Tuesday 2nd November 2021

Nondescript sort of day. Some heavy showers on and off. I washed all the hats, gloves and scarves, and half thought of hanging them up outside at one point, but didn't. I think we might be past the point of that now, although it's good to get laundry out, even for a little while. It dries better inside.

This morning I made a start on clearing out the hall cupboard. I am trying to seriously declutter,an ongoing task, but I mean it this time. I got one shelving unit done, and will work my way slowly through the others. It’s a big cupboard and i’m determined to organise it properly. I have a plan.

Went to the coop again today and there is food. Bought fruit, few bits of veg and milk. People with wrapping paper in their trolleys already.

Had a really good workout at the gym - part of my self-care regime, then picked the boy up from school.

Cooked seabass and roasted vegetables with quinoa salad. Very tasty.

Fire lit and settled back to watch the Bake Off. I thought the wrong person went out, but it’s pretty obvious who is going to be in the final.

Monday 1st November 2021

November is here! My birthday month - and the boy's too. I’m always determined to enjoy the eleventh month without the taint of the celebration that looms in the twelfth. It’s hard to avoid, but I will try.

It was a stormy night and the wind kept up for a good part of the morning. I always find Monday to be a bit of a lost day. Cleaning and putting the house back to rights after the weekend, (as if we had raucous parties every night), laundry, sorting dinner and laying the fire. Then into town to pick the boy up and take him to the gym. I usually catch up with some shopping, or just wait in the car and knit on my car scarf and listen to the radio for the hour he's in.

Today I went back to the coop and found empty shelves again! No fruit or veg and not a drop of milk to be had. I complained and was assured the ferry was coming in at 4. Not much use today, but hopefully there will be something left tomorrow.

Came home - driving into a pink and grey sky. It was dark by the time we got home.

Nice dinner - black bean chilli, then TV and knitting by the fire.

Not so tired this Monday. I think we've benefitted from the extra hour.

Sunday 31st October 2021

Halloween - my Grandfather's birthday. He was born in 1898 just a couple of hundred yards away from my old house. The whole day is suffused with memories of him as I was growing up. Halloween was more about celebrating his birthday - the dressing up and dooking for apples was just part of the fun.

I felt a bit lonely and isolated at one point today - thinking about all those times when everyone in my family lived close by, and gatherings were frequent. Now it's just me and the boy. It was just a passing feeling, really. A nostalgia for a place and time - of things no longer…

The day was quiet, weather a bit stormy in the afternoon. It was nice to have that extra hour of light in the morning, and to kindle the fire earlier. It feels right, somehow - the slower rhythm of Greenwich Mean Time.

Had a nice dinner, and a dessert, as it was Sunday. I enjoyed a lovely zoom knit night and got a few rows done on the boy's jumper. Starting a new book tonight. November tomorrow.

Saturday 30th October 2021

I did go swimming this morning, and it was amazing. The sun came out - the water was perfect. I ended my swim without the wetsuit and came out aglow. There are more photos on Instagram if you feel so inclined.

its a beautiful, understated beach this one. There is a freshwater loch along behind it, with a nice raised walkway between them. I took the dog for a stretch along here afterwards. A perfect morning.

it was lunchtime when I got back, so I made our favourite avocado toast and poached eggs. I decided to continue the self-care theme in the afternoon and had a long shower, then a face mask. I’m feeling pretty chilled now - its been a while since I’ve done something like this.

Good Thai curry for dinner, wee glass of chianti, and watched a bit of Strictly. The boy is now watching UFC, while I’m knitting and peeping at the screen occasionally.

Heading off to bed shortly, I think I’ll finish my book tonight. Clocks go back, so an extra hour tomorrow.

Friday 29th October 2021

Quieter day today and very pleasant outside. Normally I’m in town on a Friday, but my gym session was switched to yesterday, so I caught up with the food shop then. Mind you, there wasn't much food in the co-op. No fresh produce - a whole aisle of empty shelves, hardly any meat or milk. It's becoming fairly common these days, which is worrying.

