Hilltop - In the MIst

Hilltop in the sunshine - Thursday 17th October 2013

Today we have the kind of Autumn day that encourages one to stoke up the fire or sit by the AGA in the kitchen reading - its very misty and the clouds are down on the hills.  This is in marked contrast to yesterday when it was sunny and relatively warm and we were out  about in the garden replacing the lean-to greenhouse roof hatch which come loose and blew away in a Spring gale and only now have we got around to buying another & fixing it in place.  

We managed to get a 4 day fine weather spell a couple of weeks ago when the decorators came and painted the ooutside of the house - it now looks wonderful and sparkling again.  This time they used Dulux Professional Weathershield experior paint which hopefully will outlast the previous exterior paint I used.  I must be getting old - in that I am now less willing to climb ladders when it is windy and do all the preparation for exterior painting as well as the painting itself so I finally saw sense & got the professionals in and the result is great.

The lovely thing about this time of year is the colours that one sees everywhere - the bracken in Whaw Lane is turning an amazing rusty-brown and the Rowan in the garden will soon be turning red as well - the photo attached shown this Rowan as it was last year around this time.


Janet  is already planning Christmas, who sleeps where and how we can accommodate the usual Bishop/Parker/George family clans which now expands with granddaughter's boyfriends - we are expecting 12 to 13 depending upon who can get up to us.  We had the estate agents photographing Hilltop on Wednesday and we have to accept that this will probably be the last big family Christmas at Hilltop Farm - the end of a lovely 25 year long era - but there it is - things do & must change.  But it will be a Christmas tinged with sadness I guess.
 
Anyway with long term weather forecasts predicting a cold & snowy November we are stocking-up on essential supplies and I'll get my winter tyres on the SKODA Yeti by the end of the month so we'll be fully prepared for whatever happens.  The bright side of course is the skiing & toboganning on the back field - why have all that wonderful mountain gear & not use it I say.