Our fire too has been lit for the past two evenings, it’s as though Mother Nature decided she must attune herself to the whims of Instagram and all those who insist upon celebrating the coming autumn during August 🙄. We have at least enjoyed some sunshine here today which gives hope of just a few more ripe tomatoes before I have to dig out the green tomato chutney recipe…. Hope you’re cosied up and will enjoy a reprieve soon. Xx
"...it’s as though Mother Nature decided she must attune herself to the whims of Instagram and all those who insist upon celebrating the coming autumn during August 🙄"
That made me chuckle Vanessa, Its a long time since I even opened the app for Instagram but that incessant need to summon autumn well before summer was over I remember well. It used to drive me insane... why would anyone wish summer away when already it is far too short a season? Good grief 🤯
We have at last had a warmer day here and if the weather man is right it will last for 10 days at least - I live in hope although I won't be picking any more tomatoes!
Have a great new week - long may the sun last for us both! xx
"...swooping down into the valley howling with delight and gleeful mischief through the beeches whose leaves, still green and not ready to fall, tremble on branches in fear of its force." Such a beautiful description! I can hear the howl and feel the chill just from that description.
Ahh I'm delighted Sarah, thank you, I really liked that sentence too, its exactly how the wind felt.; full of mischief, picking up leaves and scattering them in its cackling wake - although there are so many leaves down im wondering if we will have any autumn colour at all here! a sad thought indeed...
Susie, please send some of the cold directly to me. We’re still having 35F/95F here. Wondering if we’ll ever have autumn. Planting the seedlings but knowing a) the insects that are still alive and well (but should not be) will probably eat them and/or b) the plants will grow too fast so we won’t have the winter crop. 😨
Say hi to all the furry creatures near you for me. 🩷
There seems to be no happy medium on our beautiful planet Louise, I would gladly send you cool air and breezes in exchange for your warmer weather! If only....
Finally, just this evening the weather has warmed again, the wind has blown off to make mischief elsewhere and I could at last shed a layer of clothes. Perhaps we will have that Indian summer after all...
As I've said in many letters before this, there has been a noticeable lack of insects here this summer, even the hornets and wasps have been absent but, typically, not so the garden pests. I have had to deal with every little garden terror possible including hundreds of tiny caterpillars on my brassicas which was so very strange because I didn't once see a cabbage white butterfly! I took my chances and left them be which I may well regret next year but we will see! Good luck with yours xx
I hope yours aren't poisonous. A few years ago, we were inundated with little spikey caterpillars that attacked our sakura tree. Their little needles were poisonous, and I get a bad reaction to getting pricked. When they died, the little needles got into the soil, so we still have to be careful when digging and moving things out back. They haven't been back for the past few years, thank goodness.
The past couple of weeks we've had these teeny tiny ants that I've never seen before. They're around the yard, but they've also come into the kitchen through cracks in the floor it seems. Don't know what they're looking for as they don't congregate anywhere. We have them under control, but they are not fun. I think the heat has brought them out.
Wonder what the next season will bring us, Susie⁉️⁉️
We had a similar caterpillar attacking our pine trees Louise, I think they were called Procession Caterpillars(?) they destroyed thousands of acres a few years ago but like yours seem to have disappeared or at least they are under control 5I don’t even want to think about how!
“I am windswept down the lane with eddies of leaves, that shouldn’t be falling, to the pine forest. Here, for as long as the wind allows, I bathe in the scent of pine needles and damp moss, listen to wind whistling through their tips.” Beautiful.
What a shift. It hasn’t happened where I am yet.
But I, too, will be unsure of how to greet it when the cold comes to chill my bones.
Many thanks Holly, I have to admit to being one of those people who feels completely adrift at the changing of the season, as if I need a week or too to acclimatise. This has hit me like a wrecking ball and I'm still reeling, trying that smile on and taking it off again - Oooph... I'll get there!