Anyway, I wanted to get out into the garden and catch up on some jobs I've been meaning to get around to. But then I made the mistake of tidying up the house first and then doing a couple of bits of committee admin. Of course, by then it was lunchtime, and I allowed myself to do a few rounds on my sock knitting. In the end it was after One when I got out, and my heart wasn't really in it. I did a couple of bits and pieces - cleared round a few shrubs, put some mulch down and cut back some overgrowth, but I had lost the spark.

Note to self - get outside first.

The boy was home early, as it was Friday, so that was me in. I lit a fire and finished my socks. There's a picture of them on instagram.

Then dinner and TV - we're working our way through Parks and Recreation. All in all it was a mildly productive day. I’m hoping to go for a swim tomorrow.

Thursday 28th October 2021

Really lovely morning. The air was soft and smelled so fresh. I stood on the drive, breathing it all in. Thinking of the folk in the Lake District who are gearing themselves up to deal with severe flooding.

I attended the funeral of my uncle today. It was at the other end of the country, but in this new virtual world, that's no longer a barrier. I did manage to feel part of it. The sound and picture were very clear, and the tributes were so moving, but seeing my cousins was very sad. I just wanted to hug them. Instead, there I was sitting on my sofa hundreds of miles away.

And then I was off about my day - recycling centre, food shopping, gym session, school run. Normal busy weekday.

But I felt different.

Wednesday 27th October 2021

Much better day today. Sunny mostly, with a stiff breeze.

Was kept in by admin, mostly. Many phonecalls dealing with the car insurance company, which took up a good chunk of the morning. The afternoon was spent preparing for a community meeting, planned for this evening, at which I am minute secretary. Also responding to a consultation on behalf of a different community organisation, of which I am the clerk. That took up a lot of time and I really had to concentrate.

By then it was time to pick the boy up from the bus stop on the main road. Then dinner, a chatty call from one of the girls, the meeting, which was on zoom, and then helping with chemistry homework. My brain has had a good workout today, at least.

Nice to settle back and read a chapter or two of my book, and write up my day, such as it was. I’m enjoying this wee practice- not thinking too much about it. Keeps it simple.

Tuesday 26th October 2021

Better day today, although the weather was slightly worse. I had a good sleep, which always helps.

Had a visit from Historic Environment Scotland this morning. Well - two representatives of that body, to be exact. They had come to survey the stones in the ruins of the old Blackhouse further down the croft, to see if they could be used in the repair of Carloway Broch.

They needed some big stones to underpin the area they were working on, and had appealed to the community for help.

I was in two minds about it, because I do like the ruins - tangible reminders of the old way of life, and also there are lots of wee birds that nest there in the spring and summer. On the other hand, the Broch is an important Iron Age building, built over 2000 years ago and is the best preserved example in Scotland. I liked the idea of my stones being used to ensure the Broch stood for another millennium or two.

Anyway, they waded down through the long tangled wet grass and had a look, but it turned out my stones were too round, and they needed flatter, longer ones. So that was that.

I was secretly relieved.

Monday 25th October 2021

Not much of a day - typical Monday really. It was very cold, and such rain in the morning! Cleared up in the afternoon but I couldn't get any heat in me and I struggled to get going all day. I did make a pot of soup and got some housework done, so not entirely unproductive.

J was training after school, so I drove over later to pick him up. Listened to Brain of Britain (radio 4 quiz) on the way and got quite a few questions right - always gratifying.

Thought on the way home that next week at this time, it will be almost dark.

Both of us tired - J fell asleep after dinner and stumbled to his bed shortly afterwards. I knitted a few rounds of my sock, went out to gaze at the moon, then packed it in for the night.

New day tomorrow.

Sunday 24th October 2021

It was quite a wild night, but the morning was bright and sunny. Still windy and showery on and off. Rainbow weather.

I went out to take instagram photographs of the pumpkins I have grown - as we do nowadays.

