Tuesday 27th October. I hadn't noticed the leaves on Pickeridge Hill changing and falling. But tonight, the moon rises so perfectly over the crest of the hill, the silhouettes of the trees show that they are bare. The moonlight casts a wintery glow although not everything is ready to stop for the year. The black scabious is absolutely covered in buds. I cannot do justice to this flower through photographs; it is all in the texture and depth of colour, you just have to grow it. How easy it is to grow is demonstrated by the fact that it is germinating on the seed heads. As usual, there is a bizarre smattering of apple blossom. 

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Wednesday 28th October. A little development in things. I mean, it’s a pretty huge development in my life but I appreciate that everything is relative and most people have a lot going on at the moment. I have gone four days a week at my day job and this is my first day working for me. I spend the day blissfully boiling pots of washing soda and linen squares, and stirring tannin baths, squeezing colour out of onions and chopping up nettles. My initial results were paler than expected and I cannot pretend I wasn’t disappointed. However, they have grown on me greatly, and I have started to fall slowly but surely in love with their subtlety. I am not terribly subtle aesthetically and I have had an email this week about the heaviness of my filters. I will try harder but I do tend rely on the quick fix out of necessity.

Thursday 29th October. More dyeing. Great success with turning paper blue with Scabious ‘Black Knight’ dye. I use a really good thick card (640gsm) and mordant with soya milk and it works a treat.

Friday 30th October. I spend a long day working in Bristol and it pours with rain. Getting home by 4.30 means a dog walk in the dark and I feel like the winter is looming. Oddly warm though so not even a fire to cheer up the evening. Candles though, always. 

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Saturday 31st October. I spend the day wrapping the velvet sweet pea bundles. This is the beginning of Christmas for me and it feels like part of my yearly ritual to be cutting and tying the velvet ribbon. And then the news comes about the closing of non-essential shops, and my heart breaks for all those whose passions and livelihoods are bound up in bricks and mortar shops. This is the most important time of the year for them and will carry them through the quieter, darker months of January and February when everyone is hibernating, abstemiously dieting and trying not to spend money or drink. You really don't need me to write you another gift guide as to where to shop for beautiful Christmas presents, we're probably in the same echo chambers on that one (Tea with Ruby has a good one for starters if you are really stuck, and Collate and Midgley Green are always top of my list). Just promise me you’ll start early so you don’t have to rely on Amazon prime. 

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Sunday 1st November. I am only telling you this because I have already got my order in but the Vervain Christmas shop is now open. I am chuffed to bits that she is part of the Gather with Grace Alexander team and I have spent the afternoon editing videos of her making the most gloriously resplendent autumnal bowl. I still have dahlias in my field, the roses are (again) going for broke, and the foliage in the village is particularly good this year. All I was missing was the bowl. Luckily, I managed to get myself one. (If you are after pin frogs, I am going to collect a huge box of them from Niwaki on Wednesday, along with the snips to go in the hampers for the gift subscriptions for Gather. One last outing before lockdown. I might sneak in and see if the Pythouse is still open on my way past.)