Tinza’s Tiddley-Bits: {falling leaves}

While I love the word autumn, the North American term--"fall"--seems to conjure up the idea of falling leaves...
I began teaching last week and have just finished a busy second week of teaching...Fall/autumn always reminds me of getting ready to go back to school as a child...All the preparations that went into "Back to School": buying school supplies, hopefully getting new clothes, or getting hand-me-downs from my older sisters... and the fresh, crisp smell in the air. The leaves begin to change their colours, at night and in the morning there' s a chill in the air, but the sun still shines & the days are still fairly warm.

Around Allegany county the leaves are already starting to change colour. I hear that fall here is absolutely beautiful; the trees riotous with colour. It always reminds me of Canada...falling leaves, and especially the Maple Leaf. I remember when I was 12 and we were sailing down the Baja during fall. We couldn't have been further away from falling leaves and colder temps as we motored in windless weather and looked upon dry, cacti-laden landscape. My favourite album at the time was Bare Naked Ladies' Maybe You Should Drive, and I took comfort in the lyrics from You Will be Waiting:

"As we walk together through the autumn, nearing winter
Through the dying leaves and trees we call our home and native land..."

Somehow it reminded me of home and eased the homesickness.

This past weekend I visited Angelica with a colleague--a town not too far from Alfred that has plenty of antiques. The day was sunny, the central square (actually a circle) was filled with local farmers selling their fresh produce, and a local winery even had a stall open for wine-tasting. Another reason why I love this time of year: wine harvest!

{Antique Shops in Angelica}

The antique shops had numerous incredible finds and I had to be very disciplined not to buy everything in sight. Around the theme of fall/back to school, I found numerous vintage lunch boxes. In particular, two Strawberry Shortcake lunch boxes that looked like the one my sister, Esther, used to have and that I used to eye-eagerly hoping to inherit one day. Our 5 year-old niece, Paulina, would have especially appreciated these, since Strawberry Shortcake is back in fashion.

{Strawberry Shortcake lunchboxes like this one were on sale at the Antique Shops in Angelica. This one available from primetoystore}

Speaking of fashion, there were a couple of shops with amazing vintage clothing...lovely light gloves suitable for autumn, a variety of hats and head decorations, and scarves...and some great coats.

{Who cares about rain or chilly weather when you've got a dainty hat to wear? These hats look very similar to the vintage hats I saw at the antique shops in Angelica. From BBC's Homes&Antiques}

The comfort of warm cardies and boots always get me excited for fall too...the colours are more subdued--more browns, and greys...and somehow more comforting.

{I love this combo of brown boots, a dainty hat & a lovely purse from Lola & Emily in Montreal}

and the theme of leaves always makes me want to adapt nature to fashion. I love these gold earrings shaped as leaves that I got from Forever XXI...and they have loads more different styles. I love true bling, but I have a tendency to lose earrings, so these cheaper ones are sometimes a better (& safer) bet for me.

{gold 'leaf' earrings from Forever XXI (a few seasons ago). This was taken on Bowen Island on a trip I took with my parents (their boat Passat in background}

{These are also from Forever XXI
in 2009--I love them!}

{Also from Forever xxi}

{and this lovely leaf necklace from FreshyFig}

...and leaves always make me think of Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued by Apollo, executed by Bernini between 1622 and 1625...I love the way her hair and her hands softly turn into the branches & then leaves of a tree...