Autumn 2

Thursday 8.08am

There is chill in the air. The morning is misty and damp. Quiet. Still. Autumn is here again. This is the time of year when I feel most connected to the natural world. It is a time of woodlands and fields, rich earthy smells and the sight of your misty breath coiling away into the air. I can hear birdsong outside and hidden rustling noises in the leaves and undergrowth. Compared to Scotland, Autumn in Hawkes Bay is but a brief passing moment. By nine or ten o’clock in the morning the sun is up, the skies are bright blue and the mist is all burnt away. I struggle to get up for work in the dark at the moment but once I am up and cycling to work I’m grateful for it, because I would miss this time. Autumn is a time of change – the dusk of the year, and a sad time too – hard times are coming and not all of us will be here to see the spring. It is harvest time, fruit is being picked and stored, plans are made for next year. Some people are good at this of course with savings and provision for the future but not me. Try as I do, the present always gets in the way and the future has to wait. But Autumn has a feeling of acceptance about it as well, what is done is done, there is little point in worrying about the past. Make plans, yes, and I will keep plugging away at it, but will also enjoy the moment for it is all so brief and quickly forgotten.

At the moment I just cannot seem to get this song, Beautiful Haze, out of my head.

Passion fruit

Friday 8.36pm

What can I say . . . . passion fruit. Everytime I see one I think isn’t nature wonderfull. Like phoenix eggs, flame blackened and crinkly on the outside, cut them open and the most intense tropical smell and golden green colour flecked with charcoal seeds is revealed. And to taste ? well, a Bounty bar is very nice but to someone from Scotland this is the true taste of paradise. And what would you make with them ? You know, I do not think it matters it will all be glorious. If I had to pick a favourite though I suppose it would be Nigel Slaters pavlova ( quite appropriate as I now live in the home of the pavlova ) A big sweet squashy meringue topped with whipped cream splodged on and the passion fruit pulp poured over. Simple and clean - just three flavours synergistically playing against each other whilst still able to shine in themselves against the background of the other two.

My Wedding Ring

Thursday 8.12pm

I love jewellery but only on Nicola. Like a fashion designer dressed in black this is the only piece I wear – my wedding ring. A simple plain circle of 9 carat white gold, it has aged beautifully. It did not always look like this, when new we were told that white gold was not silver enough and had to be plated in rhodium. But a thin veneer of brittle respectability was not what I wanted on the symbol of our marriage, so shortly afterwards, when it got quiet at work I polished all the rhodium off to reveal the gentle yellow silver of the gold underneath. And now two years and nine months later, eleven and a half thousand miles away, just like me bearing the marks of life it looks even better. I often meet people who are approaching twenty or thirty or forty and dreading it, but why ? life is, and will be, and in the end is all too short – celebrate it now.