The rosemary is flowering again after a dormant dry summer:
The olives are ripening and I’ll be harvesting these soon:
And gradually the vine leaves are beginning to turn their different shades of autumn. This is the Alicante Bouschet variety that has red-fleshed as well as red-skinned grapes and is used to give a deep colour to red wines.
I swam in warm sea at Marseillan-plage a few days ago but I don’t think I will again as the nights are getting cooler and the sea will get chillier from now on.
olivesandartichokes 
Beautiful leaves and olives 🙂
Those olives look beautiful. That dusty bloom is perfect. I envy you the swim – I’ve covered our pool and the Atlantic is definitely chilly:)
I think even the Mediterranean will get chilly from now on, but it was lovely until this week.
Beautiful autumn images, and I love the change of banner to fit the season! I’ve never eaten a fresh olive. Do people eat them fresh?
Thanks! No, you can’t eat olives straight from the tree. They’re too bitter until they’ve been cured, which takes weeks or even months in salt or brine.
I’m not fond of the ones I’ve tasted, but I only know them from jars, and from cheap delicatessens. Once in Portugal I had some black ones that had been soaked in garlic and oil (but probably brine before that), put on the table for an appetizer before the meal, and I loved those. I’ve never had any that even vaguely resembled them in the USA. In general my cravings run to sweets rather than savories. I have to struggle with that all the time.
Oh, that’s sad that you can’t get nice olives – I’d always prefer olives to sweets! You’ll just have to come back to southern France!
We have lots of olives this year. I’ve never cured them but I’m sure I read how you did it on your blog. Off to check the archives.
My rosemary is flowering as well and is a-tumble with bees. I’m so happy to see the bees that I hate to harvest *any* of the flowers but they are so good on salads… do you eat the flowers? Mmmmm…
Oh the colors of autumn — I love them so much!
Beautiful colours, it really has cooled off the last few days but maybe November will warm up again, it did last year. (Wishful thinking) Take care Diane
Everything looks stunning and is making me feel rather homesick 😦