Friday 31.10.2014

Grey and damp but so mild it was delicious walking - even the spots of rain were warm and the autumn scents were rich with that year-on-the-turn poignancy. Big skies

and autumn colours.

Really wouldn`t want to live in a country where the weather was the same day in and day out.

Wednesday 29.10.2014

A glorious autumn walk this mild and sunny morning, nature imitating art

and spectacular colours wherever you looked.....

It was the perfect end to a long weekend of over-indulgence, jollity and much struggling with my school-girl French as L&P got married in rainy Perthshire: a country wedding in the best possible sense in a barn with flowers and food and music, truly a couple of days to remember. Congratulations to a lovely couple!

Sunday 19.10.2014

I wish it was an original simile but I recently read it somewhere and today that was it exactly - the air so soft it was like silk caressing your skin. Wow! In October! Gorgeous day - breezy, sunny, busy sky

trees on the turn

and that mild silky air.

Back from travels for a fortnight now and brain just about caught up with body. One final post on therewillbechickens and then it will be put on hold...until the next trip.... :)

Did have quite a lot of time for reading btw:
(i) approached Alain de Botton`s The Art of Travel with trepidation as bit suspicious of philosophers but loved it
(ii) The Urban Circus by Catriona Rainsford an excellent piece of travel writing about an unusual subject
and (iii) still not quite finished the seriously disturbing (thank you J!) but excellently written The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

Also in the middle of Michael Rosen`s latest - Good Ideas -which should be required reading for every teacher and parent in the land: guaranteed to revive the jaded.

Sunday 12.10.2014

The earlier golden autumn light had disappeared behind banks of grey cloud by the time we were able to get out this afternoon but somehow it mattered not. Cool wind, spits and spots of drizzle but it felt good to be walking in a place I understood: recognizable sounds, scents and wildlife and the seasons moving on just as they should. Our adventures in Ecuador have been brilliant but familiarity has its own rewards.