I’m alone again, as John has gone back to Doha to do a handover, so I have a minute to catch my breath before he is home and we are off cycling and marching all over the place. I did go down to Wales to spend a week with Bonnie and Tasha and Leo which was just perfect. She is such a cute little baby, with a very infectious grin. I loved listening to her babble from her cot when she wakes up to a new day. Peeping in one morning, I watched as she greeted her toys and teddies and cloth books as though seeing them for the first time! Natasha had me out foraging in the countryside for autumn berries in order to make healing potions. We were like witches, with the poor baby forgotten under a hawthorn tree, as we battled with brambles and nettles to pull the elderflowers off the branches in fat satisfying bunches. We also stopped to collect Self heal and red clover, and ate stray wild plums. Back home we turned the kitchen into a scene from Macbeth, with pots simmering blood red, and a pungent aroma filled the house. Finally the tincture was bottled and Natasha was just on full alert for anyone to have a mere tickle in the throat. The witch was at hand! The following day we waited for a heavy shower of rain to pass then we ventured forth again, with pram, baby, plastic bags and a coat hanger to trap hawthorn. We walked along the cliff with the silvery grey sea beneath us, and the canopy dripping on Bonnie’s plastic cover. Hawthorn is one of the greatest things for getting rid of ‘build up’ in the arteries of the heart, and our mission was to collect, boil, strain and then cook the berries for 12 hours in a cool oven, and produce hawthorn leather. This would then be chewed each day in small portions. (Mine turned out like crisps…very crunchy). I do love all this flower and mystic nonsense, it is just so satisfying to breath the air, smell the rank perfume of torn grasses and feel that you might be following some ancient tradition. The Elder tree is just a story in itself, its hollow stem was said to have been used by Prometheus to bring fire to man from the gods, it was also used as an ancient flute. Great things might happen if you are in the company of the tree on Midsummer night, you might see the Faery King ride by. (How scary would that be, in today’s world!!) And there is a belief that it is connected with the Earth Mother. Is said that if one is planted in your garden you will have protection against lightening and it would keep your cattle from harm.(or cats or dogs???) Christ was said to have been crucified on an elder tree and Judas to have hanged himself on one. It seems a bit iffy that, as the branches are a bit skinny and weak, but God apparently had cursed the elder by making its once large berries small and its straight branches twisted. That explains it then. It doesn’t have a very nice smell, and it is bad luck to have the flowers in the house. ‘Hawthorn blooms and elderflowers Fill the house with evil powers.’ So there we go, the apprentice witch has now got a remedy for colds and flues, a leather that will fight cholesterol and lovely memories of a satisfying day with daughter and granddaughter foraging the fruits of autumn. John and I have bought a car and garage, which was all very exhilarating, and so we went on a trip over to the West Coast, and stayed in Oban for the night, and drank in the beauty of the mountains and the sea and the heathery hills. Could we live so far from the city conveniences? Would we survive with only a view? At this point in our lives, I think not. But with the car we can visit and then we can always come home!