Endings and beginnings

Its early in the morning, the darkness has crept in so quickly the last few weeks that there has been no seamless change from summer to autumn and we still have days of summer interspersed with the changing weathers of autumn. No mist this morning like yesterday, but the heavy clatter of rain as it falls through the leaves of the maple, and the wind rustling through the tree hastening their death as they fall to the ground

Behind me is my spinning wheel, brought from my old home last weekend, the beautiful embroidered silk dragon and a couple of quilts will be folded neatly into a cupboard, the old house is sold, its garden lies forlorn and overgrown, the apple trees still full of fruit, but my intelligent beautiful Moss is well and I give thanks for that.

I expect the house will have a radical makeover, it did a marvellous job in its time, it housed children and students, animals of various sorts, but in the end all that work became too much.

So on Sunday we loaded my son-in-law's land rover with the bits I considered valuable and parted on amicable terms with my ex-husband, another phase of my life finished.

I would like to go out walking along the river, but the rain stops that for the moment, when we drive to Chelmsford over the water meadows I often glimpse the gypsy horses in the distance, out in all weathers their lives little changed. I need to visit a couple of churches perhaps to record their past, to see the patina of age fading gently into their stones, to wonder if there is a 'pagan' heart still lurking in those selfsame stones, to find the Saxon grave or the stream that nourished the people who settled so long ago.

It has grown light, the dark browns and reds of the maple tree fill the window with colour, funnily enough I can't stand red leaf trees, but had one in my last garden dominating the centre, soft greens are more to my liking. This tree here normally houses a couple of collared doves at night, the magpie will come and jump from branch to branch noisily sometimes, clumsy old wood pigeons rattle around, and lately I have heard the long tailed tits song as they hunt for insects on the leaves.

So winter gathers in, a time for fires, christmas to look forward to with my grandchildren, games to buy to keep them amused and another bookcase to buy for the three boxes of books I bought back with me!