Autumn in Scotland

I was dreading this time of year more than a little bit, this particular year, because normally right about now is when we are in Florida or on our way to Florida to visit my Mom. So it has been almost a whole year since I have seen my Mom, this is definitely the longest we have gone without seeing each other. I admit it has been really tough for me at times being so far away during such a stressful/weird time with no end in sight. It's still hard, feeling grounded, indefinitely, I hate feeling so stuck. 

Traditionally Fall/Autumn, whatever floats your boat (I feel like "Fall" is more common in New England among my people?)...anyhoo, it was always my favourite season once we moved to Massachusetts from Virginia when I was a freshman in high school. Autumn always seemed hotter and shorter and less defined where I grew up in the south. 

In Massachusetts, Fall meant raking huge piles of leaves, hot cider, trips to the apple orchard for apples and cider donuts. It meant chilly days where you don't quite need a coat, the disappearance of humidity (always good for curly hair!), Halloween and Thanksgiving and just...comfort and kinship to be corny. I liked school, I liked being with my friends, I liked driving to family's house a few hours away at Thanksgiving with my Mom, listening to Alice's Restaurant on the radio. 

The idea of Fall still makes me feel nostalgic and happy. It's different in Scotland, as many things are. For one thing, the temperature change doesn't seem as dramatic. A hot summer's day here is usually somewhere in the 70s (or even 60s!), so the months where it swerves into 50s/60s just don't feel very different. We also don't get quite as many crisp, sunny days it feels like (what we in New England especially call "Sweatah Weathah!"). 

I was more than happy to spend the best days of the season wading in the warm Gulf of Mexico and eating ice cream and not thinking about the long dark winter ahead. Inevitably the change in seasons would happen while we were away, often when we go away it's still fairly mild, and more often than not when we arrive back home it's freezing, the trees are barren: one year there was even a massive snowstorm the day we flew home. 

At any rate, this year is different. We are stuck here, we live in a city with no car so it's not even like we can go off on Instagrammable highland adventures (to be honest, we are not huge hikers, or country people, but it's been a very long year to have gone absolutely nowhere).

But to my surprise, I am finding autumn in Scotland very pretty and cheering this year. We have had some bright days and some not so bright days, but the spots of pretty foliage have really lifted my mood. People don't really "decorate" for Fall or Halloween here like in America, so it's rare to see more than an occasional pumpkin, but nature, even "city" nature, has made this season a bit brighter for me.

I like to stop and take pictures when the mood strikes on or our walks, most of these were taken in the past month or two - the weather has turned pretty rainy and bleak now so I'm glad I caught some of the autumnal colours while they were out!

I'm a little obsessed with Japanese maples, they bloom so bright and then poof overnight they are gone. I would love to plant one someday though!

Full disclosure I put the above pic on my Instagram grid and may have over brightened it a tiny bit. Which bugs me because other than some exposure brightening because I live in a gray land with not much light this time of year, I take pains to keep my pictures as true to life as possible. 

It was my wedding anniversary in October. These roses were delivered from M&S, they were pretty but "eh" on the long lasting scale. 

In case anyone hates orange here are some hydrangeas, which come in all colours this time of year it seems! I decided I also really like that pale greenish white shade of hydrangea that I guess is the beginning phase? I would love to get a bouquet of hydrangeas, I see them in people's houses windows who I presume have them in their gardens sometimes but I don't think they sell them as cultivated flowers anywhere?

I went to get my flu shot a couple of weeks ago and it was at a school not the doctor's office because COVID; anyway this hastily designed sign cracked me up (kind of a you had to be there thing probably), but the appointments were rather far away from this sign, and then there was no actual sign at the doorway of the appointment so I was glad I went ahead of time to scope it out! 

Other than that it went well, although the flu shot made me feel really icky this year, which doesn't normally happen to me. So it is added to my list of "maybe I had Covid and didn't know it?" weird symptom checker. 

I have had a series of odd two day colds this year, of course every time it's like "Oh no", but then it doesn't turn into much. It is weird because normally if I get a cold, I get a cold. So I'm vaguely paranoid it's "long Covid" but also rationally I know it is highly unlikely I would have had Covid as an asthmatic and not known it. 

Also I was wondering are they giving the flu shot to people they know had Covid and is that some sort of risk/could they have a weird reaction to it? Am I the only one who drives myself a bit batty with unanswerable medical questions this year? :-0

Anyway...let's crunch through some leaves, shall we, that will make things less stressful!

How pretty is the school/its grounds though? I admit I have walked past maybe once or twice, it's not right near where I live, but anyway sometimes you just have to visit a place to notice it more I guess.

This is a cottage (headmasters? Is that a thing?) at the entrance...I thought it was so fairy tale cute looking.

And right beside it is a stream with a little mini waterfall! I thought this was so cool, how had I never noticed a waterfall in the middle of my town before?! It's hard to see through the woods, I know, sorry! We tried to get a better look but it is all fenced off, you can totally hear it though.

Being stuck, STILL in one place, is unquestionably getting more than a bit tired. But it has been surprisingly nice to discover even just little things on walks we maybe never would have seen had it not been for this situation, and for that I am grateful. Thanks for reading my little Autumn/Fall picture album! How is everyone else coping out there?