Autumn colours

It certainly isn’t summer any more! The sun comes up at 9:15 and it’s dark by 6:30pm. The forest is a mixture of autumnal deciduous trees and evergreen oaks scattered in their yellow confetti.

In spite of the chill in the air, only this week have we eaten the last of our ripe tomatoes, chillies, melons and baby courgettes from the garden – not bad going for mid November.

Most of the vegetable patch is bare and sad-looking now. I have planted some winter stuff but we’ve had a few unseasonable frosts that are hampering success.

Even though the garden is almost empty there’s lots of work to be done. Dave has been glued to his computer the last few weeks doing consultancy work so I’ve been enjoying free rein in the garden, experimenting with techniques I’ve read about. I’ve been pulling up old plants, mulching the vegetable beds, feeding the compost heap and dealing with the produce – drying chillies, onions and nuts, curing pumpkins, making apple sauce and preserves. I’ve spent all day today making 3kg of chutney (although that did also involve a trip to the shops and a broken down car).

We were away in the UK for a month and we’ve been back for a month and our car is still at the garage where we left it. The plan was for it to get registered in Spain, but so far that’s not working out very speedily. In the meantime we are borrowing an old Seat from the garage with incredible fuel economy, so we can’t really complain. Except that it is also back in the garage having been towed away this afternoon because it wouldn’t start.

If we have a car again by Tuesday we will be heading back to Asturias for our third viewing of a property that… we totally want to buy! If all goes well and we pay the deposit, I will excitedly tell you all about it! Watch this space…

– Anna