25. Autumn has arrived

The weather has changed, it's now wet and windy and starting to get colder. We're trying to get into a routine to get things done as despite all the good intentions over summer we don't seem to have done much. Not quite sure where the summer went, it seemed to fly by.

We're trying to do at least ten minutes with the chainsaw on the piles of cut gorse, we really need to get wood put away. Weeding the vegetable patch (unfinished polytunnel) is also a priority. We spent a couple of hours yesterday clearing and weeding. We pulled all the onions up, they've done well and we've rather alot. They're now drying on the floor in the house before we hang them up. The house reeks of onions to the point it was making my eyes water when I was in there.

We've had a large order of food delivered to ensure if it's a hard winter we don't run out. We now have about 200 tins of beans, tomatoes etc, bags of rice, pasta and dried fruit, coffee and teabags.

We've got a problem with the boat so have been walking in and out instead. It seems it isn't as suited to being pulled up and down the beach as we thought. It looks like we'll be able to repair it as it's only a small area although it's so windy at the moment we wouldn't be using it anyway.

Rich has pulled the floor out of the kitchen in the house so I've more wood to saw for the fire, much of it is rotten. We've taken the rayburn out and it's now standing in the garden. We were amazed to find another even older range built into the wall behind it. It'll have to stay there as it's holding up the house! Rich will cement over it at a later date.

I'm making time to go and sit in the wood for a few minutes every day, I normally collect a bag of sticks then have a sit down. The fungi this year have been an absolute delight, so many varieties and the fly agaricus have been magical. I love the wood, it's my favourite place to just sit and be. So there's lots happening and we're really trying to get on with things although today that is difficult as it's blowing a gale and raining heavily. Thankfully though the midges have gone.