So it’s, er, November tomorrow.  And I’ve done….six things on my list for Autumn.  I’ve also abandoned three others as unattainable.  Oh dear!  Here’s a note of my progress so far (full list here).

Go somewhere new in Edinburgh for brunch (above)  

This was easy.  There’s nothing hard about eating blueberry pancakes really, is there?  In case anyone needs a brunch recommendation in Edinburgh, The Manna House bakery on Easter Road gets my vote.

Make pumpkin pie

Every year for the past four years, I’ve made a pumpkin pie.  But this was the first year that it looked even remotely professional.  In case it’s of interest, I whizzed the pumpkin mixture until smooth with a hand blender and it completely transformed the entire thing. From lumpy and visibly “home made” to smooth and melt-in-the-mouth in one easy step! I also used a shop-bought sweet crust pastry case, mainly because I’m too lazy to faff around making my own pastry or, ahem, roll some ready-frozen pastry to the right size.  Self-sufficiency = nil, nice-looking (and, importantly, nice-tasting) pies = 1.

Making pumpkin pie then obviously led to this…

We call him Kenny.  Don’t mention the size of his eyes.

Learn to make spiced apple cider

I didn’t really feel like drinking anything alcoholic the night I did this one, so my spiced apple cider was essentially just warmed up apple juice with some nutmeg and cinnamon stirred through it.  It was lovely, however, and a welcome change from my routine cup of tea.

Write letters to people

So I’ve only done one, but it was massively well-received, and I wrote it on a Sunday night, balled up in lots of woolly layers and with a hot drink in hand.  The whole thing felt fantastically old-fashioned and romantic.  Must write more letters.

Complete the 5k by 50 challenge

This finished on Sunday and I’m pleased to report that with the exception of the day I had food poisoning, when getting from my bed to the couch felt like running a marathon, I did it.  It wasn’t all that difficult if I’m honest – if you lead even a moderately active lifestyle you’ll soon find yourself racking up the kilometres.  In fact, I was surprised at just how far I do run/walk/cycle during the course of what I consider to be a normal week.

Run the Edinburgh 10k on October 7th without stopping, dying or throwing up

I did this, and wrote about it here.

And the things I’ve chosen to abandon are:

Climb 7 more Munros

I’ve managed three.  Three!  There’s no way I’m going to fit four more in before the end of the year, what with the reduced daylight hours, the cold weather and all those mince pies I’m about to start eating.   But six Munros in total isn’t bad for my first year of *serious* walking, right?  To be continued come 2013…

Watch Season 1 of The Wire

Yes, I know, this has been on list after list after list of mine.  But now I don’t have a TV anymore, or a laptop with a disk drive.  So I’m screwed, in other words.  I’ll just have to do more jigsaw puzzles instead.

Read Shantaram

I hold my hands up – there’s *no way* I’m going to get through 700+ pages before the end of next month.  At the rate I’m reading I’ll be lucky to finish the 400-page book I’m currently halfway through by the end of the year!  Read more books FAIL.

So… taking into account successes and relative failures to date, by my calculations I’ve got 11 things to attempt over the course of the next month.  Fun!  So far, I’ve got plans to get a massage, visit Edinburgh Castle and finally, after many painstaking hours of sewing (I hate sewing), declare my big blanket complete.  Hurrah!

What are you up to this Autumn?