It is the Autumn Equinox. Nearly three weeks since the August Bank Holiday in UK and Labor Day Weekend in USA marking the end of summer. Summer has certainly seemed strange this year, with all the restrictions on travel due to Covid. I feel so lucky in that (a) I can go outside into my tiny garden and (b)ten minutes away is the Thames Estuary, a great place for walking.

SOWING.  I have been gathering runner beans daily. It is so satisfying to eat something that I have grown, especially since the seeds were saved from last year’s crop and cost me nothing. The leaves of my peonies were covered in “rust” so last night I cut all the stems back to their base and bagged up all the infected leaves. Then I spotted a tomato plant that had self-seeded. At first I was excited to find a tomato after leaving it too late to buy seedlings at the Garden Centre. Last year I successfully grew a variety of small sweet yellow tomatoes and I had two regular red tomato plants given to me by a friend. Those tomatoes never reached maturity but succumbed to “tomato blight”. On examining the self-seeded plant I  discovered that the fruit was rotting off: blight. So the entire plant had to be dug up and binned. And next year I must remember to choose a different location in my garden for growing tomatoes.

STITCHING My moss stitch blanket is progressing very slowly. I have nearly finished six strips and that leaves three more to do.

SORTING Twenty years ago when my Father died I began a project to sort my family photo collection, copy the vintage photos and stick them into  albums. I set the project aside and neglected to finish it so this month that is my challenge!

SKIMMING I read very fast and gallop my way through books on my Kindle in one sitting but the other night I began “Orphans of the Storm” by Celia Imrie and my reading  showed right down while I savoured the story. I remember reading that two of the survivors of the Titanic disaster were very young boys who were unable to tell rescuers who they were. Imrie researched all the evidence and then wove a fascinating fable of historical fiction.

SOCIALISING Took the first tentative steps to “getting back to normal” the other night. Went to the meeting of my local branch of the Women’s Institute. We were asked to do a “rapid flow test” before attending and the venue had windows open plus most of us have been vaccinated. I had forgotten how important social interaction is to our mental well-being. It was a great evening.

STARTING As if I do not have enough going on! I have started a batch of homemade greetings card loosely based on dotty mandala patterns. I decided that the designs look better with the shapes painted in before dotting.

SURRENDERING It is spider season once more and I have surrendered my bench to a large garden spider. Yes, I could just detach his web and move it out of my way, but it seems a shame when he has gone to all that effort spinning it.

SAVOURING Did you know that dark chocolate is good for you? Apparently, it is a good source of antioxidants. As I allowed a square of 70% chocolate to dissolve in my mouth, I checked on the “downside”. Yes, there is a downside: chocolate contains sugar so I mustn’t have another square today.

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