Fall has arrived. It seems to me that a new year begins in September. Twenty-two years of starting school in this month probably accounts for my feeling. The garden sees it differently. It is coming to an end but still producing more zucchini from one plant than I and my friends can eat. Yes, I have become one of those gardeners who give away zucchini; someone to avoid in the neighbourhood. The trouble is I plant the garden and care for it and then leave it to look after itself when I travel and come back to a jungle. I shouldn’t complain about the benevolent Pacific coast weather. When I lived in the Cariboo everything seemed to grow all at once in July and then nothing for the rest of the year. Here, I get produce from March to November. It can get so the garden is dictating my life.

However, it’s writing that’s really doing that. Storms in the Cotswolds came out September 11^th. Thank you all who were waiting for it, I hope you enjoy it. I wrote the first draft before Shadows in Sussex but the publisher wanted to hold it back until after the pandemic. So, I put it aside and got back to it last year. I took a tour with two other intrepid travellers from Oregon and our driver and our tour guide who was knowledgeable about the Costwolds, took us to a private elaborate tea in Castle Combe, showed us the highlights of the Cotswolds and Bath and was a wonderful source of information As well, and as a bonus, he had recently retired from his life as an officer of Scotland Yard and was kind enough to answer a list of questions I had about the police in Britain.

I found I loved Cirencester and stayed there at Belinda’s BnB happily for several days. I loved the statures of hares everywhere and the motif of hares on cushions, chair seats, curtains, scarves, mugs and almost every conceivable surface. The people were friendly partly because we were the first overseas tourists they’d seen since the pandemic and were happy to see us and partly because they are naturally friendly.  I don’t usually enjoy churches but I except the Yorkminster and St John Baptist (not THE Baptist) in Cirencester. They are both truly beautiful.

Usually, I travel to England in May but this year it is September. I need to hunt around the Bloomsbury district in London and get myself to Hampshire, Devon, Shropshire and Oxford. I will take notes, trust me. And pictures, and write comments on my conversations and record what I learned.

I have enjoyed several Zoom gatherings with readers this month. Those are fun. Thanks for asking me. I particularly like the nurses’ groups and the book clubs. You have such interesting information and ask great questions.

All the best, everyone.