I've lit the fire again this afternoon and bread is baking in the oven, that alone is warming.
May your Sunday be perfectly lovely, no matter the weather. X
I’m for sure that way with the cold. I don’t think I was built for cold climes. While I love fires and cozy scarves and hats and watching your breath, cold gets into my bones and makes me a little undone. So, I’ll be reeling on your tales whenever the weather changes in my spot on the map.
It’s one of the reasons I usually head south in the old van come late autumn. I may be unable to this year, so we’ll see how that ends up going. But then there’s hot chocolate and wrapping up in blankets. (Trying to prepare myself.)
Take your time getting there, I say. I think it feels good to be true to where you’re at—smile off again included.
Thank you so much, I shall look forward to reading of your decision enormously.
I envy you your home on wheels Holly, especially knowing from past excursions into the unknown the adventure that awaits and the excitement of deciding where next, the utter freedom - Halcyon days even with the hardships.
Enjoy your preparations, I think this is all part of the change isn't it? Why I have struggled so terribly this year - there was just no time for adjustment;
I can report there has been a dramatic change in the last few days here in Atlanta too. Hurricane winds are blowing up from the coast, but they are just an exhausted whisper by the time they reach us. Still, it’s enough to usher in a feeling of fall.
Thanks as always for taking us to your hill, Susie. I think we can all agree that 30 seconds is simply not enough.
I'm glad to hear those hurricane winds didn't reach you Ben, dramatic changes of temperature are one thing, drama in the form of a hurricane site another!
Thank you for your always much appreciated comments, I shall endeavour to make longer clips of calm!
Oh my word! It was so hot when school started this fall and already, I'm wondering if the heat should be turned on. I listened to your video on my ear buds and it was so strange because it actually sounded like the wind whistling by my ears, which I loved. I could almost feel the breeze in my hair. Wow!! Thanks for sharing. XO
Ahh Danielle, I am so very envious, I was wrapped in so many layers in class on Friday it might as well have been mid winter! If this cold continues I will be taking a hot water bottle with me into classes just to stop the hypothermia!
I exaggerate of course but hell, its mighty cold here for so early in autumn.
I'm so glad to send cool, pine scented breezes your way - enjoy! XOX
Thank you Jo, the wind has finally changed direction and taken its mischief elsewhere, tomorrow I may, if it doesn't change its fickle mind again, shed a layer of clothing - I live in hope.
I hope your week is filled with spring springing! 💚x
I absolutely love your moments of pine. I am partial to the scent of Eastern Red Cedar, but pine comes in a close second. It is the time of year I begin to cut a few branches for sachets ( mixed with lavender).
“I feel a hint of a smile, I’m still cold but the pleasure is undeniable.”
I’m happy you found delight and gave in to the chill. What choice do we have after all. Would be sad if we started the season with a frown.
Onward to October…
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it?”
Anne of Green Gables~ Lucy Maud Montgomery
( Your Hare drawing is so endearing, I couldn’t help but fall in love).
My favorite American version of Constable Clouds ;
I had a momentary pause to my smile on Friday due the dreaded Virus C leaving its unwanted lethargy again - it has passed quickly though and as I sit here reading your kind comment, I can catch the scent of cedar and lavender sachets and I feel the smile returning.
That great golden ball is smiling back down on me and despite not having its usual warming effects, the feeling is a healing balm. In an hour or so I will walk with my son, no doubt chatter about cars and engines and computer innards, none of which I know the first detail about but it will feel perfect anyway.
October, I'm ready!
Anne of Green Gables was one of those books I read over and over as a young girl, I used to quote this phrase to my mother when she was reprimanding me “It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable.” it never helped and certainly didn't stop her hand sewing our clothes which were never ever fashionable!
Thomas Cole's clouds are equally beautiful Lor, but then aren't all clouds in their own way?
