September

September. A month of new beginnings, of pages turning, of shifting seasons and lengthening shadows.

It's also a month of intense workload and tired teenagers as everyone adjusts to new classes, timetables and revision plans after the summer holiday.

September pleasures have been small and simple, an opportunity to pause in between busy days and much needed rain.

There have been pretty walks in favourite places. 

We have picked blackberries and made crumbles. 

Turned the garden crop of redcurrants into jam....

and snuck out for a drink and some tapas to celebrate the end of a busy week.

The garden is starting to wind down now but the pizza oven has been in use and the dahlias prolific.

The long weekend with extra bank holiday was an unexpected pause in a hectic month and offered time to potter gently in the kitchen.

Time to make baked oats with roasted pears for breakfast, and apple cake, blondies, sourdough and slow cooked meals.

We haven't lit the stove yet this autumn but we have begun chopping wood and bringing it indoors in readiness. I'll have to move that monstera soon.

This one continues to drag us out in all weathers, steal slippers and make nests in every bed in the house.

The woods are beautiful at the moment, full of as much green as brown, on the cusp of autumn but not quite ready to commit.

But the landscape is fading and the fields becoming more bare as they are harvested and ploughed. 

September has been a month of busy days, long days, and late nights so these moments of calm, to potter at home and be outside as the seasons change, are so important. I have been reading a lot and have recently finished The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (challenging and excellent), Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (wonderfully enjoyable) and Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson, (gentle and comforting). Now, as always happens at this time of year, I want to read cosy crime and watch repeats of old Miss Marple episodes on Alibi channel. I have picked up a pair of crochet socks which I abandoned last spring and have hopes of starting lots of crochet jumpers. 

And now we are on the edge of October which promises: three more weeks at work, a half term holiday (with a little break to Dorset), a weekend in Leeds to see friends, a pizza and drinks night here with work friends, a manicure, many pumpkin recipes to try, and trips to go and look at local colleges with Bella to decide where to take her A Levels. I can't quite believe we are at this point already, yet here we are. 

Wishing you a happy October, Thank you for being here and reading. 

Every Last Drop of Summer

All the best bits from the last two weeks of the school holidays:

:: Wearing these denim shorts lots, which I embroidered on holiday in Suffolk but forgot to show you once they were finished. 

One pair of Tescos cut off denim shorts, bought in the sale in July, a set of new embroidery threads, and a few afternoons spent in the beautiful garden of our holiday let. 

Wild valerian, fennel, lavender, sunflowers and daisies. 

:: I've also been addressing my mending pile, patching these jeans for the twentieth time

....and mending a hole in one of my favourite long-sleeved T-shirts.

And darning holes in two pairs of handmade crochet bed socks, just in time for the cooler months to arrive. 

These little projects have been in my craft basket for months, waiting for a moment when I had the head space to address them, so it felt good to get them off my mental to do list. 

:: We've enjoyed many daily dog walks in a rapidly fading landscape. One of these walks was with a old friend from college who I haven't seen since Bella was a baby, but who messaged me to say she happened to be in the area visiting family and was I free for a walk? It was lovely to catch up with her. Coincidentally, I also met up with one old friend from NCT days in Leeds while on holiday in Suffolk and bumped into another in Walberswick. I hadn't seen either of them for quite a few years. Isn't it funny how that happens? I've had the pleasure of reconnecting with three friends this summer, and am off up to Leeds in the autumn to meet up with my friends from our baby days. 

:: We had breakfast out to sweeten the depressing (and expensive) trip to buy new school uniform and school shoes. 

:: We spent a very happy couple of days with my friend Abigail and her children. 

Together, we visited Parham House in West Sussex, a beautiful place.

Angus's love of history and geography collided when he spotted this globe from the early 1800s.

The parts of the house that are open to the public are fascinating...

and filled with such treasures as needlework from 1635!

Isn't it wonderful that it is still intact?

But the real beauty of the house for me is in it's position in the heart of the South Downs, and the views from the house and grounds. 

The maze is a favourite, although I did not manage to get to the middle. It was too hot.

Abigail persevered however and was triumphant. 

The gardens, as you'd expect, are stunning. The gardeners used the pandemic as an opportunity to completely remove some borders, to get rid of long-standing bind weed problems, and re-plant them, so it is a work in progress in places but still very much worth a visit. 

They sell bouquets of cut flowers in buckets by the ice cream kiosk, and I bought these for only £3.

:: We had friends from Yorkshire to stay, and had lots of fun planning a holiday with them next year.

We went for walks locally and spent a lot of time eating, drinking and laughing, as well as googling AirBnBs and car hire.

We got out the fire pit, made 'smores and drank cocktails. A weekend very well spent. 

And that brings the summer holidays to a close. I don't want to feel that summer is over - the weather is still warm and humid here, and I hope to be outside lots more - but the light is changing and it will cool down soon. Inevitably, with the return to work, summer does start to feel like a distant memory. I have been into school most days last week getting my classroom ready for tomorrow, when the children join us. I'm feeling as ready as I can be.