Brrrr.......Autumn in Maasland.....winter is on it's way!

The central heating is on!  So now it's the test, what do we think of the cold, real cold that is and it's not even winter yet!  Funny because when it was 10 degrees before the holidays and now when it's 10 degrees it's still colder, like that ice cold.

Photo taken 8 July 2010

Photo taken 4 Oct 2010

The streets are filling with leaves, no chance of using a leaf blower here.  And Finn is helping fill the "Autumn" table at school, with leaves, nuts and berries.  Our house is full of chestnuts.........I'm sure Simone will still be finding nuts hidden behind furniture this time next year!  The kids favourite thing now is at any chance they have to ride to their favourite chestnut tree and find chestnuts.  I think Finn has discovered every tree within a 1km radius of home.

Here's a pick of Just and Finn making their chestnut animals with toothpicks........a pastime from Just's childhood.

The trees are really pretty too, you forget how strong the colours can be.  This pick was taken on our recent holiday in Herisson, France.

We've been back from our holiday for 4 days and even though Just is still sick I haven't ventured further than the supermarket on the bike with Mara..........I'm still trying to work out how many layers of clothes she needs and I need to buy a pair of closed in shoes!   (Shoes that I will probably never get to wear in Townsville!)

And with the cooler with coming on it's nice to make lots of soups and stews...........hmmmmmm and to forget about the ice-cream until we get home.