Adjustments

As I write, I am sitting in a beautiful barn conversion surrounded by fields full of sheep, trees in autumn leaf and very very grey skies. Later there will be the smell of wood smoke.

And Tom is in New York. So we have gone from our commuter lifestyle back to our life of Tom here all day or Tom not here at all. Takes a bit of getting used to. Last week I was complaining because he was stuck working in our house while the workshop internet connection was sorted out and now of course I miss him. Still, I like the fact that I now know where he's heading off to, and who he'll be seeing and staying with once he gets back to San Francisco.

When we lived here before it felt like Tom had two lives - one here and one somewhere on the US West Coast. Now it feels like we all do. Hence the photo at the top of the page. I don't know why I didn't ache for London the way I do for San Francisco. Perhaps because it is still so reachable. Perhaps because I was tired of it after 17 years, but was really only just getting used to California. I don't regret returning to Wales but I do regret having to leave, if that makes any sense. A friend (hello Doug!) said San Francisco would probably start to feel like home when we left - wise words.

So what's going on?

The girls are doing well. There's a bit of what Emilia calls "girl mayhem" in Year 6, and she's thoroughly unimpressed by the obsession with boys, shopping, fashion etc. There are apparently so many more interesting things to talk about and "I'm ONLY 10!". Lottie meanwhile is inventing games where she and her friends cook boys. Once they've caught them of course.

I am gradually sorting out our new home. I am plodding through changes of address. Yesterday I baked my first loaf in at least two years and I am really out of practice - it came out looking like a large boxing glove. I am rubbish at remembering the chickens. They have been forgotten a couple of times and we have now delegated a lot of the care to Lottie (aka Chicken Girl) because she is way more responsible than I seem to be. I am putting off working out what I shall do for the rest of my life as thinking about it makes my head ache.