Ornate
I don’t really go in for ornaments, preferring instead to decorate my home with plants, flowers and natural products. My summer bowl contains the dried petals from the roses I got for my 40th birthday last year. This is my autumn bowl – chestnuts I collected from the schoolyard near my home. Aren’t they gorgeous?
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My Food Odyssey 
Exquisite..so many textures and rich colors. I used to walk the hills and collect autumn leaves and seeds to decorate my hearth. Your photos brought back this pleasant memory.
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Same! I have Indian popping corn hanging on the front door, a bowl of pine cones in the kitchen and dried flowers in the hall. I love that you have pieces of nature with meaning though – the rose petals are a lovely touch 🙂
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They all sound lovely, Dee. I’m particularly intrigued by the Indian popping corn!
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People have different season bowls!? I think I own two bowls and I alternate them to eat out of… 😉
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I know – I’m so organised. AND efficient – if I’m stuck I can even use that bowl for eating! 😉
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A girl after my own heart … my summer bowl was rose heads and leaves drived from a miniature bush my cousin and his wife bought me last year and which has thrived beyond my wildest expectations on my tiny balcony scattered with the rose petals we threw over my daughter and her new husband at their wedding in England. Autumn is a basket full of squash and a glass bowl of chestnuts (sweet and horse) …. what I love about your commentary is the image of children playing conkers – something they don’t get at all here!
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Sounds like we have very similar tastes! The basket of squash sounds lovely. (PS: I can’t believe you have a daughter old enough to be married! There must be something in that French air keeping you young! 😉 )
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Now THAT is the nicest thing I have heard all year! Lucky genes are all. And if I may say so I nearly collapsed when I read that you celebrated your 40th last year … so there!
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🙂 (Blushes…)
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Soothing…
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This city girl got quite the lesson on chestnuts here. Grandma used to roast them all the time in winter; when they went into the oven you always waited for the racket of at least one exploding. Thanks for sharing.
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Beautiful photo June, and good luck with the continued sweet chestnut hunt 😀
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Lovely.
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Very pretty. Do you scent them with any oils?
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Thanks Cherryl. I didn’t scent them. I might have done if they were for the bathroom but in our sunroom we prefer them scent free.
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Probably a good thing. I would like to have a sunroom. We want to update and remodel some. That is one thing I want.
I have been thinking of you June. With all the fuss with Russia and Isis, I am praying you and your husband and neighbors are staying safe. Take care.
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Thank you, Cheryll – that’s very thoughtful of you. We’re all good so far – let’s just hope it stays that way.
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I’ve heard chestnuts are effective for keeping spiders away,but haven’t tested it myself.
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That’s interesting, Cristina. We don’t have a lot of spiders in the house but I don’t think I’ve noticed any since I collected these.
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The texture you capture in the images is superb!
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Thank you!
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beautiful!
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Chestnuts are great decorations for the house but also delicious to eat when roasted! ❤
Great share! 🙂
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You can’t eat these ones, unfortunately, Anna, but I’m on a mission to find some of the ones you can!
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I didn’t know there were some you couldn’t eat. How do you tell the difference? I’d love to find some edible chestnuts this fall!
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Horse chestnuts (like the ones in my photo) have a thick husk with sparse, thick spikes, making them look a bit like a medieval instrument of torture. Inside, the nuts (if there’s more than one) are separated by a thick white membrane. Sweet chestnuts have a thin husk with dense, fine needles, more like a porcupine or sea urchin. Inside there is usually more than one nut with no separation beteen them. Because the nuts sit into each other they have a slight tip at their base. You can see a side-by-side photo here.
http://www.farminmypocket.co.uk/growing/wild-food/sweet-chestnuts
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So the ones I played with as a child and the one’s I bought last year in the store came from different trees. Son of a gun…I guess I’m still learning, even at my age. Now I am in hot pursuit of a sweet chestnut tree in LT. LOL. Thanks for the insight. 🙂
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They are 🙂 When I was a kid, I used to collect them and keep them nice and shiny by applying my mum’s Ives Rocher face cream, LOL!
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I’m sure she loved you for that! Did it help?!
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It makes them go mouldy 😦
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Love it. I have a vivid picture of that scene in my head. Could transfer very well to a TV add…
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I had them lined up on tissue paper as well. In order of size.
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…just keeps getting better and better!
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