Autumn arrives in Western Australia

Autumn has arrived in the south west of Western Australia. Although our Australian native trees are evergreen you can see autumn colour starting to appear in the imported tree varieties that are dotted throughout our towns and countryside.


On the weekend I celebrated the arrival of autumn by joining a water-colour workshop run by Marguerite Aberle at Lyndendale Gallery on Crooked Brook Road just out of Dardanup, about a half hour drive from my home. I had been promising myself to attend one of Marguerite's workshops for a couple of years, and what a joy it was to finally attend. The theme for the workshop was autumn colours.

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Marguerite is passionate about her art and her generosity of spirit and encouragement made me feel welcome and ignited my artistic streak that has bubbled away underneath my work-day life.  I hadn't picked up a paintbrush for years, and know I have a lot to learn, and I am looking forward to another workshop with Marguerite so I can continue to explore water colours.  You can learn more about Marguerite and see some of her beautiful work by clicking here - Marguerite Aberle

It really was a wonderful morning joining with other like minded ladies in the beautiful Lyndendale environment. One cannot help but be inspired! 
For this workshop we were making gift cards with an autumn theme.
You can see some of my tentative humble creations below here and above on middle and lower right pics. I look forward to bringing more to you when I meet up with Marguerite again soon to complete the project, and as time goes on.

Another signal to the start of autumn, for me at least, is the arrival of quinces.  This is a old fruit that is not often seen in modern orchards or backyards. The tree you see in the image below is at historic King Cottage in Bunbury where my writer's group now meet. I have been expectantly watching the fruiting of this tree over the last couple of months.

Quinces are a fruit of contrasts. The raw fruit is rock hard. You cannot eat it raw, although according to my friend who has a tree on their family property, the parrots love them. My dear friend bought me some bags of quinces over the weekend, and I stewed some straight away, and will be making quince paste very soon. The aroma of stewing quinces is intoxicating. They magically turn from hard yellow to soft succulent ruby pink.

 

You can eat them stewed like this or put them into a pie. For stewing just peel, core, and slice into eights. You can either stew them in a saucepan with a little sugar and water, or in the oven as I have done. The oven method takes longer but gives a richer taste.

For about 4-5 quinces - peel, core and quarter the quinces (or thinner slices if large quinces).
Put in an oven-proof dish,
with juice and zest of 2 lemons and 1 orange,  (although only 1 lemon works fine)
2 cinnamon sticks,  (1 cinnamon stick is fine)
1 and a quarter cups of raw sugar (less if you prefer)
and about 500 mls water. (just to cover - quantity dependent on the number and size of the quinces you have). Cover with a piece of damp baking paper. Bake at 160-170 C for 2-3 hours. 

The longer and slower the cooking, the pinker they become.

So delicious. I adore them! Have you ever tried quinces? If not, I do hope you buy some quinces if you ever see them in your market.
And like "The Owl and the Pussycat" don't forget to eat with a runcible spoon!
You might also like -  And slices of quince which they ate with with runcible spoon

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.
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