I noticed the gate had blown open in the gale. I also noticed the neighbour's white cow in my other neighbour's garden

As I walked back up the drive, I saw deep hoof prints in my own grass. There was a large cow pat in the middle of the lawn, already covered with brown flies.

I’ll move it to the compost bin tomorrow- this being Sunday.

Later I went down to the bottom field for a walk, and to see the trees and pond. It all looked fine, although not a lot of autumn colour showing. Some pondweed growing round the edges, and the marshy banks felt more solid.

(I'm trying out this daily journal format to see how I like it, and if I'll use the blog more.)

Daffodil Days

We are knee deep in daffodils here. As the rest of the Northern Hemisphere moves on to the pink and lilac hues of the later season, we are still firmly ensconced in the bright yellow mantle of early Spring.

Daffodils are a symbol of hope and renewal - one of the first splashes of colour to appear in the garden, reminding us that life is reawakening after the Winter rest.

They were my husband’s favourite flower. He always claimed that the most important times of his life seemed to happen when the daffodils were in bloom. Career changes, passing his driving test, falling in love, getting married, moving home - all these life events were played out against a golden backdrop

When he was diagnosed with cancer, we thought he would have maybe two or three years left with us. That first autumn, I planted bulbs all over the garden, in places he would see from the window, and he talked about how many more daffodil seasons he would see. It became almost a touchstone for him.

In the end, he only saw one more daffodill time. As the little clumps of yellow, planted in hope, just a few short months earlier, began to punctuate the flower beds, I supplemented them with supermarket bunches for the house.

I found a pretty crystal vase in the charity shop, and I remember his delight when I first placed it, filled with those shop blooms, on the table by his chair. Just a simple thing, but it brought a moment of joy and light into those dark times.

Six daffodil seasons have rolled around since then, and many more bulbs have been planted around the garden and on the verge outside the gate. I even have a cutting bed, specifically for the house, although there are many wind casualties that find their way inside too. I think it’s fair to say I am now self-sufficient in daffodils.

And as I go around, gathering extravagant armfuls to fill vases around the house, I feel privileged to enjoy such an abundance of beauty. If, as Wordsworth wrote:

One daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures…

then I am rich indeed.

The Romans apparently planted daffodils in remembrance of loved ones, and it’s easy to see why. Their cheerful resilience is the epitome of hope emerging from the dark. A signal that life continues and expands. But still, that first bouquet of the year is always placed in that crystal vase; I see the beauty and simplicity - and I remember John.

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Spring Stories

Spring always seems to be a slow process here. It begins with the return of the light, just after the New Year. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, but within a couple of weeks, the days are undeniably longer. Soon, we are hurtling towards the Equinox and beyond, and the living room fire is unlit more often than not.

Yet the weather takes it’s time. Oh yes there are those beautiful days - days where I can smell the new growth, and feel the promise of the seasons to come in the sun on my face. But there are many more, at this time of year, when the Spring feels as far away as November. Gusting winds, gales, hail showers and seemingly endless rain.

It feels as if nothing will ever grow again, but of course it does. Even as I peer out of the salt sprayed windows and the wintry croft, I know that the bulbs are pushing up, and the frogspawn is appearing in the ponds.

And when I dash outside, between the showers, I can find the drumstick primroses in their familiar spot and check on the tadpoles’ development. I can harvest the wild garlic and young nettle tops to make a Spring pesto, and rescue the daffodils flattened by the wind.

The pesto is simple enough to make. I gathered colander full of wild garlic leaves, spring nettle tops, parsley and chives. Or whatever you can find. (If you don't have much, or any wild garlic, add a couple of cloves of garlic.)
2- 3 good tablespoons of toasted pine nuts.
3 tablespoons pecorino or parmesan type cheese.
Olive oil - 2-4 tablespoons, depending on the consistency you want.
Salt
Blanch the nettles quickly and rinse the other greens. I give them a good couple of whirls in the salad spinner.
Toast the pine nuts
Grind them coarsely with in a mortar and pestle.
Add the grated cheese and greens.
(I usually blast the green stuff in the food processor, then add the pulp to the mortar but you can do this all in the blender if you prefer)
Add salt to taste.
Mix in the olive oil.