I love that ‘picture’ of you quoting from Anne of Green Gables to your mom. I can relate, some of my skirts were hand me downs, sewn awkwardly to make them shorter and smaller. Mom was the antithesis of a seamstress. I had my own way of displaying my ‘goodness’ with a cute (at least I thought so) demonstration. I would hold my two hands above my head to form one of these 😇. Seriously, I did.
Feeling that crisp chill in your beautiful words and video and leaning into the shift. You could write about weather for the rest of your days and I would swoon.
You make me smile with relief Kimberly. Every time I sit down to write I convince myself that I will write about something different, anything but the weather. Of course, it never happens - the weather plays such an enormous role in my life with all things outdoors I suppose it is inevitable which means I get to live it twice! 😂
Thank you for sweet words, the weather has warmed this evening, I may even get to shed a layer of clothes! ;-) xx
I’ve always wondered why some make fun of people who talk about the weather, as if it were the most banal topic. Weather is EVERYTHING if we leave in concert with nature, as any tree, bird or blade of grass will attest.
Now I have a funny vision of a new kind of weather-woman on late night news—she speaks for five minutes drawing connections between species, observations on the impacts weather has on all of us, waxing poetic, maybe even a song or two. An incantation to remind humans of their grand, yet insignificant interconnectedness to all life. Now that’s something I’d gladly tune into!
It is a sad fact in the UK that anyone that can’t find anything more interesting to talk of than the weather is considered uninteresting, or worse. I never forget that but when a life is presented to you that is bound by every good and bad weather imaginable it is not within me to not speak of it - hard though I try. All that to say, I love that you say, weather is EVERYTHING! Bless you xxx
Last week I pulled out my oversized wool hat and stared at the firewood I use to heat my home wondering is it time but today the birds chirp in joy and the air warms.
I hope that feeling lasts Stacy, here I fear the last residue of summer heat has been whisked off with the north wind, not returning until next May... even the birds have been chirruping less these last few days - all except the House Marten that is who completely mesmerised me yesterday evening.
"I am uncertain whether to feel deliciously cosy or simply depressed..." -- my sentiments exactly! We have not turned on the heat yet, but our house benefits from a lot of light exposure which warms it up if there's a bit of sun. I hold out hope for at least some part of October and November!
I have teetered between the two Betty, cosy is lovely, but in winter, not now!
We have managed to refrain from lighting stove again since but I have literally had to keep moving to not be cold - this evening though felt much warmer - at last!
Escaped a first frost last night, not by much, 5degC next to the stone wall close to the house. I glanced at those weather maps yesterday and saw a large escape of unseasonal cold out of the Arctic into Europe, including us in Britain. Nearer the edge here we have not had the same wind strength, but the heating has had to be on.
We wait usually for the first week of October for the geese to bring their families back on the north wind to their winter home. This year I wonder. I guess they need every last day to feed enough for the perilous crossing, but they have their wisdom about the winds.
Ah ... black tips hunkers down and keeps an eye on you.
Philip, Thank you for transporting me to your part of this planet, we too have had snow on the peaks sighted, not only the Pyrenees and the Alps (which I don't see anyway) but the Cantal Mountains too. I have not known snow this early to fall on the central highlands since we arrived twenty years ago.
Geese we rarely see passing here, I wish we did, I miss this autumn phenomenon immensely. When we lived in Ireland there would be day after day of them flying over our little cottage, sometimes in their hundreds, Canada Geese though. I loved that unmistakable sound travelling closer and closer, then right above, then disappearing into the distance.
I saw my hare this evening, he watched me from his spot in the late sunshine but didn't run - I think perhaps he sees me far more often than I see him - you are indeed quite right.
I wish you a gentle week my friend - with sunshine of course!
An hour ago my wife spotted a large skein ... several families. They were too far away to identify but Britain is home to almost the entire population of Pink-feet from Iceland and Eastern Greenland, the ornithology people tell us. We have some good geese stories! We will hear them at night as they go to and fro from the tidal flats 10 miles distant, though it takes hearing aids these days.
