'Last days of autumn'

I spent a beautiful autumn day today with a stroll through one of my favourite parks in Dublin, observing the changing colours in nature, listening to the late birdsong drifting in on a crisp breeze, and conjuring up new ideas for my January collections. The unnecessary and often stifling chaos that epitomises the lead up to Christmas fills me with dread, and seems to begin earlier every year.

I feel that November and December should be months spent enjoying a slower pace of life; reflecting on the months gone past, and looking forward, and planning for the new year. A time of year to spend with family, and relish the chance to be outdoors savouring these magical days of low gilded sunshine and tumbling leaves, rather than in manic suffocating shopping centres. I know where I would much rather be.