“The Autumn leaves pass by my window…the autumn leaves of red and gold”… I so love that song; I went to Yves Montand’s funeral in Paris, at Pere La Chaise cemetery along with Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu. That is all very well, but yesterday I spent all morning sweeping like a dervish, and had the front and back all spick and span, and then the big winds and rain that were forecast came in the night and now….I am MAD…it’s just all set to try me.

John and I went for a lovely walk along the Water of Leith on Saturday, ooohing and aaahing at the sunshine through the trees,

and the water and ducks and how Pre-Raphaelite everything looked, then suddenly we saw the most frightening tableau…it was as though Arcimboldo was alive and well and not the revered memory from 16^th Century Italy. Someone had

made life size models out of branches and leaves and they were just so life-like it was quite scary…almost as scary as the tree that had decided to ‘eat’ the wire fencing. 

Enjoyed a bacon roll…sitting outside on the pavement in Stockbridge…hard to believe it was November. We later went off to see an Art Exhibition in aid of the Macmillan nurses…the pictures were all very beautiful, and the wild windy beaches, croft houses and desolate broken down walls were much in evidence…but on the way we had called in to  a Chinese shop looking for a blue and white vase to lodge some sunflowers to ‘go’ with the Monet painting…when we saw a Vietnamese painting, that we had so admired in Hanoi, by an artist who specialised in painting lollipop style trees in bright primary colours…so guess what we bought…Ha! 

Our front room is a glory of bright happy things, must reflect my mood. Once, about 10 years ago a friend visited me and looked around my sombre Scots Pines in muted greens and smudgy drawings of Pictish brochs that I so admired and said, ‘Gosh, Gael, I didn’t know you were so unhappy!’

So…here we are in rainy Edinburgh, with more wild winds to come, no job, a flat that won’t sell, and yet I feel optimistic…even though I have another stupid basal cell carcinoma on my clavicle and have to see about that tonight, and 4 more slipped discs (thanks to the MRI in Doha) and have to go back to Steven, the physiotherapist…Oh the joys of Monday Monday!