Here, up in the North, the climate catastrophe has orchestrated the exact opposite. It's a late summer, 27 degrees a few days ago, (in September!), and I'm watching the leaves fall in the warm sun. Predictability has packed its bags.
Thank you, I shouldn't be envious of your gloriously hot days when I know they are for reasons far less so, but damn it its cold here! The leaves are falling, still green, unable to cling any longer and I'm left wondering just what colour autumn will actually be? And then, as feckless as the temperature, I think, but grey is so very beautiful too!
I always try to imagine something wonderful to make each season a pleasure Carol, warm socks, a crackling fire, frosty mornings... this year has been a case of fast forwarding a little, as simple as that!
Enjoy, whatever the day brings you I hope it brings you a smile too - thank you for reading x
I have succumbed to wearing socks. This means summer is officially over. Last year, according to our Book of Numbers, the temperature we recorded was 28°c. This morning, our thermometer dipped below 10°c and the weather app said 6. The wind is ridiculous for here, usually blocked by mountain and forest, it has been screaming through the village, causing all manner of mayhem, plastic chairs blowing and shattering, branches and leaves here and there, and Ailsa complaining about le vent, le vent ! I try and explain that, when Papa was young, he remembered watching a caravan torn apart and blown past across the field in front of the house, or tales of the chicken shed which disappeared, only to reappear in Norway, chickens still roosting inside... She doesn't really believe me, I think. It's just a little too Dorothy.
Stay warm! I am keeping all fingers, toes, and limbs crossed for a warmer September and October ahead. We shall see.
I'm chuckling to myself here after reading your stories of high winds and flying chicken houses Alex - I believe you! Here on my hill we had a freak wind in November which tore down trees and lifted barn roofs entirely off, it also picked up three of my hens and took them for a ride too! I watched them take off, frantically flapping as chickens do they disappeared into the distance, never to be seen again!
At work on Friday I wore three layers of clothes and a scarf all day - the top layer was a thick woollen jumper - I didn't remove even the scarf all day! The weekend has been similar, the wind is so cold that even the bright days will not entice me back into shorts again and yes, damn it, I had to put socks on too... I feel thoroughly cheated of summer this year!
I think warmer is heading this way, yours too looking at the radar - Ive everything crossed it sticks around til Christmas at least! ;-)
I sometimes wonder if there is a place that all these missing chickens congregate, somewhere fabled amongst all fowl, beyond the rainbow?!
It was very cold this weekend, but at least today has had sunshine. I shall have to have a peek at the radar too, I know my weather app suggests warmer weather to come, but more rain too. I really want to get out to find more fungi, if I can, so at least conditions aren't too bad for this. And cheated is the word! Hmph.
Maybe there is a delightfully, 'happy ending' feathery chicken rave going on somewhere neither humans or wind or predator can reach them Alex! I do hope so - poor things...
I'm counting on at least 24c on Thursday for a fishing outing with my class of CM 1/2
but we already have storm clouds looming here which weren't forecast so I think huge prayers are in order!
Honestly, I think the forecasters have just about given up at this point! My app keeps altering, just about every time I look at it! Still, the general sunnier and warmer trend does seem to be sticking, so shall keep my fingers crossed for a warmer fishing trip for you!
Our fire too has been lit for the past two evenings, it’s as though Mother Nature decided she must attune herself to the whims of Instagram and all those who insist upon celebrating the coming autumn during August 🙄. We have at least enjoyed some sunshine here today which gives hope of just a few more ripe tomatoes before I have to dig out the green tomato chutney recipe…. Hope you’re cosied up and will enjoy a reprieve soon. Xx
"...it’s as though Mother Nature decided she must attune herself to the whims of Instagram and all those who insist upon celebrating the coming autumn during August 🙄"
That made me chuckle Vanessa, Its a long time since I even opened the app for Instagram but that incessant need to summon autumn well before summer was over I remember well. It used to drive me insane... why would anyone wish summer away when already it is far too short a season? Good grief 🤯
We have at last had a warmer day here and if the weather man is right it will last for 10 days at least - I live in hope although I won't be picking any more tomatoes!
