Hello! How are you? I do hope you’re well. It’s been several weeks since I last wrote here – I’ve missed writing my blog but I’ve had absolutely no energy or inspiration since I went back to full-time work in mid-September. All my brain power has been focused on the steep learning curve of the new job and new routine. It’s been a case of work, eat, sleep, repeat during the week and family stuff, eat, sleep at the weekends. But, this week, it’s school half term and I am not in work – I’m in Troutbeck, Cumbria, and the mountains are working their magic.

We drove up to the Lake District in record time on Saturday morning (6 hours; amazing) and met Tom, our eldest, and his girlfriend in Ambleside – they’d travelled by train from Reading. Being all together in the Apple Pie (a favourite pit-stop) swapping tales of our journeys, with the gentle teasing that siblings do when they’re secretly pleased to see each other, fairly made my heart swell. It felt wonderful to be all together and to be somewhere we all love. Tom and his girl could only stay until this morning – they had to get back for lectures this afternoon – but we fitted in a good walk yesterday up Loughrigg Fell. It’s not a particularly high fell but you get amazing views from the top to Windermere, the Langdales, Grasmere and all the surrounding magnificence. It’s a lovely time of year to visit, with all the autumn colours of the bracken and trees turning all shades of orange, yellow, brown and red and I can feel my batteries fully recharging.

We’ve hired a gorgeous old farmhouse for the week, all wide wonky floor boards and slate tiles, and there’s a little garden, so I went out to see if there was anything I could use for a Monday vase – I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to join Cathy and other bloggers for the popular weekly floral gathering. As it’s not my garden, I limited myself to a few Japanese anemones and fuchsias, plus some jewel-like acer leaves but they look quite pretty in the sunshine.

We’re off out now to enjoy the autumn sun and soak up some more of that great mountain energy. Wishing you a good week and I hope to be back here again soon. Bye for now.

PS I post on Instagram more often than here, so you can catch up with me there if you like 🙂 Click on the link in the sidebar.