Autumn arrived a few weeks ago and we were lucky enough to be in Italy just as the first chestnuts fell. They were the biggest I’ve ever seen, due to the high rainfall this year.

At this time of year in this part of Italy, there’s a tradition of making tagliatelle with the fresh nettles which have just started growing.

This is a great time of year for brassica buds. I’m not sure if buds is the correct term. Sprouts maybe? Shoots? For most people this means broccoli, but you can eat the buds from all brassicas. At least, I do.

I started listening to the Blindboy podcast last summer and still look forward to it every week.

I’ve been finding the coming of spring very slow. Winter was so long, and a few weeks ago it seemed that spring had arrived at last. The fields in the valley were all suddenly green, and quite a few trees in the woods, but then the weather turned cold again (as it usually does..).

Here’s another old photo of mine, also from 2013.

It was taken in the Swiss Alps. I really like the texture.

Here’s another book. I’ve been reading a lot lately as the weather has been so bad.

I like this album. It features synths sampled from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop of the 1960s and 70s. Some lovely rich analogue sounds.

Here’s a photo I took in August 2013, high in the Apennine mountains of Italy. It popped up just now as my computer desktop background.

Today was a good day for drying. So good, the wind broke the washing line. Here’s a photo of the new one.