I intended to tidy up the back lawn a bit this afternoon, but after a morning battling the wind on the beach, clambering up and down sand dunes, and dodging reckless cyclists who never ring their bells to tell you they’re behind you…I felt a bit tired. But, after lunch and reading a couple of chapters of my book, I headed into the garden.

Rather than just mowing the lawn, I somehow found the energy to re-shape the brick mowing strip, do the edges of the paving stones, and weed the path. While I sat on the deck admiring my work, the blackbirds came down to throw the newly exposed dirt about as they hunted for worms.

Although it was a warm day, I lit the fire in the evening. Elderly bones need to be warm and I like the ambience. We’re down to the big logs at the bottom of the wood pile which can make starting the fire a little tricky, so I tried the ‘upside down’ technique: big logs first, then smaller logs, kindling, and paper. The theory is that it burns down to the big logs to establish the fire. I’ve tried it unsuccessfully before, but this time it was more urgent that it worked, and it did. Cabbage tree leaves helped. It was two hours before we needed to add any more logs.