The winds are up and autumn has just imposed itself on our island as the rain lashed down on us. We may, of course, get a very late summer blast of sunshine in September as that is quite common on Arran but autumn is mostly definitely here. I love autumn so I welcome the changes but I need to get into my autumn tasks in the tunnel while resisting the temptation to make a list. I have some late seeded perennials that I need to get in the ground so that they have time to establish before the first frosts and then I have harvesting and preserving to get on with. We have lots of green berries that we hope will turn black over the next few weeks. I am building up quite a good frozen berry store to see us through the winter months. Once the elder berries are here I will be making my vitamin C packed juice and my boys will have to line up to get their daily dose! I am not sure I will get away with that this year as they are all far too old for that. However, we are going through a time of concentrating hard on what we are eating so I might persuade them to have the odd spoonful.
Saturday
is a busy day for the Doubleday family as regular readers will know and today
was no different. I sometimes wonder
whether the family that work together will stay together. We work so well as a unit turning round two
holiday houses to welcome new guests for another week. I only managed the first one and then my body
gave up on me so I was a bit cross with myself.
Given what has happened this week I am not really surprised but I always
hope for more.
I need to
change my terminology and stop calling you guys readers and start calling you
friends. I have received so many
messages of support after losing my dear friend and you really are lovely people. To take time out of your busy days to send
such kind thoughts is very humbling and I am so very grateful. I am not very good at grief but I am trying
hard to focus on so many good memories and those might just be winning
through.
Somewhere
through this year I think I became a writer because now I turn to it to help me
make sense of the world. During this sad
time writing has helped me to record my memories and begin an early draft of my
own personal tribute to Paul. It feels
good and it feels useful. I am not good
if I am not useful.
Next week will have a little more purpose about it while staying true to the principles of a sabbatical. I am meeting
another new friend on Monday who reads this blog and is coming on holiday to
the island. It is always a joy to meet
people who read my blog and so interesting to get their feedback. Who could have known that would happen when
this project began?
Home school begins again this coming week and we are starting by studying Herefordshire as that is the destination of our family holiday in a few weeks. We are also busy choosing new distance learning qualifications for Harry and George. It would seem that Pete and I are going to have to move our brains between GCSE maths, Level 3 Sports Nutrition and Level 3 Animal Care. Piece of cake!
Molly has
arrived at her final placement for the summer which is another RSPB reserve. What a fantastic summer of professional experience she has had. She will be home next Saturday in
time to celebrate Harry's 18th birthday.
After which we all get to finally meet Molly's boyfriend.........need to
be on my best behaviour that week! I think Molly might be a bit stressed about this and I really can't think why.
Until
tomorrow. Xx
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