Wonderful Wednesday #33

Happy HALFWAY through the week dear and lovely faces!  This week feels like i have blinked and all of a sudden it is Wednesday! The kinds of weeks where all of the days merge into one and 'to-do' lists run on from day to day and you sort of wish there were 48 hours in a day and maybe ten days in a week and not seven.  I am sure you have had one of those weeks before too.  

That said it is jolly NICE to be back at Monsoon Towers surrounded by all of our Autumn lines and catching up with all of the lovely faces that work there.  I always miss them so much when i don't see them each day.  I feel grateful that i am lucky to call them some of my very best friends in the whole WORLD.  There has been plenty more keeping me smiling so far on this super quick week though.  Although i did have to double check it was Wednesday today as it really didn't feel like it shouldn't be yet…..dear me

*  Ed Sheeran.  I know his music isn't the most ground breaking or radical but i LOVE having his tunes tinkling away as i am pottering about after a shower in the evening or wandering to work first thing.  I also love to sing his songs too.  I just wish i had the patience to master an acoustic guitar too…maybe one day.

*  The bluest of skies for the longest of times!  Man alive we have been so LUCKY up here in Cumbria with some of the prettiest bright blue skies for days on end lately.  I cannot even begin to tell you how pretty it makes some of the first golden yellow and burnt orange leaves look.  I am crossing all that is crossable for it to continue because it's impossible to feel anything but cheery when you are surrounded by blue skies.  

*  Scented Candles.  If Summer is a time for tea-lights in jam jars on windowsills then Autumn and Winter are a time for decadently scented candles in every room.  I have just begun to light a beautiful candle i picked up in TK Maxx (of all places!) after dinner each night in our livingroom and it's beautiful!  It's described as 'Black Rose' and it's a deep, rich and slightly spicy rose scented WONDER that just fills the room with the prettiest, cosiest scent you can ever imagine.  I wish there was a perfume, for if i could smell just like that i would be as happy as can be!

*  Coal fires. Whilst i am not lucky enough to own a coal fire, wood burner or anything anywhere near as delightful (read: feet on a radiator is about as good as it gets in this little somewhere and let me tell you that's pretty alright really) a sure sign of Autumn is the faint dusty scent of coal fires BURNING in the distance and i love to watch smoke curling up in to the early evening sky just before the sunsets.  It's really rather pretty and gets me excited for Bonfire Night. Don't tell me you're not a bit excited too…?

*  HOT showers.  Just like having a really cool shower on a sticky summer day is little bit of lovely, as is the first few hot, hot 'rose-y cheeked, pink knees' sort of showers you start to have once September hits.  Or is that just me?!

*  Socks and the richest foot cream you can get your paws on!  I am not really a sock fan.  I find myself far more comfortable in dresses and so it's tights all the way for me.  Or bare milk-bottle white pins come Summer.  But another sign that the nights are getting cooler is when i can rummage out my FLUFFIEST angora socks and slather my feet in my richest foot cream and pop them on and curl up on the sofa.  I am eagerly anticipating the day it becomes cold enough to throw a soft blanket across my legs too……i sometimes wonder if inside i am a little old lady. Crikey!  

*  The ANTICIPATION of a new season.  Not necessarily new things, just new-ness:  new breakfast planning, new seasonal treats: squashes, the last of summer's tomatoes grilled and sticky with fresh herbs.  Chai tea at night.  Pies, casseroles and crumbles.  Mmmm!

*  The simplest most yummy fruit COMPOTE i think i have ever tasted.  Remember the glut of plums i said we were kindly given?!  Since they weren't the prettiest of plums, i decided they would make great compote.  Once i had removed the stalks, i simply cooked them down with a few table spoons of brown sugar and a star anise.  You would not believe quite how delicious a compote it made.  So much so that some mornings i have 'forgotten' to add any yoghurt and have simply eaten it straight from the jar with a spoon whilst waiting for some dropped scones to toast ever so slightly.  It might be my favourite yet.  Although i have got the nobbliest, bobbliest and ugliest apples from the market at the start of the week with plans to turn them into a cinnnamon and apple compote.  It's going compote-crazy at Tangle Towers this week i tell you!  It's the easiest way to make use of leftover fruit though, and there are so many things you can do with a yummy, sticky, sweet and jammy compote.  Mmmmm again!
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Come ON then, tell me what's been HAPPENING in your world? What has made your week wonderful so far?!  Even if you feel like you have to dig extra deep, there's always something worth being grateful for and that's what these little posts are for.  I'd love for you to share.  Remember you can always tweet me with your #wonderfulwednesday too.  I'm @sallytangle.