Letter from home

I’ve not found the change to autumn easy.

Remembering last winter and how difficult it was, I don’t look forward to another six months of cold weather and darkness. And my mood has been lowered on a daily basis by reading the news. 

Dave is sympathetic and has realised that his constantly talking politics and raging against the awfulness makes things worse for me, and - unasked - kindly said he will only talk politics in his study and in his shed and not in public areas of the house, so as not to bring me down. Just telling him I’m feeling low has made me feel a bit better. He hasn’t tried to cheer me up. He understands depression. He understands telling people to look on the bright side never helped anyone. What is necessary is to accept someone’s feelings and to sit with them.

It’s not as if I don’t enjoy anything. The best thing about my life at the moment is my new bike. I can’t help feeling happy when I’m cycling along a quiet country lane in the sunshine.

Anyway, I don’t feel too bad today, so that's enough of that.

I’ve already written to my MP and it’s only 8.35. This time it was about the Home Office defying a court order and continuing to put lone refugee children in hotels.

Yesterday I slipped  on a concrete slope in the garden next to Dave's shed and fell on my back. Fortunately I’m good at falling. For some reason I am quite relaxed when I fall, and also I have bones like rocks. My family has many problems but osteoporosis is not one of them. Dave has also slipped down the slope in the past, so last evening when he was baking oatcakes he was plotting, and when I went down in my pyjamas to get my breakfast this morning he was already outside in his boiler suit digging up the garden to change the slope into steps. 

I love this man if you haven’t already guessed.

Here he is with his sunflowers.

The other thing that’s been happening is the plum harvest. You've seen pictures of our plum harvest in previous years, haven’t you? Bucket loads and bucket loads of them. Well this year it's been rather more sedate and I'm thankful. I can enjoy them.

We have self-seeded flowers all over the garden, but my favourite this year is the one that’s popped up in the last couple of weeks by the front doorstep. It’s a camomile. I really love these little daisies, and this plant is going to be perfectly safe here. No one is going to pull it up (this autumn anyway.) The one on the right is a foxglove. That will stay too.

The news on the painting front is that I’ve had a picture in an exhibition in Sheffield

and I tried to paint a seascape for the first time. This is a painting of Dunstanburgh Castle from Embleton beach - one of my favourite places.

I hope you are enjoying the autumn, or the spring to friends in the southern hemisphere.  

While I've been writing this the lovely Jaine (daughter-in-law) has just sent me some new photos of the cute and adorable Ms X, who is now almost 10 months old. 

😍🥰