Lull

A last love-red sweet kiss of farewell to summer colour.

Summer has petered out into this lull - no sun, no rain just gray warmth. The jars I have been saving for blackberry jam making are still empty, the berries seem to have withered on their stalks without ripening, without sun. The rose hips are swelling and deepening. Veg in the garden has dwindelled down to late salad leaves and calendula - but not enough of the latter to make infused oil like last summer.** We are starting to weed again and strip and sort and pack away and prepare to pack the earth in manure ready for it's winter nourish.











And we ourselves are turned in mid step; half to the late summer, hoping for the last few days of sunny light that could warrant a beach day or two and firmly towards the Autumn, leaves fluttering already and knitting back on the needles.

It feels like a time for imagination, for dreams not realised to be let go or made afresh, shaped with new words. To see worlds within worlds. The world of my family and home is a universe stretched into long days of only us and feels like we truly are the only ones witness to change. Yesterday Isaac found some beeswax candles in a draw and became excited about the darker coming evenings of Dinner where one sun-honey scented stick glows each night. Scrap books are being filled with ticket stubs and leaflets and stickers, drawings and summer moments.

The sufficient Island in the stream



A Forest of Moss



Part of our little flock - don't seem to know the light that lays their eggs will soon be fading. They look glossy and sleek don't they? We love them still! Far left Queen is a bit thinner since she finally left her broodiness behind and is making up for hardly eating by reigning supreme again and insisting on first pickings of everything.



The cats are settling in and are out of their run for half of the day (the night hunting hours) and brushing around our legs and puuuurrrrring when they spot us, mewing in the morning if The Beauty lets me sleep late and their meaty breakfast is a-late in arriving. Otherwise they stretch out and enjoy life, no need to do when one can lie back and be. Pure self is the cat. I am starting to love them for it.



We are wrapping our world of baby skin and animal feathers and froliky-fur around us and preparing to hunker in, but first we have the fire of Autumn to look forward to. My favourite season of all.


**If anyone does have a lovely crop of calendula flowers here is a lovely way to capture their goodness:
~Pack a jar full of fresh but dry flower heads, pour in sweet almond oil or grapeseed or what ever rocks your boat - right to the top and cap tightly. Shake and leave in a sunny spot to infuse, turning the jar each day. Leave for two weeks or until you remember. Strain and decant into little bottles, label, use or give away! Lovely for massge. Last year I used chamomile in there too and the result was an oil deep orange but scented like chamomile~

Octagon Puzzle

We photographed the results of our patterns with the geometric octagon puzzle. We made so so many! We have had lots of play from this toy since we acquired it. You can see it being used in a different way here on my blog last year.



It also often gets used for making fences and walls for castle style battles or farm play and also as the outlines for car tracks or horse races etc. Since the boys are quite severely colour blind I dithered about buying this toy but actually it is used amazingly and accurately (when sorting colours) and tone/shade seems to work for them where colour does for me. In fact in many ways I have noticed Isaac sees things much more clearly than I do. For instance, a duck was nesting under our bridge hidden (to my eyes) in long long grasses of every shade of brown through to greens. I could not distinguish the duck AT ALL and would never in a month of Sundays have seen it had Isaac not pointed it out to me one day with fingers held to his lips to shuush my impatient unseeing self. It only moved from its nest at the crack of dawn and the ducklings hatched out and were away one morning before we were even up. But Isaac saw the quiet nesting mother duck where colour visioned dh and I had not!





















We bought the puzzle from Myriad.

Brother Love

The baby that is never left alone. But that is A Good Thing me thinks. No sooner have I deposited her into the little sheepskined chair for a minute whilst I do something pressing that a baby in arms makes tricky then Isaac swoops in and after about four seconds has her up, away, and in arms once again. She loves him. It is so so cool to see how lovely he is with her. He often bursts out with things like ohhh I can't look at her for even another second she is just too beautiful! And he is full of emotion and squinting his eyes shut to relieve the bountiful heart-felt pressure of his dancing eyed sister. Or; her face looks like it has been carved by angels! No idea where this one is from but he is fond of smooching it and spinning her up or dancing around her like a maniac. It is rare for him to be bored by her and asks far more than is possible to hold her, goes into raptures over getting to hold her for my speedy four minute shower..... I was ten years old when my baby brother was born and I do not remember being anything like so devoted to him! It is certainly a trait of his own I think. Here the sequence - as soon as he espies her out of my arms:

happily chewing a teapot handle....


until....


getting ready for lift off!


and she is up!

Esmé Hazel's Tree

The placenta was finally defrosted after six months and we planted it under...... a Hazel tree of course! I said - ohh lets say a prayer or a blessing or something noteworthy.... and I am feeling all dreamy eyed and thinking of the wonderfully gushy and sentimental things I could say about my lovely little daughter, and my dh eyeing the slab of oozy bloody placenta popped out with his Robbie Burns favourite:

Some hae meat and cannae eat
Some would eat that want it
But we hae meat and we can eat
Sae let the Lord be thankit

Then we laughed like crazy people and that was that - job done :)

Swap!

A big thanks to Julie for our great magazine swap! My gray day was brightened with her parcel today. Also included was a beautiful felted angel and a fabulous ball of rainbow wool - perfect! Just shouting at me to knit a hat for each boy in readiness for cold weather. Two of my loves - reading and wool! Which to begin with?


You MUST sell these gorgeous little dolls, they are seriously good. I would buy one in a heartbeat - if I didn't already have one that is, I can be smug though since I do! - Thank you!

cats

Playing the waiting game - the cats must come to us and not the other way around or they get scared. They are in an outdoor run since they are to be outdoor cats and so are in their confinement until they consider us home.

Felix - all he wants to do is smooch with them!

Town trip

Where books are the name of the game here, our first stop is the library to unload heavy hard backed books and straighten spine in relief. Isaac drops them through the letterbox because as usual we arrive when it is shut for absurdly provincial two hour lunch break.




Window shopping


For me too. Only it's all on the curbside for ease and closer inspection!


Another of my favourite antique shops


Weird shop that the boys enjoy hugely - although courage does not amount to entering, only outside oogling!


Time for Ice Cream (turkish delight and chocolate chip)




Time to buy first delicious Padraig Cottage sheepskin boots for Esmé in the pink walled shop to the right.... the iron railed building to the left is the Butter Market and holds lots of goodies on market day.


They fit! In glorious technicolour!!!!!


Detour to look at the Crazy Tree. Indeed. Only at The Church of St Mary the Virgin could one see such a thing. Looking closely?






Another honesty bookshop and adjoining peaceful castle garden....




Final swing before home while I peek over garden walls to check out Old Man's veg garden....