Autumn joy

Autumn is definitely one of my favorite seasons, the others are spring, summer and winter, not the strange mix of bland, grey and drizzly weather that doesn't fit in to any of the above seasons. Today is proper autumn and it is ok that it isn't warm and things can look untidy without it being wrong and we can finally start having roaring fires again!


We ordered 3 cubic meters of wood beginning of the week and it feels so nice to have a proper supply for the winter! Today we also had a small bonfire to get rid of lots of dead branches and leaves.


Last weekend I went on a trip to the Lake District with some girlfriends. We did ghyll scrambling which is the "new" thing to do apparently. It means sliding and climbing down rocky little streams as demonstrated in the photo. I preferred the canoeing we did in the morning as my body is too bony to slide down rocky stuff! Although it was quite exciting! The next day we went for a 6 hour walk and as usual we were lucky with the weather and had the most amazing views!
I have now booked another couple of nights for me, John, William and Lily in the same hotel late October as it is one of the nicest places in Britain. And the best thing is it's only just over 2 hours drive away

Lily is now neutered!

Last week was Jeanne's funeral. We couldn't have wished for better weather and everything went very well. The flowers were absolutely beautiful and the reception afterwards was well attended. Many people that John and his brother hadn't seen for years were there and as quite often happens despite it being a very sad occasion everybody had a very good time. We took the opportunity to take a photo of us, Brian, Mark and Helen his girlfriend.



Last week we also took Lily to the vet to be neutered. We realised since it is common place to let your dogs run around loose around here that once she got on heat there would be nothing we could do when next farms Great Dane (as big as a pony!) or the greyhound further down the hill came running wild with excitement! The operation went well and now she has to wear a cone around her neck until the stitches come out. Doesn't seem to slow her down though as she is as wild and crazy as before!



We took advantage of the nice weather at the weekend and went for a walk near Kinder Scout. It was absolutely beautiful! I've updated my B&B website now to make sure people will know it is only 10 minutes drive to this place.

The B&B is going quite well. We have two more bookings in the next month which is about the right amount for it not to interfere with normal life but just add some pleasure and a bit of extra cash.






One advantage of living on a hill is that the view over the surrounding landscape is never the same from one day to the next. Everyday it looks different. I took a picture of the valley the other morning as the fog was lying dense on the valley floor, very atmospheric!