I used some of it to make this Spring pesto sourdough (recipe here). It is very delicious and this is the second year I’ve made it- I think that counts as a seasonal tradition, don’t you?

Incidentally, I’ve managed to keep my original lockdown starter going for over a year now. It’s been touch and go a couple of times, but it’s still hanging on in there. Much like the rest of us in these strangest of days.

Croft Notes

The township stands on a high headland, bordered on three sides by the long curving fingers of the sea loch. The croft itself is just under four and a half acres. It comprises of two narrow fields running West/East - the top field being fairly level, and the second sloping down towards the big communal drain that runs along the bottom fence.The ground is decent, although there is a boggy area near the bottom. There are the remains of the original blackhouse in the second field, and evidence of runrigs can be seen running down the slope from the dwelling.The top field is quite exposed, with the prevailing wind coming over from the South West, - almost directly from the Atlantic, while the bottom field has slightly more protection due to it’s sloping nature.

The land has not been cultivated for many years, but has been used for grazing livestock. Readers of my old blog may remember our sheep and cattle adventures, and the previous crofter ran sheep here for decades.

Since I took over the land, I planted a shelter belt of about 400 native trees down the south boundary fence of the top field. Eighteen months on, they have taken well, with very few losses, More recently I planted a much larger area of woodland at the bottom of the croft, in the marshy area - mostly alder, birch and willow. I also had a large pond dug, to help with the drainage issues there. It’s still early days, but most of the trees are looking good. I’ve lost maybe about a dozen to what I think is wind damage, exacerbated by the hard plastic of the vole guards that were placed over the saplings. Some of them seem to be growing back from the bottom, but others have not. I’t’s definitely a work in progress.

In the top field, up near the road, I’ve had a large 12 x 4 metre polycrub built. This is an amazing space and will make a huge impact on what I can grow here.My plan is to grow mainly fruit and tomatoes here, with room for a few extras. I already have a 6 mtr one at the side of the house, so I know how invaluable such a structure is in this climate. This smaller crub will be mainly for year round greens, salads and herbs, and sweetcorn in the summer. I’m also planning to have some raised beds put in at the side of the new crub, and take advantage of the shelter by planting fruit trees in the lee side. A potting shed is also in the works, so all in all that should give me a really good productive area. I’m not discounting a wee croft gate stand for the excess.

The grass has not been grazed for a couple of seasons, but will be cut, hopefully at the end of August. I was reluctant to have it done earlier, because I know there are nesting birds, as well as at least one corncrake. Once this is done, I am hoping to manage part of the land as a wildflower meadow, and another part as habitat for ground nesting birds. And more trees - oh and maybe another pond - and… well who knows what else? it seems every time I go out there the ideas flow.

Its taken me five years to work out what I want to do with this land - or maybe (and more likely) for this land to work out what it wants to do with me. I hope I’m worthy. Watch this space.

Dectectorists

One of the TV programmes that was streamed on BBC during lockdown was Dectectorists. A gentle comedy about the lives of two men whose hobby is metal detecting. It’s very low key, subtle stuff. Not laugh out loud, in your face type of funny, but understated and beautifully observed. It’s about looking for gold, and finding it in unexpected places. I watched all three series over the course of a couple of weeks. I loved it. The theme tune haunts me still.

And now a lovely book has been published - Landscapes of Detectorists. This is a real academic book, but it’s very readable. It contains four short geographical interpretations of the programme, with additional essays by the writer/lead actor, and the producer. It’s a genuinely informative book and exactly the kind of non- fiction writing that I like. (I might have more to say on that in a future post.)

