rain

Okay, we are good. Plenty of rain in our measuring cup. You can stop now. What? Another day of it? Well okay. I suppose I should be glad we are not up north, sitting in a cabin wondering when we can finally go outside.

Here, at the farmette, I go out outside in between showers. It's cool, it's fragrant and very autumnal!

(the last wet lily standing...)

(the farmhouse)

Ed is solidly asleep all morning. I don't bother waking him. I understand the rainy day sleepies. Breakfast is, therefore, alone and in the kitchen.

And then I take myself to northeast England. I'd spent some time there, back in 2014. (I can't believe it was that long ago!) It was one of those solitary trips that wasn't exactly easy. The town I stayed in was fantastic to walk through with a camera and the people I met were wonderful, but that corner of England is rugged and tough and I do think the stories I've retained from there are better upon the retell. Exploring the area alone, in often poor weather was challenging, even as the memories are all stellar. I'd learned a lot about a corner of England that is so often ignored by those who live in the south and those who travel to that country as tourists.

Today's "trip" was only through the Vera Stanhope mystery books I've been so hooked on all summer. They take place in those gritty coastal towns of northeast England and I recognize the rows of darkened stone houses and shops trying to stay afloat next to boarded up storefronts. And I wonder -- will I ever go back? Ride the trains that zip me from the Lake District to the North Sea and then maybe up to Scotland? Like I did back in 2014? It seems so impossible now! The grandkids need me, the virus shows no signs of backing off, trains, planes and buses are yesterday's dream and today's nightmare. How will I ever make it to these trickier destinations again?

That's tomorrow's worry. Right now I'm lost in my novels, with occasional peeks at my posts from Berwick-upon-Tweed. For the images. And the memories.

 

And then I snap back to where I am right now: preparing dinner for Ed and me, and picking up a sweet FaceTime call from Primrose...

... and toward the tail end of the day, getting a report on the two other school kids in my life. All are well, all are happy and isn't that just the nicest way to end the day...