Have a great new week - long may the sun last for us both! xx
I’m glad you have some autumn sunshine at least to fortify you for the months ahead. Xx
"...swooping down into the valley howling with delight and gleeful mischief through the beeches whose leaves, still green and not ready to fall, tremble on branches in fear of its force." Such a beautiful description! I can hear the howl and feel the chill just from that description.
Ahh I'm delighted Sarah, thank you, I really liked that sentence too, its exactly how the wind felt.; full of mischief, picking up leaves and scattering them in its cackling wake - although there are so many leaves down im wondering if we will have any autumn colour at all here! a sad thought indeed...
Susie, please send some of the cold directly to me. We’re still having 35F/95F here. Wondering if we’ll ever have autumn. Planting the seedlings but knowing a) the insects that are still alive and well (but should not be) will probably eat them and/or b) the plants will grow too fast so we won’t have the winter crop. 😨
Say hi to all the furry creatures near you for me. 🩷
There seems to be no happy medium on our beautiful planet Louise, I would gladly send you cool air and breezes in exchange for your warmer weather! If only....
Finally, just this evening the weather has warmed again, the wind has blown off to make mischief elsewhere and I could at last shed a layer of clothes. Perhaps we will have that Indian summer after all...
As I've said in many letters before this, there has been a noticeable lack of insects here this summer, even the hornets and wasps have been absent but, typically, not so the garden pests. I have had to deal with every little garden terror possible including hundreds of tiny caterpillars on my brassicas which was so very strange because I didn't once see a cabbage white butterfly! I took my chances and left them be which I may well regret next year but we will see! Good luck with yours xx
I hope yours aren't poisonous. A few years ago, we were inundated with little spikey caterpillars that attacked our sakura tree. Their little needles were poisonous, and I get a bad reaction to getting pricked. When they died, the little needles got into the soil, so we still have to be careful when digging and moving things out back. They haven't been back for the past few years, thank goodness.
The past couple of weeks we've had these teeny tiny ants that I've never seen before. They're around the yard, but they've also come into the kitchen through cracks in the floor it seems. Don't know what they're looking for as they don't congregate anywhere. We have them under control, but they are not fun. I think the heat has brought them out.
Wonder what the next season will bring us, Susie⁉️⁉️
I’m hoping next season will just bring back the bees, I haven’t seen one swarm this summer. 😔
We had a similar caterpillar attacking our pine trees Louise, I think they were called Procession Caterpillars(?) they destroyed thousands of acres a few years ago but like yours seem to have disappeared or at least they are under control 5I don’t even want to think about how!
Oh,Susie, I DO hope the bees come back (but not the other crawly 'pillars)! Thinking of you.❤️x
“I am windswept down the lane with eddies of leaves, that shouldn’t be falling, to the pine forest. Here, for as long as the wind allows, I bathe in the scent of pine needles and damp moss, listen to wind whistling through their tips.” Beautiful.
What a shift. It hasn’t happened where I am yet.
But I, too, will be unsure of how to greet it when the cold comes to chill my bones.
Wishing you coziness, Susie.
Many thanks Holly, I have to admit to being one of those people who feels completely adrift at the changing of the season, as if I need a week or too to acclimatise. This has hit me like a wrecking ball and I'm still reeling, trying that smile on and taking it off again - Oooph... I'll get there!
I've lit the fire again this afternoon and bread is baking in the oven, that alone is warming.
May your Sunday be perfectly lovely, no matter the weather. X
I’m for sure that way with the cold. I don’t think I was built for cold climes. While I love fires and cozy scarves and hats and watching your breath, cold gets into my bones and makes me a little undone. So, I’ll be reeling on your tales whenever the weather changes in my spot on the map.
