Climb every ... outcrop

Yet another bright, shiny autumn day, with a cautionary snap in the air at sunrise and sunset. Edna, our wood-fired cucina economica is lit briefly every evening now.

Each school day, Jakob! Lord of Misrule and I wander about a bit in the woods, having dropped the offspring off. We start in the mixed woodlands that have taken over almost completely the gardens and meadows of a former age, and rise through the silver birches and ferns to some granite outcrop or other, overlooking either the lake or the mountains or both. Here are only the hardy wind-blown shrubs like broom, juniper (berries pocketed when ripe) and heather, with lichen and some moss on the rocks. Brushing through the heather, with its stubborn little flowers, I think tenacity and perseverance - a useful thought some days.