English Autumn.

When I touched down in England on Thursday morning, the first thing I noticed was how much cooler it is here than in America.  Despite the drizzly, clichéd rain, the air was crisp and fresh and it truly felt like autumn.  I'm sad that I'll miss the changing leaves and the brisk winds of the American fall, but autumn in England is a beautiful season, full of the smell of bonfires, bright blue skies and snuggly jumpers.

This climbing plant has been in our back garden for so long we've forgotten what it's called!  Every year it turns this gorgeous, fiery red colour and it makes it a joy to look out of the kitchen window.  The tree at the bottom of the yard in New Jersey has shown promise of changing colour like this too, I'm hoping S will capture the change for me so I can see it.

While it would be so, so awesome to have some kind of wood burner, our English house is a touch small for that.  This pile of logs used to be a fence of trees that ran along one side of the garden but had to be cut down because they were interfering with the foundation of the house next door.  I've been helping my Mum snip up the foliage to put into bags for collection and the smell of the branches is fantastic.  It reminds me so much of being younger and breathing in that delightful, sticky sap, fresh smell.  Although it's a shame to see the trees gone, I love how the logs look, all piled on top of each other, waiting to bring someone warmth as the days begin to cool.

With the arrival of autumn, finding precious little blooms like this becomes so much more exciting.  This one was tucked away behind a patch of holly, serenely resting there with a few other bright flowers.  These are so pretty when they are open, the centre petals a stunning purple colour.  I hope that I can keep track of this little flower and see if it'll open up at least one more time.

Possibly my favourite thing about this time of year, particularly in England, is that since it's getting a little colder, the cats decide to stay in much more often!  My parents told me that they were out for most of the summer, so to come back and see them all sleeping so sweetly in the house is a real treat.

What things are you loving about autumn, or fall, at the moment?  I hope you're having a wonderful week.

Love, K.

Home.

'Home' has become a bit of a weird word for me lately.  Since I moved to America and started living with S, I've come to consider my new place and our new life as being 'home'.  But due to some visa issues, I've had to leave the country for a little while and head back to England, back 'home'.

I was trying to figure out which one I should call 'home' now.  When I talked to my Mum about it, she said that 'home' is where you live, which would mean the apartment I share with S.

Top Floor Represent!

When I talk about 'home' though, my thoughts immediately go to England, to the house I grew up in, the place my family lives.  Having only been in America a short while and then having to come back to England, it doesn't feel like I've lived there long enough to call it 'home'.  But even though the feeling of comfort and familiarity I feel when I come back to England is homely, I don't officially live here any more.

Home is where the heart is, right?  Clearly, my heart is back with S, 3500 miles away.  I've been telling my family about the things we do 'at home' and oddly, I felt a little guilty that I'd somehow replaced my childhood home with my new one so far away.

Is it just really greedy to want to have two places to call home?  For me, 'home' is where you feel safe, secure, happy and loved.  I definitely have two places I feel like that in and for that I am very lucky.

So I'm back in England for a few weeks, from one home to another.  A time for catching up with friends, enjoying the changing seasons and spending quality time with my family.  I hope you have a wonderful week planned, full of all the things that make you feel at home.

Love, K.

Yikes.

The first thing S says to me when I wake up this morning is "There's a tornado warning in effect until 5pm!"

Say what?

A tornado warning?  I check the ever-reliable weather.com and yep, there it is.  Tornado warning.

Not only that, but for most of the day so far it's decided to bucket it down with rain.  All my laundry plans have been foiled!  So, after discussing what I should do if a tornado decides to appear (get to the basement, stat!), S went off to work and I thought that a blustery, rainy day was the perfect kind of day to settle in with two of my very favourite things; iced tea and crocheting.

I've been working on this throw on and off for a couple of weeks and it's finally starting to take shape.  My intention is for it to be a big, round, snuggly blanket of awesome that we can put on our bed in the winter months to keep us extra toasty when it finally gets cold.  It's just a series of double crochets (the English version) with increases in each row, the increases coming every x stitch depending on which row your on (i.e., if you're on row ten, you increase every eleventh stitch, row eleven every twelfth.  Pretty simple, eh?).  And I'm interspersing my crocheting with another of my favourite things; lunch.

We went out with S's parents to iHop for dinner last night and I couldn't finish my meal, so I brought it home for lunch today!  It's a spinach, roasted red pepper and cheese sandwich with egg on sourdough bread.  Delicious.

I'm sitting tight, waiting for the potential tornado and I'm feeling pretty cosy.  Fingers crossed nothing touches down!

I hope your Monday is treating you well, with less potentially terrifying weather than mine!

Love, K.