It’s one of the reasons I usually head south in the old van come late autumn. I may be unable to this year, so we’ll see how that ends up going. But then there’s hot chocolate and wrapping up in blankets. (Trying to prepare myself.)
Take your time getting there, I say. I think it feels good to be true to where you’re at—smile off again included.
Thank you so much, I shall look forward to reading of your decision enormously.
I envy you your home on wheels Holly, especially knowing from past excursions into the unknown the adventure that awaits and the excitement of deciding where next, the utter freedom - Halcyon days even with the hardships.
Enjoy your preparations, I think this is all part of the change isn't it? Why I have struggled so terribly this year - there was just no time for adjustment;
The smile is on today though! X
I can report there has been a dramatic change in the last few days here in Atlanta too. Hurricane winds are blowing up from the coast, but they are just an exhausted whisper by the time they reach us. Still, it’s enough to usher in a feeling of fall.
Thanks as always for taking us to your hill, Susie. I think we can all agree that 30 seconds is simply not enough.
I'm glad to hear those hurricane winds didn't reach you Ben, dramatic changes of temperature are one thing, drama in the form of a hurricane site another!
Thank you for your always much appreciated comments, I shall endeavour to make longer clips of calm!
Oh my word! It was so hot when school started this fall and already, I'm wondering if the heat should be turned on. I listened to your video on my ear buds and it was so strange because it actually sounded like the wind whistling by my ears, which I loved. I could almost feel the breeze in my hair. Wow!! Thanks for sharing. XO
Ahh Danielle, I am so very envious, I was wrapped in so many layers in class on Friday it might as well have been mid winter! If this cold continues I will be taking a hot water bottle with me into classes just to stop the hypothermia!
I exaggerate of course but hell, its mighty cold here for so early in autumn.
I'm so glad to send cool, pine scented breezes your way - enjoy! XOX
Loved listening to the French breeze Suzie and imagining the trees sending their secret scent messages to each other. 😊
Wishing you warmth and joy in the changing days. 💛
Thank you Jo, the wind has finally changed direction and taken its mischief elsewhere, tomorrow I may, if it doesn't change its fickle mind again, shed a layer of clothing - I live in hope.
I hope your week is filled with spring springing! 💚x
💛
I absolutely love your moments of pine. I am partial to the scent of Eastern Red Cedar, but pine comes in a close second. It is the time of year I begin to cut a few branches for sachets ( mixed with lavender).
“I feel a hint of a smile, I’m still cold but the pleasure is undeniable.”
I’m happy you found delight and gave in to the chill. What choice do we have after all. Would be sad if we started the season with a frown.
Onward to October…
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it?”
Anne of Green Gables~ Lucy Maud Montgomery
( Your Hare drawing is so endearing, I couldn’t help but fall in love).
My favorite American version of Constable Clouds ;
https://press.philamuseum.org/philadelphia-museum-of-art-to-display-thomas-cole-masterpiece-the-arch-of-nero-in-american-galleries/
I had a momentary pause to my smile on Friday due the dreaded Virus C leaving its unwanted lethargy again - it has passed quickly though and as I sit here reading your kind comment, I can catch the scent of cedar and lavender sachets and I feel the smile returning.
That great golden ball is smiling back down on me and despite not having its usual warming effects, the feeling is a healing balm. In an hour or so I will walk with my son, no doubt chatter about cars and engines and computer innards, none of which I know the first detail about but it will feel perfect anyway.
October, I'm ready!
Anne of Green Gables was one of those books I read over and over as a young girl, I used to quote this phrase to my mother when she was reprimanding me “It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable.” it never helped and certainly didn't stop her hand sewing our clothes which were never ever fashionable!
Thomas Cole's clouds are equally beautiful Lor, but then aren't all clouds in their own way?
