It wasn’t supposed to be raining yesterday, but it started as we reached the Park. We could see it coming in across Poole Bay when we walked down through the meadow and out onto Harbourside so our long walk contracted to an hour and a quarter, which didn’t feel fair after three days cooped up because of the storm.
Still, at least we got to see something very special. It was a Western grebe, which is very rare even in the site of special scientific interest that is Poole Harbour. It’s also my second very rare spot for the birdwatching group I’ve joined. The first one was the terrapins that people thought were legendary, and yes, I know that they’re not birds but that’s how my life is. Lots and lots of people flocked down there, and yes I was right, and it seemed quite content here so we assume it was blown off course. It looked perfectly happy while it stuffed itself with little fishies so I expect it’ll feed up and then get back on course, which strikes me as being a nice metaphor for life.
I’m not a proper birdwatcher although I’m promising myself that I’ll take my binoculars out with me more in 2025 rather than relying on the zoom lens on my camera. I’m more a member of the ‘oooh shiny’ persuasion and an avid walker on the flat level paths with plentiful benches which make it possible for me to walk six miles or so. And if I have to sit down because bits of me are hurting more than I'm happy with then I watch the harbour and enjoy the ships and boats and birds and, if I’m lucky, the seals. It’s not cold enough for them to come over to our side of the bay yet, but I did see them last year and I can’t wait for the proper cold to hit.
But sometimes I get stuck indoors and then I write and sew and play house, and, in this run up to Christmas time, I sort out the sewing projects I want to do next year. Researching Dance with Death, which is set around a Regency weekend at Swansmere has got me seriously back into embroidery after Crazy for Death got me into Crazy quilts so I’ve been working out what I want to do and what I want to put away.
I always laugh when people say how bored I must be now that being immunocompromised means there are so many places I can’t go, especially with the super-spreader season approaching where, according to my rheumatologist, everyone gathers to share their germs. He calls his grandchildren the darling disease vectors. His wife doesn’t approve, but he’s right, isn’t he? There’s so much I want to do that the days aren’t long enough and I feel blessed to be in the season of my life that I am now.
So, the next few months will be spent wrapping up warm and going for walks whenever the weather allows because I think best when I’m walking. While I was researching Jane Austen I realised I had something in common with a great author because she used to sit sewing decorously and then burst out laughing and rush off to write. Obviously, I’m not in her league, but it’s nice to know that she did the same as she lived in a similarly small world.
When I can’t get out I shall expand my repertoire of recipes and sew and enjoy exploring the world via YouTube and plan the garden for next year. And all the time my brain quietly works in the background and the ideas fairy comes to play so I write and go places in my imagination and then share them with you.
Speaking of which, here are this week’s special offers at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US.
There are 3 from the Amy Hammond series, which are Ghost of Christmas Past, The Past is Always With Us and Sweet Revenge and Warrior’s Way and Cynics Way from the Shadows series which I write as Eleanor Neville and I’m thrilled to see people discovering them after the reading Christmas short story collection. The two worlds, along with the Lucy Williams Schoolmum series and Windy Bay and Oldcastle are now coming together to form one large world so while you don’t need to have read all the series, I hope you’ll have fun seeing characters from one series visiting another.
Today’s picture is of the Christmas crazy quilt that I’ve just finished. It’s living folded at the foot of our bed because I feel the cold more than my husband does so I like an extra layer. Till we meet again, take care and enjoy the run up to Christmas…
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