Eclipses, seagulls and sewing corners

Did you see the eclipse this week? I know a lot of people in the UK missed it due to clouds, but it was a lovely clear evening down here in Poole, and we had an amazing view from our bedroom window. Mostly, we followed the live feed from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich because I’m very fond of my eyesight and I’m not into fussing with colanders for anything except draining food.

According to the papers, a lot of people were underwhelmed, but guess what? I wasn’t! What I noticed was how the animals reacted as the moon covered the sun, and how quiet everything got, which you’d have missed if you’d been in a crowd. Most of all, it was as if the sky had been divided into two parts. One was normal evening pale blue, and the other was an increasingly dark grey of the sort that usually means a lot of bad weather is waiting for you to leave the house before it dumps itself on top of you.

The quality of the light was eerie too, and this picture was one of the ones taken by my talented artist and photographer daughter, who’ll be running her own business this time next year rather than it growing in the background while she finishes her degree. Autism, for her, means seeing things differently, and I think, very beautifully. She’s a perfect example of the saying that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but with a warped sense of humour and some strange coping mechanisms!

We’ve all needed those in this heat, haven’t we? But today we have clouds and a lovely 20mph North wind, and the temperature in the house is dropping rapidly. I am so ready for snuggling up and autumn and being cosy, so here to finish with is a picture of my in-progress sewing corner in our room, being cat-tested. It passed, you’ll be pleased to hear. There’s still more I want to do, but I’m organised and ready to go and loving doing cross stitch again for the first time in more than twenty-five years. I’ve also made the most of the week at home to power ahead with the first draft of the next Lucy Williams, and the plot is thickening nicely.

Whatever you do this weekend, and always come to that, I hope you’re organised, ready to go and excited.