I love that ‘picture’ of you quoting from Anne of Green Gables to your mom. I can relate, some of my skirts were hand me downs, sewn awkwardly to make them shorter and smaller. Mom was the antithesis of a seamstress. I had my own way of displaying my ‘goodness’ with a cute (at least I thought so) demonstration. I would hold my two hands above my head to form one of these 😇. Seriously, I did.
Hope you are all better!
Feeling that crisp chill in your beautiful words and video and leaning into the shift. You could write about weather for the rest of your days and I would swoon.
You make me smile with relief Kimberly. Every time I sit down to write I convince myself that I will write about something different, anything but the weather. Of course, it never happens - the weather plays such an enormous role in my life with all things outdoors I suppose it is inevitable which means I get to live it twice! 😂
Thank you for sweet words, the weather has warmed this evening, I may even get to shed a layer of clothes! ;-) xx
I’ve always wondered why some make fun of people who talk about the weather, as if it were the most banal topic. Weather is EVERYTHING if we leave in concert with nature, as any tree, bird or blade of grass will attest.
Now I have a funny vision of a new kind of weather-woman on late night news—she speaks for five minutes drawing connections between species, observations on the impacts weather has on all of us, waxing poetic, maybe even a song or two. An incantation to remind humans of their grand, yet insignificant interconnectedness to all life. Now that’s something I’d gladly tune into!
I think I would love that job!
It is a sad fact in the UK that anyone that can’t find anything more interesting to talk of than the weather is considered uninteresting, or worse. I never forget that but when a life is presented to you that is bound by every good and bad weather imaginable it is not within me to not speak of it - hard though I try. All that to say, I love that you say, weather is EVERYTHING! Bless you xxx
Just ((sigh)) at your beautiful words and the image and emotions they evoke. Thank you.
My heartfelt thanks Laura, your kind words warm me beautifully on this cold Sunday 💛
Last week I pulled out my oversized wool hat and stared at the firewood I use to heat my home wondering is it time but today the birds chirp in joy and the air warms.
I hope that feeling lasts Stacy, here I fear the last residue of summer heat has been whisked off with the north wind, not returning until next May... even the birds have been chirruping less these last few days - all except the House Marten that is who completely mesmerised me yesterday evening.
https://substack.com/@ahillandi/note/c-69014126
"I am uncertain whether to feel deliciously cosy or simply depressed..." -- my sentiments exactly! We have not turned on the heat yet, but our house benefits from a lot of light exposure which warms it up if there's a bit of sun. I hold out hope for at least some part of October and November!
I have teetered between the two Betty, cosy is lovely, but in winter, not now!
We have managed to refrain from lighting stove again since but I have literally had to keep moving to not be cold - this evening though felt much warmer - at last!
Dare I still dream of that Indian summer? X
Escaped a first frost last night, not by much, 5degC next to the stone wall close to the house. I glanced at those weather maps yesterday and saw a large escape of unseasonal cold out of the Arctic into Europe, including us in Britain. Nearer the edge here we have not had the same wind strength, but the heating has had to be on.
We wait usually for the first week of October for the geese to bring their families back on the north wind to their winter home. This year I wonder. I guess they need every last day to feed enough for the perilous crossing, but they have their wisdom about the winds.
Ah ... black tips hunkers down and keeps an eye on you.
Philip, Thank you for transporting me to your part of this planet, we too have had snow on the peaks sighted, not only the Pyrenees and the Alps (which I don't see anyway) but the Cantal Mountains too. I have not known snow this early to fall on the central highlands since we arrived twenty years ago.
Geese we rarely see passing here, I wish we did, I miss this autumn phenomenon immensely. When we lived in Ireland there would be day after day of them flying over our little cottage, sometimes in their hundreds, Canada Geese though. I loved that unmistakable sound travelling closer and closer, then right above, then disappearing into the distance.
I saw my hare this evening, he watched me from his spot in the late sunshine but didn't run - I think perhaps he sees me far more often than I see him - you are indeed quite right.
