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Gallery: an October selection (2026)

October 31, 2026 / 4 Comments

There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

October has always been one of my favourite months and I don’t think I’m alone in that. Looking for a good quote to introduce this post I started to realise that there may be more said about October than most other months put together!

October travels

We were away for much of this particular October, visiting three countries in the Caucasus region: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The trip encompassed part of September too so by the start of October we were already well into the Azerbaijan leg. I’ll share plenty of detailed posts about the trip over the coming months, but I’ve included a few photos in my slideshow below to give a flavour of it. I’ve tried to focus on shots that might not find their way into those detailed posts.

October at home

We returned to a mix of autumnal weather: some cool crisp days, a few milder sunny ones and rather too many very rainy ones for my liking. But we do need the rain!

Back home I picked up my regular activities including various U3A groups such as my weekly table tennis which I really enjoy. I also joined a new group, monthly wildlife walks led by a keen birder, and enjoyed my first outing. The results of our annual photo competition were announced; I didn’t do as well as last year but was pleased that one of my shots from our visit to Florence was successful.

We managed to fit in two cinema visits, seeing Fatherland, which I thought was very good, and a preview of Wild Horse Nine, which was excellent. The latter also included a live ‘in conversation’ with Wes Anderson ‘interviewing’ the director Martin McDonagh. I put interviewing in brackets because we heard as much about Wes Anderson’s working methods etc. as we did about McDonagh’s. But I don’t think anyone in the audience was complaining about that!

There were meals out too, including a lovely lunch catching up with my sister after our trip. The two of us also visited the V&A for a general wander around some of the galleries and a bit of retail therapy in its wonderful shop.

Oh, and I ‘celebrated’ (if that’s the right word at my age!) my birthday at the end of the month with a wonderful meal out at my favourite fine dining London restaurant, Murano.

Technical notes

A mix of cameras this month. Most of my Caucasus shots were taken on my Lumix bridge camera, but a few with the compact Lumix and one, the street art in Tbilisi, with my phone. Back home I used my compact camera on the U3A wildlife walk but otherwise relied on my phone. Most have been edited in Photoshop Elements and many also with Nik Color Efex.

As always I’m linking to Ju-Lyn’s and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge, and to Natalie’s Monthly Wrap-up.

Please use the arrows to navigate the slideshow if you want to see all the images. My feature photo was taken in the grounds of Etchmiadzin Cathedral near Yerevan, Armenia.



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