Friday 7 October 2016

Autumn

It has been an unusually long summer here, and almost every day of September has been warm enough for wearing short sleeves and running barefoot, something the children have taken every advantage of. Now however, there has been a turn in the weather, and it’s decidedly autumn. While the summer itself wasn’t a good time for me this year, I love autumn, it is my favourite season, and I have decorated for it using lovely things found in nature.

I put all kinds of greenery and berries in an empty jar; there is oak, maple, rosehip, boxwood, and some things I don’t know the names of. In a glass container I put glasses that I use as candle holders and decorated with chestnuts, acorns, and cones from pine and spruce. The cones will be used for Christmas decorations too in a couple of months. 

Having the tealights lit would have made a prettier picture, but one has to 
consider the fire hazard an all that - they were too close to the greenery to be lit.

In the kitchen lamp I have hung hops, more spruce cones and a string of rosehip. There are various smaller plants, neatly labeled, hung there as well – these things are primarily for our Halloween party, but they look pretty for autumn as well. 


 In a bell jar I created a little woodland scene – here's a post on how I made it.


This month I’ll be teaching a class on making Empire/Regency working class dresses, and I’m so excited! It’s rather a small class (but for a small group of real nerds, lower class is not the most popular thing amongst those doing 19th century in Sweden – not yet anyway), but I’ll be happy to see the finished dresses all the same.


Preparations for Halloween are coming along; the Hogwarts House wall hangings are up, as is the display of Muggle money. Plans and preparations for food is also being made.

I have joined a letter exchange role play, set in the world of Jane Austen’s England, 1816. I’m corresponding with an old “schoolfellow” and a young “niece”. The character I have chosen for myself is a clergyman’s wife by the name of Mary Carter in a village in Surrey, and it is great fun trying to think and express myself in a way familiar to anyone who have read Jane Austen.

See what I meant by fire hazard? 
My "niece" had a bit of an accident with my letter.

So far the autumn has treated me a good deal better than the summer did. I hope it will last :)

7 comments:

  1. Your autumn decorations are beautiful, I especially like what you did with the lamp!

    Good luck with your class, that's great news! And seeing the ad, how could anyone *not* like lower class? That outfit is perfection. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Adore your blog! Featured it in a recent blog post over at the Lazy Historian.
    Can you tell me more about the letter writing exchange? I can't find anything about them online and it's driving me crazy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Oh, featured with really gifted costumers :)

      The letter exchange was started by a Swedish LARPer, and most (maybe all) participants are Swedish. Writing can be done in Swedish or English depending on preference. It's all handled in a Facebook group, where useful information about period letter writing, tips and how-to's are shared. Participants submit a picture and a character description to a photo album, and make contact with the ones they'd like to correspond with, making up friendships, family ties, love interests, old grudges and so on. It's not all that complicated, so you could probably set up something similar, if you don't feel like joining the Swedish group :)

      Delete
  3. Thanks for the quick response! I think I may try to set something up. Oh my goodness, I'm so excited. lol Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry. I meant to ask for the name of the FB group.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yes, of course! It's called 'Eder Tillgivna', which means something like "yours affectionately". The letter exchange will only continue until February I think, but I should think the group moderator would be happy to come with tips and ideas for creating one of your own :)

      Delete

I love to hear from you - please comment!

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.