Apart from making me want to rush off and buy a metal detector and get out there, both the book and the series have made me look at my own landscape in a different way. The idea, in one of the essays about the land being a palimpsest is just so wonderful. I know it’s an obvious one, but we don’t always notice what’s on our own doorstep. I live in this amazing ancient landscape - the layers of story written by the successive generations of people that have lived here for at least 5,000 years is there to be seen - if I take the time to look for it.

Anyway....

What’s been happening with you? Such a weird time. I’ve been ok, mostly - my normal life turned out to be pretty similar to lockdown life, so there hasn’t been much of a difference. School at home was more challenging, but we managed to get into a rhythm which worked for both of us.

So - here we are. Not really had much to say, to be honest. Just the usual things happening - working in the garden, knitting, reading, pottering around. I’ve been doing more work on the croft. I planted lots of trees down at the bottom field. I’m hopeful most of them will take, although it is a bit wet down there - I had a pond dug to try and help with the drainage, so we’ll see how that works. A pond is never a bad idea though.

I’m taking a break from social media right now, but I felt I wanted to dip a toe back in here - see how it is - whether my voice is still there or not. I do have things I want to say, but I’m not sure where I want to say them. I have a feeling that this might be the place. I’m a bit out of practice and it all feels a bit stilted, but - we’ll see…

Anyway -I’ve got lots of ideas and plans, and there will be some busy times ahead. Hopefully I’ll manage to share some of them here.

My November Kitchen

The main event in my November kitchen is the always the boy’s birthday cake. This year (his 13th - can you believe it?) he requested an orange cake. I think that’s pretty orange …

Most of my food inspiration lately has been influenced by our recent trip to Rome. It’s all very simple stuff - pastas, bruschetta, antipasti - just a few ingredients, but oh so delicious. There’s been more warming dishes too, stews, curries and soups, as befits the season.

I absolutely adored the potato and mozzarella pizza from the cafe near our holiday apartment, and what can I say about the pistachio gelato? Di-vine!

We had the most incredible time on holiday. In many ways it was overwhelming - so much to see and take in. I was going to do a separate post, but I honestly didn’t know where to start. There are quite a few images on my Instagram feed and highlights, if you want to take a look.

Back home and back into the kitchen - not mine this time. Although J is no longer at the local school, I’m still involved in their Eco-committee. We held a soup and pudding lunch for the community using the produce the children had gown. That is an extremely impressive array of homegrown soups on that stove - tomato, leek and potato, butternut squash and parsnip. With a fabulous selection of desserts, provided by parents, it was a very successful and enjoyable event.

But I have been back in my own kitchen too - I like to cook from scratch as much as I can, and there’s not much I enjoy more than pottering around a cosy kitchen, Radio 4 on in the background, making good things to eat.

Buon Appetito xx

Potterings

We’ve had a couple of those crisp, mellow autumn days this week. Today was perfect - one of those days when I stepped out with a coffee and began just pootling about, pulling a couple of weeds here and there, deadheading the odd dahlia, and before I knew it, the washing was dry, light was fading and hours had passed.

I just love days like that

Summer Reflections

Summer has gone in the blink of an eye, and here we are, already into September. I feel ready to move into the new season now. The weather has changed, school is back and I’m feeling that turn inwards. But, before I do, I’d like to have a look back - a reflection on how my summer turned out.

You may recall a post at the beginning of July, where I laid out my plans and intentions for the Summer - my Summer Manifesto, if you will. I revisited this list yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see how many of my hopes had been realised. Some have been documented already here: our St. Kilda trip, swimming, reading, beach days and our mainland trip. I’ve been outside as much as possible, early morning wandering, garden pottering, sipping wine by the outdoor fire, and a fair amount of just sitting around enjoying the sights and sounds of summer. Not everything has been documented, but that’s as it should be. I do feel I’ve taken advantage of the sunny days. Yes - there were a few, although thankfully we escaped the crazy heatwave that occurred on the mainland.

