The October Pages: For Moths and Goths

things I saw, drew and thought about this month

October is the most magical month of the year – I shall hear no arguments about that nor a word said against it.  Earlier in the year, I was blown away by January and her glorious late sunrises and frozen mornings; in March I was enchanted by the feeling of pale yellow sunshine warming my face; in May I was in heaven with the blackbird singing in the garden at 8pm.  But October!  October is sparkling cobwebs, dramatic skies, fire-coloured leaves, dashing squirrels, fairy-rings of toadstools, low-lying mist.  October feeds your imagination and your soul. It is folklore and fantasy, spells and wishes whispered into the wind.  And today, on Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is thin, anything could happen. 

Here are my October pages and thoughts:

October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir

1.

A bit of a jumble of a page, really.  Not my finest!  There’s a little thistle I drew while picnicing with the family in Gordon Community Woodland (on our way to Anna King’s gorgeous Studio Exhibition).  Blue skies, toadstools, buzzards.  And then there’s a few quick sketches from a very rainy morning in Edinburgh at the Museum of Scotland with the kids (including one done with puddle water while we waited for the missing no9 bus).  And some thoughts, inspired by a quote I read from megan falley “what is more valuable than silver in a loved one’s hair?”.  October brought the possibility that Ross might need varifocals (or at least reading glasses).  I wasn’t ready for us to be at varifocals age, but then, along with the spreading white in his beard, it struck me as the greatest gift: to share a life with someone long enough for their eyesight to deteriorate.  How lucky I am!

October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir
October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir

2 and 3. after school sketches (a boy in a tree, exactly as it should be)

nothing better than throwing stones into the river, climbing trees, riding bikes, and finding mushrooms and beech nuts to shake off the school day.  Even better if I can sit with a cuppa and my sketchbook while they do those activities!  October turns everyone into a collector.  There’s just so many things to stuff into your pockets! 

October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir

4.

What a nice spot 

to sit and listen to the river

until you get pins and needles in your foot and a numb bum

October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir
October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir

5 and 6

we made it to half-term!  A big term under our belts: Ross settling into new job, Piglet completed his first term of P2, Trix starting at the school nursery, the start of Calendar Season for me, and adjusting to having my littlest around a little less.  All good, but also a break was needed, and the perfect thing was a weekend at Anne’s caravan at Pease Bay, blowing off steam on the beach.  Weather so good that the kids were in the sea in their pants.  Boulder clambering, beach treasures, sand sculpting, board games. All the good things. A goodbye to the light and the easy, before the darkness sets in.

October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir

7. a story about concussion

Here I am, holding a blackbird as she struggles to stay awake after crashing into the studio window. I heard the bang and ran down to check on her. I picked her up and she didn’t seem frightened at all.  She looked at me calm and steady.  I could feel her tiny heart thumping in her chest.  A scaly eyelid closed up (rather than down). Soft feathers, soft breath, fragile bones.  She slept in my hands, too concussed to put up a fight. I put her in a cardboard box in the hall and went back to work. After an hour of quiet & dark she was ready.  The jarring sound of wing-feathers against cardboard-wall.  I opened the box up and out the front door she flew, eyes bright and alert again.  

Two weeekends previously, Trix had got a concussion, too.  She came off a ride-on car into our patio windows, smacking into the glass just like our blackbird.  Trix bashed her nose and her forehead.  After the initial tears, it became impossible to keep her awake, so off to A+E we trotted.  Two hours later, we discharged ourselves.  She was so full of sass and beans she would’ve been running the place had we stayed any longer.  I’m thankful to our A+E for being her cardboard box to revive in.

Also pictured: more October treasures; an angle shades moth (because October is for the moths and the goths).

October sketchbook page by Hannah Longmuir

8. Abbotsford House

two lovely trips to Abbotsford this month, both times with Piglet on his new shiny red bike. Loads of toadstools in all shapes and sizes, great trees, a witchy trail.  Abbotsford also happens to be one of my local stockists.  

And with that, we have Octobered to the best of our ability.  I’ve never been a huge Hallow’een fan, but seeing all the kids at the primary school dressed as the things of the underworld, I’ve been charmed by the ancientness of the tradition.  In this most magical month, we embrace the darkness.  For one night, we mix with the ghosts and the ghouls, walking side by side through the streets, playing tricks and giving little frights.  The pumkins have been picked, the harvest is in.  Time to ward off the evil spirits and hope for the best.  Winter is coming.

 

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