A cold chill

Well, I think winter is definitely here! This week was much colder than it has been up till now - hats, scarves, and gloves have been cracked out.

This was the deer I saw last week on my walk:

Beautiful!

This week has been a mix of weather - wet and dry, but also chilly! It's been a week of lots of layers, and hats and scarves. I spent one morning this week helping to rake up leaves, and also set up a bonfire! Sadly we had the bonfire during the day, rather than in the evening, but it was on Bonfire Night so I think it counts! That bonfire smell is wonderful isn't it? And it certainly lingers!

Also this week, I received my MA results (with Merit!), which I was delighted with - and very relieved. Time to crack on with the real world now I suppose though....

I've also been writing some short poems, so here's another autumn themed one (although I suppose it's nearly winter now!):

Autumn Morning 

The ground is speckled with a thin 

layer of white, which glistens

in the morning sun. Outside, 

you can see your breath

form in the air and footprints

lie across the twinkling grass.

Webs hang between plants and branches, 

lit up and shining 

like twinkling lights

far away from here.

See you next week!

P.S. I've also been making some YouTube videos recently about books and things. Check them out!

Harvest Celebrations

This week saw the harvest festival celebrations take place. Having always been away over the last few years when it took place, I hadn't been to our local, village one in a while, so it was nice to go again. The service was followed by a lovely bring and share lunch.

It is now October and it is clear that the seasons are changing. It is still unseasonably warm, which means shorts are just about still an option, but it's definitely changing.  Today is rainy and glum. The leaves on the trees are slowly changing, becoming golden and orange. While I bemoan the passing of summer, and wish that it could stay a little longer, the colours of autumn are something wonderful.

What else to say?

I can't believe that it is already October. I don't know where the time has gone - where did September disappear to? It is quite unbelievable.

The nights are already beginning to draw in much earlier, and later this month the clocks will change, and we will be cloaked in darkness from late afternoon.

You definitely notice, and I had forgotten quite how much, the seasons changing in the countryside more noticeably, and I like that. I like seeing it all change, much as I'm reluctant to admit that it's now Autumn!

After the Rain

Another week has slipped by, and this time I've been in a cold induced state. It's so miserable having a cold and feeling so groggy and bunged up - especially when it is so warm outside! I'm feeling a little better today, and hoping to enjoy the weather a bit more, but still so frustrated at just feeling so unable to focus on anything.
Today, it remains warm, and there's that nice, after the rain feeling outside. Things feel a little fresher, but are already warming up. Clearly we're being treated to an Indian Summer (yay)!

Today we learnt that Scotland voted to stay with us (thank you, what a relief), but we're also waiting on another result here - the result of the cows' TB test. Fingers crossed.

So, the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn means that things have to be wrapped up in the garden. My sweet peas, which are still producing flowers, are also beginning to produce seed pods.

After a little bit of research, I decided to pick these and hopefully store them until next spring, when I'll be able to plant them out again - and keep my fingers crossed that they will produce just as good sweet peas then!

Eurgh, I'm off to eat some Vitamin C and keep feeling sorry for myself. 

View from a Straw Bale

I never know which time of year I prefer more: when the woods are full of bluebells, or now, when the stubble fields are scattered with straw bales. The two times of year frame the summer, my favourite season, although spring isn't far behind.

Mournful and poignant though this time of year can be, as summer turns to autumn, and new things are considered, and that back to school feeling settles in everyone's stomachs, nothing beats a good straw bale, especially the large round ones, onto which you have to take a run and a jump to hop. The dog tries to scramble up too, sometimes he's successful, and other times he stalks away, ignoring my calls, refusing to try again, as if he didn't want to be up there in the first place. Oh little dog. He's so silly.


There's something rather wonderful about the scratches on your legs, and just being able to sit atop a bale and view the world.

And of course then there's the fun of trying to get the bale to roll over.

When we were little, we would sit on the top, and wait for the bale to be pushed, with us on top, and this was better than any other game we could have played. My dad would park his pick up so that we could climb straight out the back onto the bales, and he pushed several together, which caused hours of endless fun. Of course, this is something I know not many people will have been lucky enough to do, but oh, it's the best. Nothing beats it.

Nothing like the simple things, hey?

Fat Hen and a last summer burst

Wow, another week has just flown by, and I don't really know where it's gone. How can it be just over a week since I handed my dissertation in? And nearly a week since I returned from Exeter?

Time has this uncanny knack of doing that, of just flying away.

Anyway, since dissertation hand in, it's been a return to life with a bang.

I spent most of Wednesday pulling up a weed called fat hen (trust me, it really does exist). It is something that they used to use in Tudor times, as a sort of precursor to spinach. It kind of died out when spinach became popular. If you search it, there's surprisingly a lot about it out there - including a recipe for fat hen souffle! We pulled all ours up, which took all day. It was surprisingly satisfying though - especially when you managed to get a tough one out! By the end of the day, the vegetable patch was looking a lot less weedy, which was good!

The day before that I ended up helping my dad fix the windscreen washer on his Land Rover. I say helped - he needed someone to push the button every now and again as he couldn't do it all at the same time. Still.... a fun afternoon! We had to pull the whole dashboard off too (lots of screws), which was one of those jobs that was easy enough to pull it all off, but putting it back on and finding which screws went where was a little more challenging....

We had a last burst of summer this week, but it appears to have disappeared again just as quickly, which is rather sad.  So, I suppose Autumn is getting ready to stay, although I'm still holding on for another Indian summer....

Bees, Cows, and Dogs

In an attempt to update my blog more regularly, I'm starting something new - a country diary, charting life in the countryside. Read the first entry here. 

Country life began again with a bang. Or more realistically, a swarm of bees. A couple of years ago, there was a huge swarm of bees that landed on our chimney. They come back year after year, and each summer, the sitting room is lost under an influx of bees.

This week they decided to swarm again, and the air was full of black dots as they all sought to land on the chimney. And one by one, they trickled down the chimney, filling the room with a buzzing sound, and the constant worry that you're going to stand/sit on one. We're not really sure how they get into the room from the chimney, there must be a hole somewhere. There seem to be hundreds of them this year. And they're not exactly easy to remove from the chimney!

Meanwhile, there are the cows and a couple of weeks ago a cow expert woman came over to assess the herd, cuing lots of talk about breeding, bulls, cows, the size of them etc. It all goes straight over my head to be honest, but it makes for some entertaining conversation to listen to! They also make an awful racket when they're moved around - and the other day one of the calves got out onto the footpath, cue panic!

After my lovely little cat had to be put down earlier this year (sob sob) - being home for such a long period of time without her is horrible. I miss her so much! - we're just left with one little dog. He's rather silly, and he's nearly completely blind, which means that he can't see where he's going, and if you put something in his way that he's not expecting he'll crash headfirst into it (including humans). Many a time I have to shout his name as he's just about to run into me! He's a very strange little dog, and will bark at nothing, but he's very sweet, and it's nice to have him around. He likes to jump onto beds and sit on pillows, and then look at you very sheepishly, and refuse to move. Very stubborn! But what would we do without him?

I found some kitten pictures the other day, and that just made me miss my little cat even more. Sigh....

More next week on sweetpeas, gardening, and writing!