SEPTEMBER SUMMER

All through the long wet summer we have longed for brightness and warmth, summer is over, the children are back in school and here it is at last warm sunny and wonderful.. Just before dawn this morning I sat by the window drinking an early cup of tea and I watched the first September mist rise,grow and at last disolve mysteriously as it reached the lane.
No one knows why the mist never leaves the park to enter the lane nor why, sometimes it stays withong the pailings as if trapped there by a strange invisible force, all I can say is that it is a strange thing to watch and very beautiful.

How warm it was last night and so still, in the field opposite our cottage a small herd of cattle were grazing and the occasional cough was all that could be heard in the few moments when night time meets the morning.The mist retreated slowly back across the fields and there were the cattle beneath the trees and the sounds of moring began.

Back to bed with a second cup of tea and chilly toes in spite of the warmth I fell asleep and knew no more until my son brought me coffee at eight.We ate our breakfast toast in my room and chatted about the events of the night.It is no suprise to me that he manages so well working all night as he comes froma long line of night people,
My father,who ran a small poultry farm and a taxi service also worked a night shift
firing pottery.He told me that he felt that sleep was like death and that,he said,came soon enough.

As a child I drove my mother to distraction as I hardly slept at all until I was five and then only for a few short hourseach night ,my son was exactly the same.

I love the night. When we lived In the Peak District I would go for “dark walks”,and in that part of the world it really is dark at night. Cool air,quiet except for the rustling of other night creatures,and no people........wonderful,relaxing exhillerating all at the same time;such walks are not possible in town unless one goes out armed to the teeth!

For dinner this evening I made lamb burgers, my sons favourite,small ones which we ate with the crown of buns made at yesterdays baking.On his working week I try to cook his favourite things and he is always so appreciative that it is a real pleasure to do this.

I have dressed my room for the autumn now with rich terra cotta shades and muted greens, a patchwork quilt of cream with a pattern in these autumn shades,the seasonal change make such a total difference to the room which has all summer been light and airy with a floral quilt and lots of pink and cream cushions and curtains in grass green.

Mine is an odd room but it reflects my own peculiarities...so I am told.

And now I think have waffled on quite long enough,it feels somehow that after the storms of emotion created by these past days a calm has spread over the house and over all of us and I am grateful for it,long may it last.