf because they look so pretty there!!! As for plug in heaters – wahaha!!! Three winters ago our electricity supply became sporadic (that’s polite!!) and since then the price has risen at such an alarming rate (25% a year, upon year, upon year)… that I wouldn’t dream of plugging in a heater, let alone using the tumble dryer. Yes, the more I think of it it is going to be a very long winter!!! Have a good week – hope you find some fun autumn leaves yourselves!!!!
We also have costly electricity here but I keep thinking it is worth it to be warm! It is colder here than CT though I think as when we were in the Cape at the beginning of August ’07 it was much warmer than home. For example, Mt Wellington here is at the same altitude as Table Mt but it was much, much warmer on Table Mt! I also don’t remember needing any heating during our week long stay. I remember you guys were having lots of electricity outages shortly prior – all we experienced during our month in SA was the traffic lights being out in Knysna . . . we figured that at least we weren’t in Joburg as traffic in Knysna is very tame!
Hi S, I am sure you are right … I think you are a bit further south than us… we tend to have intense stormy spells through what we expect to be winter – mixed with weeks of glorious crispy days… And just when you think it should be spring and just when you think you got off lightly… the winter sets in seriously!!! The only time I have ever resorted to a heater was November when most folk think we should be in the thick of summer – not!!! And yea power outages in city centers are NO FUN and you can imagine how cranky folks can be when it becomes routine!!! Glad you have been to Knysna it is such a pretty spot!!! Have a good week and I will hang on to our sunny days!!!!