It’s come a day later than I expected. A welcome reprieve. This month has been one of abrupt pivots. After a dour summer, two weeks of heatwave give way to days of rain. The water butt is refilled but the damp soil has no need of it. The temperature drops below 10℃ overnight for the first time in months. And after today, the nights inch ever deeper into time.
I swap the postcard on the mantlepiece; summer for autumn. Pull the water kefir grains out of the fridge door. For a few weeks, they were one thing too many to keep alive. Now, a little sugar and some fresh water should be all that it takes to wake up. On a roll, I grab a bag of flour and another glass jar. Another go at a sourdough starter. As I wipe the counter clean, I think of rye flour too. But perhaps that’s a bit too much fermented life for this season. I’ll review my motivation in a few days’ time.
I change my jumper twice for sitting outside. Settle on a winter woolly for an autumn breeze. It’s warm when the sun shines, but the wind is confirmedly cool as the clouds pass across.
There are uncertainties, unexpected. I am surprised by my surprise. There has rarely been a time when life has just run. A season is made of many seasons. The garden reminds me of this. Summer lingers in the reddening tomatoes. Autumn settles in with a blackberry hue. Winter hints in the browning leaf edges. Endings, beginnings, middles coexist.
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