Berry Nice

It's hard berry season. Earlier in the year there were blackberries but now we're into the harder stuff; holly, roseship and, here, pyracanthas. Half the bush has already been plundered, and this blackbird ai a regular visitor in recent days - maybe a descendent of the blackbirds we used to feed toast to, on the patio in the summer...

The days go quickly at this time of year, with the long nights holding increasing sway for the next few weeks. Someone told me this morning there were only five and a half weeks to Christmas, but I never had a lot of time for him and they'll never find the body...

We've an architect dropping by tomorrow to discuss a possible extension job, and most of the day has been taken up with excited and often forthright discussion about what we're going to ask him to plan... Consensus is of course a great thing, but I think on the whole I'd make a better dictator.