Beech leaves

It has been lovely to have Luke home for the day - he managed to study all day other than when he went to his physio appointment, and the good news is he has been cleared for all sports, including skiing. In fact his injured knee, after two surgeries, is now far stronger than his other knee due to all the concentrated physio exercises he has been doing.

The woods are so muddy at the moment, it is a real challenge trying to stay clean on a dog walk. The river that runs through the village has burst it's banks and is right up to the street level - if it rained anymore today - which thankfully it did not - it would be lapping into the street.

We have a large walk in larder in our kitchen that unfortunately, has become home to a mouse. I noticed it has been munching on my box of cornflour every night - and thankfully only that. It must be a gluten free mouse! Of course I cannot tolerate having a mouse in there, so yesterday I bought a rat trap and rat poison to fill the bait boxes in the garage which adjoins the house. I know most people do not like using mouse traps, myself included, but I don't accept that it is less humane than rat poison which causes them to have a slow and painful death. Gavin set the trap for me last night and this morning there was a very large mouse in it - which thankfully he disposed of before I even got up and saw it. We cannot understand how it is getting into the house, as being a modern and new house everything is sealed very tightly and there are no gaps anywhere. It is very puzzling.

In our neighbourhood we have many beech hedges, and I love them when they turn this golden russet colour every autumn. I can never understand how they seem to go from green to gold and then back to green again in the spring without seeming to ever lose their leaves, you never see them looking 'naked' and bare of leaves.