Summer - or the British equivalent - is over and Autumn has arrived in wind and rain.  I feel sorry for the school children for whom this year's long summer holiday has been a damp squib.  Their memories will be of rainy days and indoor activities.  The "story hut" I ran through the holidays never really got going as children forgot about it after the first two wet weeks.  What a shame!  The children who did come along had a lovely time.  One little girl was staying with her grandparents.  After a session with Mary Lennox and "The Secret Garden" she borrowed a skipping rope to practise her skipping skills.  I had a lovely letter from her thanking me for the bridesmaid book I found for her in the Honey Pot + photos of her in her bridesmaid's dress on her Big Day.  Delightful!

 

As a spurned novelist (sob sob) the weather has mirrored my mood.  Nevermind. Onward and upwards.  I wonder if anyone is interested in my ramblings anyway?

I was thinking the other day that life in the Rectory is a bit like life on board a huge liner.  The house sits amongst gardens which have elements of a rolling ocean - not least by reason of the shape of the house on the diamond-shaped plot.  I feel a bit like the chief steward on the ship - keeping everything sorted and tidy (or failing to do so) preparing meals of all shapes and sizes, keeping the whole thing working smoothly as we sail out across the rolling swell.  The garden has a life of its own and somehow that has to be managed.  The "ship" is a complex structure serving lots of needs.  It's equipment is multitudinous and complex.  Resources are forever being moved in, out and around it (and then have to be restored to their storage positions - that's the bit that falls apart!)

The restlessness and complexity is definitely reminiscent of the liner analogy.  Curious - as the central part of a church is called the nave - this boat image gets everywhere!

The Rectory liner seems very big at the moment - and with only 2 staff (me and him) it's a lot to cope with.  Overwhelming sometimes.  And, as we approach the equinoctual gales. it is important to keep everything ship-shape and Bristol fashion (up rudder!) 

A super team of gardening friends came alongside yesterday and, for the paltry wages of tea and cake, laboured in the garden to help us get it under control... a bit.  The sun came out  and we basked in it as we sipped our tea and took on calories.  Lovely.

 

As we sail on into the autumn - with all the fun of blackberrying (that's fruit not IT) cooking up windfalls for the freezer and trying to find yet another way of serving runner beans(string beans for any across the pond) I am putting my trust in the pilot we take on board for treacherous waters and I live in hope that the ship is more of an HMS VIctory and less of a Titanic!