Good grief! September is nearly over already. I have just hung out the washing and was distracted by so many spiders’ webs. There are sticky cotton messes in window niches, long ambitious threads across the roses, daring works of art blowing across the covered decking…  I read in my wonderful magazine that these orb webs are among the most advanced spun by garden spiders. They are made up of concentric circles, and the female sits down in the centre of the web, waiting for something delicious. The male tends to build a smaller zigzag web nearby. He attracts her attention by plucking at the silk on her web. They mate, and the female builds a cocoon in which her eggs are laid. She protects the egg sac until she dies in late autumn; the spiderlings hatch the following May. Sort of makes me think of that lovely story, ‘Charlotte’s Web’.

All this while gingerbread is baking, and the rich smell of brambles are bubbling in their own juices, all set to be made into a syllabub. If I were a lady from the ‘olden days’, I suppose I would be bottling. Instead I have been quilting and sewing and finished my latest applique cushions. A ‘B’ for Bonnie and an ‘H’ for Hazel. I still have to do two cushions for Gerry, but she is still not sure of the name for the new baby which is due at end of November. The name changes with the weeks!

I did enter two quilts into the village show and happily won two first prizes, which was nice. There were so many beautiful paintings, as well as jams and tomatoes and all the other things arranged daintily on little plates.

The house is littered with left boots. To compensate the height of the Moon Boot I have been wearing all my other collection. Now, at last I am Boot-free, and just wear a bandage for support. It has been a funny six weeks. All I can say is thank goodness my break was uncomplicated and has healed not too badly. I still limp and the ankle is still very swollen, but it no longer hurts. I suppose I shall just have to be patient for a few more weeks.

This coming week I have to be fairly independent of John, as I have my new autumn classes starting at the University – 1930’s Literature, and on Wednesday I have to show my quilts to the next village’s quilting group. I didn’t realise how many I had! Also, how to go about it? I have decided to read from The Moon in the Banyan Tree, as it sort of sums it up on page 166. It was the beginning of my passion:

The quilt is finished! I sat all afternoon unpicking the newspaper hexagons that formed the patterns for the slippery silk….it has been more than a hobby and more than a means of keeping sane.

 Anyway I have most of them (some I have given away), and can chat about my journey and all the fun people I met along the way.

John has been amazing, and has been master chef in the kitchen. I have been the talking recipe book, shouting instructions, a little like the domestic Fuhrer: ‘Chop the onions, add the rosemary, stir this, put that in the oven!’ And with quiet confidence he produced a brilliant lunch for Irene and Mike, who came to visit ‘the invalid’. I think they were expecting egg and chips, John’s favourite stand-by. I sat about like Lady Muck and enjoyed the fizzy wine. There are some benefits!

Irene brought along samples of her amazing new hobby. Stone painting, on stones found on the beaches of Findhorn. She started with dots, then went on to dogs and animals and then made a great attempt at my three little grand daughters. I told her she should go to Udaipur in India and study with the great masters who specialise in miniatures, painting with camel’s eyelashes.

I was a little alarmed when John decided to order new kitchen windows and three new doors, but he pointed out that I had been gadding about in sunny Australia when the winter storms lashed us in February. He is now ripping out some of the floor boarding in front of the sliding doors, and replacing it, all set for the window chaps when they come. The house is covered with dust.

The hallway carpet has been ripped out, furniture is piled up, and the King Wa plant is now lurking behind the sitting room door. I feel as though we have just moved in, and on top of all this confusion we have bought a new painting from Vietnam. It is so vibrant, obligatory sunglasses might have to be issued on entrance. Actually it is still at the framers. It is about 4’ x 4’, oil on canvas, by Duong Ngoc Son; when we get it back we may have to rearrange the room.

Last week it felt as thought we were doing B&B. Marie and Bakar from Kuala Lumpur came to stay and it was so nice to catch up and sitting chatting, I could just see us back in Hanoi. I was so lucky to have them when I was writing Where the Golden Oriole Sang, as they took me back to so many of my old haunts in Malaysia, searching for a past that sadly had been developed into new towns and highways. We had fun searching, and it was good to see them poking around the graveyard of Dunfermline Abbey.

Then we had a visit from Kelly and Bob. We have no history but they are Canadian friends of a friend and they were seeing as much of Scotland as possible, and so we took them to St Andrews and posed by the R&A Golf course and they were quite taken with the old town.  Nice to spend time with and now we are back to ‘auld claes and porridge!’

Darcey came striding in on Thursday and made herself at home. She pointed to the music and danced to the sounds of the sixties and spent the day ordering me about. ‘Ganny what ya doing?’ Naturally I was at her beck and call, hobbling along behind her, photographing red admirals in the garden.

Bonnie seems to love her nursery school, and Hazel can roll around the floor and is going to win the ‘Miss Smile a Lot’ competition. Here is a portrait Natasha painted of Bonnie.

I can’t wait to meet up with them in Sicily in October. With my gammy leg, I think I will be looking after them whilst Leo, Tasha and John hike up Mount Etna. Perhaps a pizza and ice cream might while away an hour or so! Hope my leg is not so swollen. I have bought ankle boots, (online) from Doc Martin, but they are a cheap and nasty version and such a bright colour of wine, and very unforgiving. I had a trial walk yesterday and had to spend the night recovering, with my foot raised about three feet in the air.

Just thought I would add this one of Bonnie playing Hide and Seek, and another of her acting as though she was just off the croft!

I was horrified the other night, as we watched bits of ‘Gogglebox’. They showed the new programme on Channel 4 of the new ‘Blind Date’, where a girl had to choose from six naked men, but just from the waist down. The head was behind a screen. There was a prolonged shot of the six willies. It wasn’t till the girl had made her selection that she eventually saw the face. And believe you me, she would not have chosen the thug-with-no-neck that she did.

I suppose it was shocking when we first saw the musical, ‘Hair’, back in the sixties. I remember seeing a clip and everyone gasped!

Now, I shall get off my high horse, and make some pancakes for lunch. We bought some caviar in Denmark (before the Great Fall) so today might be the day to recreate our lunches from Kiev. I used to make them for John when I met him off the Metro. He used to eat them on the steps of the Opera House, and wash them down with a wee dram in a water bottle. Then he would sleep through the whole of Swan Lake!

So cheers to the mellow month of September, for brambles and spiders and apples and leaves flecked with red flames.

Fare thee well!