There were a couple of things on the list that didn’t get ticked off. Not an issue, because - it wasn’t actually a tick list. Still, we never got away on a ramble, I didn’t take any naps, and no raspberries have been planted. I can live with that. We did a lot of city walking on holiday, I discovered that winter is the best time to plant raspberry canes, and napping just didn’t happen.

I did manage to press some of the garden flowers, though. I’m quite pleased with how they turned out, and I think I might use them to make bookmarks. I completed a couple of craft projects, over the summer, which I hope to share in a future post.

And that’s been the Summer of 2019. A low-key, gentle and nourishing break - exactly what we needed before the boy started High School. We were able to spend precious time with family, just relaxing into our time together.

And as we slip into the Fall, I feel the excitement of new starts and possibilities, bolstered by the energy of the summer sun. I have a few plans for the coming months - more house, garden and croft work, and a holiday too. Thank you Summer - you’ve been wonderful, but now I think I’m ready to celebrate Autumn.

Summer of books

One of the things on my Summer Intentions list was to read summery fiction. I managed to read around a dozen books over the last couple of months. I enjoyed most of them, in the main, although there was one where I didn’t get past page 75.

Now that we are in the last week of August, I think it’s time for a little review.

A Month in the Country, J.L Carr was one of my early summer reads. I loved this book. A really short read - a novella - set in the long hot summer of 1920 and is an autobiographical story about the authors’s time spent renovating a mural in a country church. It’s written as a reflection on the events of that time, soon after WW1. The language is almost poetic - it’s a beautiful and evocative book, and had me yearning for that time and place. And, any book that involves cake - well…

“ I remember the cake too, seedcake, first rate. Now that’s something you’d be lucky to find in London, then or now”

What can I say? Summer reading wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Miss Read and her quintessential tales of English village life.

Rose Cottage, by Mary Stewart was a pleasant enough read. It was a light romantic novel, set in the summertime - a comfortable story with a bit of a mystery going on. I read it while sitting under the trees in the garden on a beautiful sunny day - perfect summer reading.

I read Ian McEwan’s Atonement over a stormy weekend. It’s not what you would call a light summer book, but the first part is set on a hot summer day in 1935. It was a superb novel - rich and atmospheric. A story in three parts. about the consequences of a lie, set against the backdrop of the second world war. I was gripped by it and needed to keep reading. I found the middle part about the journey to Dunkirk, and the descriptions of life as a nurse in London at that time completely fascinating. The feelings from this book stayed with me for a long while.

I’d forgotten I’d read this until I was looking back in my photos for this post. I picked it up in a charity shop at the beginning of the year, but seeing it was set in the Summer of 2003, I put it on my seasonal pile. I enjoyed it - I like Ali Smith’s writing - quick and smart and funny. This one was too, although quite cliched in places. A familiar story of a strangers turning up and disrupting the lives of an already dysfunctional family, and the consequences of that. Good fun.

This was a holiday purchase from an amazing bookshop in St. Andrews. I had never come across this author before, and have to admit I chose the book for the title and cover, more than anything. But what a revelation it was. Such clever, witty and understated writing. There isn’t much of a plot - a wealthy 40 something widow has married a man 10 years her junior who is rather feckless and workshy, then an old family friend returns to the village. The story really examines the various relationships of the well drawn characters. It’s surprisingly racy for it’s time (late 50s?) and there is an unexpected ending that left my mouth agape. It was one of my favourite books - a perfect read.

I loved Elizabeth and her German Garden - written by the author of Enchanted April, and published, anonymously, in 1898. This was a joyous and authentic celebration of her love of nature and her, often hapless attempts to recreate her vision. I laughed so much, reading this short book - she is wickedly funny, and there are many acerbic observations on some of her acquaintances and the social situation of her time and position. Her love for her children - The Babies as she calls them, and her rather less affectionate relationship with “The Man of Wrath,” as she refers to her husband, is sharply drawn.

