After the chilly and disappointing summer we just endured, most people were hoping that autumn would be golden and glorious and Indian. No such luck! This weekend we were treated to a cold and stormy taste of things to come. Normally when there is a significant weather event the newsreaders like to give it a name; "winter chill", "polar blast" and so on. This one was a Weather Bomb. The bomb mainly exploded on the north island where roofs, trees and trampolines were flung around all over the place. Here in Chch we had gale force winds, horizontal rain, and a bloody cold Saturday. Since our chimney is halfway through being removed (thanks for your quick response, EQC) we were unable to light the fire and spent the day huddled in the kitchen with the fan heater.
Sunday was warmer, but there is no denying it... summer is gone (if it was ever really here) and it's time to switch back into cool weather mode. For me this means as much light as possible in the form of candles, lamps and decorative lights, and as much warmth as possible from the pellet fire, blankets, hot water bottles and heaters (I'm pondering an oil heater for the kitchen which I hope will provide a nice constant warmth in the background - does anyone have experience running one of these?)
I also felt the urge to put up my Tiny Things Display Shelf again. This is momentous because it fell down in the earthquake and a lot of things got smashed, so I put it in a cupboard and put the display things in a box and really just didn't want to look at them for a while. But recently I felt that the time was right to get them out and have some pretty things to look at. So this is Tiny Things - the Autumn Edition.
I reattached the shelf to the wall and used Blu-tack in the bottom corners to hold it steady. I arranged all the bits and then carefully put little blobs of Blu-tack under each of them as well, so they are as safe as they can be.
Green berries, acorn caps, printers letters, a tiny egg made from malachite, an ornate photo holder, a little house, a handcarved printing block, a bottle stopper, shells, dried seedheads.
Tiny autumn flowers, a Tamsin Cooper embroidered brooch, a glass inkwell, eucalyptus nuts, a metal kina shell.
A glass inkwell, a feather from my walk last weekend, more eucalyptus nuts, a vintage perfume bottle, funny spiky seedheads, fuzzy acorn hats, and in the top right corner, a bird skull.