I wish you a gentle week my friend - with sunshine of course!
An hour ago my wife spotted a large skein ... several families. They were too far away to identify but Britain is home to almost the entire population of Pink-feet from Iceland and Eastern Greenland, the ornithology people tell us. We have some good geese stories! We will hear them at night as they go to and fro from the tidal flats 10 miles distant, though it takes hearing aids these days.
PS The tops of the Scottish hills has seen the first snow, unusually early especially these last three decades.
Here, up in the North, the climate catastrophe has orchestrated the exact opposite. It's a late summer, 27 degrees a few days ago, (in September!), and I'm watching the leaves fall in the warm sun. Predictability has packed its bags.
Loved your prose again Susie, thanks.
Thank you, I shouldn't be envious of your gloriously hot days when I know they are for reasons far less so, but damn it its cold here! The leaves are falling, still green, unable to cling any longer and I'm left wondering just what colour autumn will actually be? And then, as feckless as the temperature, I think, but grey is so very beautiful too!
Enjoy Jonathan, whatever you are sent, enjoy...
Sweet humor and fine memories if childhood in New England. (Putting socks on… first day of ‘real fall weather’)
I always try to imagine something wonderful to make each season a pleasure Carol, warm socks, a crackling fire, frosty mornings... this year has been a case of fast forwarding a little, as simple as that!
Enjoy, whatever the day brings you I hope it brings you a smile too - thank you for reading x
I feel this in my chilled bones.
I have succumbed to wearing socks. This means summer is officially over. Last year, according to our Book of Numbers, the temperature we recorded was 28°c. This morning, our thermometer dipped below 10°c and the weather app said 6. The wind is ridiculous for here, usually blocked by mountain and forest, it has been screaming through the village, causing all manner of mayhem, plastic chairs blowing and shattering, branches and leaves here and there, and Ailsa complaining about le vent, le vent ! I try and explain that, when Papa was young, he remembered watching a caravan torn apart and blown past across the field in front of the house, or tales of the chicken shed which disappeared, only to reappear in Norway, chickens still roosting inside... She doesn't really believe me, I think. It's just a little too Dorothy.
Stay warm! I am keeping all fingers, toes, and limbs crossed for a warmer September and October ahead. We shall see.
I'm chuckling to myself here after reading your stories of high winds and flying chicken houses Alex - I believe you! Here on my hill we had a freak wind in November which tore down trees and lifted barn roofs entirely off, it also picked up three of my hens and took them for a ride too! I watched them take off, frantically flapping as chickens do they disappeared into the distance, never to be seen again!
At work on Friday I wore three layers of clothes and a scarf all day - the top layer was a thick woollen jumper - I didn't remove even the scarf all day! The weekend has been similar, the wind is so cold that even the bright days will not entice me back into shorts again and yes, damn it, I had to put socks on too... I feel thoroughly cheated of summer this year!
I think warmer is heading this way, yours too looking at the radar - Ive everything crossed it sticks around til Christmas at least! ;-)
I sometimes wonder if there is a place that all these missing chickens congregate, somewhere fabled amongst all fowl, beyond the rainbow?!
It was very cold this weekend, but at least today has had sunshine. I shall have to have a peek at the radar too, I know my weather app suggests warmer weather to come, but more rain too. I really want to get out to find more fungi, if I can, so at least conditions aren't too bad for this. And cheated is the word! Hmph.
Maybe there is a delightfully, 'happy ending' feathery chicken rave going on somewhere neither humans or wind or predator can reach them Alex! I do hope so - poor things...
I'm counting on at least 24c on Thursday for a fishing outing with my class of CM 1/2
but we already have storm clouds looming here which weren't forecast so I think huge prayers are in order!
Honestly, I think the forecasters have just about given up at this point! My app keeps altering, just about every time I look at it! Still, the general sunnier and warmer trend does seem to be sticking, so shall keep my fingers crossed for a warmer fishing trip for you!