We’re having some glorious autumn days. Knowing what’s ahead makes me appreciate the warm sunshine and the crisp clarity of the views even more than usual. For once the late flowering shrubs are really coming into their own and blooming while the sun shines. It’s a race against time to get the garden put to bed before the first snow: bulbs planted, the last vegetables and fruit harvested, bushes and flower beds cut back, the compost heaps full, garden furniture put away for the winter, big pot plants taken away for overwintering. For once I almost feel ontop of the situation and the mildness of the weather makes it all a lot more pleasant than it usually is in October. It’s the first time since about June that the garden has looked more or less tidy.

It’s the second week of the school holidays and I’m hoping to goodness that the teenagers are old enough and sorted enough to know what they need to have done by next week and actually do it. They spend most of their time in their rooms or the two younger ones at least, out with friends, so it’s pretty quiet in the house and my older daughter keeps us well supplied with cakes and biscuits. (Opening a cake shop is her plan B if all else on the career front fails). There’s more than enough to do to keep me busy, with the usual round of washing, ironing, shopping, cleaning. Not exciting but peacefully satisfying most of the time.

I rather like a little quiet domesticity. Next week work and school and turbulence will be back with us, so it’s good to just be quiet for a day or two.

Helen

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2012 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Gardening, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.