Yes, she lives a very privileged and selfish life, and some of the passages certainly made me wince - it’s definitely a book of its time, but through it, I could detect a deep sense of frustration at the constraints she felt as part of the minor aristocracy at the turn of the 19th Century.

This book - bought purely because the title fit into my Summer reading theme, was a bit of a curates egg, to be honest. I realise now that I read it in the wrong way, and should have been dipping into it as summer progressed. Instead I read it all at once - well over several days. It is a collection of nature writing, edited by Melissa Harrison - some older work, but quite a lot of it was “new nature writing” and I struggle with that particular genre at times. I find it often to be very formulaic and perhaps more about the author’s clever “writing” about the nature, or landscape or whatever, than about nature itself. I much preferred the older works - the Gilbert Whites, and W. H Hudsons than anything from this century. But that’s just me…

I ended up just ploughing through it to get to the end, which wasn’t the way to read it.

The Go-Between by L.P Hartley was my favourite book of the summer. It haunts me still. From that famous, poignant opening line:

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”

right to the very end, I was hooked.

Set in the summer of 1900, it’s a quiet drama - almost gentle, gradually building to the inevitable climax, as the heatwave intensifies day by day. The writing is brilliant and beautiful, perfectly evoking the life of the English upper class in the decade before the Great War.

It’s the tale of a 12 year old boy, narrated by his older self, who goes to spend a summer with a school friend, and finds himself being caught up in a situation he is too young to cope with. Its a story of exploitation and loss of innocence, and the consequences of that in his later life.

I’ve somehow managed to never see any of the many film and TV adaptations of this novel, so I can’t comment on those. The book is truly magnificent though - I’ll read it again.

There was another book that I tried to read - a highly rated novel, written in 2016, but set at the beginning of WW2. I just couldn’t get to grips with it. I wont name it, because book reviews are highly subjective, but I found it contrived and wondered if the author should have been writing a screenplay instead of prose. Anyway, I struggled on for 75 pages before I had to throw in the towel. Normally I keep going with a book I’m not enjoying, more out of a sense of duty to the author, but I’m afraid I couldn’t with this one. Maybe another time.

And now to my current read. I’ve just started Jane Austen’s Emma - inspired in part by our visit to The Georgian House, but also because her writing is so enjoyable.This is more my kind of thing - sharp witty observations in a delightful setting - and a perfect August afternoon to read it.

So - that’s been my summer reading this year. Common themes have been, summer - obviously - war, class and society, and older rather than modern fiction. It’s been very interesting to look back on for this post, and I think its fair to say that, regardless of the weather, it’s been a great summer of books here - what about you?

Seven Days

It’s been a really busy week since my grandchildren went home. it always feels a bit flat after family have been staying. and it takes a couple of days to return to normal. Whatever that is. Anyway, here is a quick rundown of the last seven days.

We seem to be nearing the back end of Summer now. John always used to say when the rowan berries turned red, Autumn had arrived. I always disagreed with that, though. I prefer to hold on until September before finally turning in the flip flops.

And Summer is still here - the flowers are blooming and I am happily filling vases and jugs with tiny posies to place around the house. These scented lilies look perfect in the milk jug from my Mother’s wedding china.

I was involved in organising a community showcase event, this week, and it was such a fantastic evening. What an amazing array of local produce and creative work was on display, and some delicious food too.

Mind you, there have been some signs of a seasonal shift this week, as a boy had his first day at High School. It all went well, and he's glad to be there. It kind of loomed over the holidays a bit.

One of my neighbours makes the most delicious sourdough bread, and was demonstrating this at our event. He was kind enoug, afterwards, to give me a bowl of starter dough and so we enjoyed some delicious home baked bread. I baked it in a cast iron pot and I was really pleased at how it turned out.

A simple summer breakfast of a handful of strawberries, rinsed with the hose, as I was watering the polycrub, one morning, and the remnants added straight to the compost heap.

And these darker nights mean that we suddenly notice the moon once more - and what a beauty it was.

Wishing you all a peaceful seven days ahead. xx