I haven’t forgotten you, you pop into my head at random moments, maybe it’s a recipe, maybe it’s a plant or a view, perhaps it’s a piece of news from around the world, a book, painting or poem and there you are in your blog lives and your real lives and in my thoughts.
Where have I been, oh just round and about. Pootling and pottering. Random and eclectic, mundane and everyday sum up my absence. A few drafts written but left unpublished. Photos taken but left in limbo on my laptop. Life.
The sunny Summer gods played a blinder – long warm days, plenty of sun and warmth. Things grew. Things got watered (sometimes), things got picked and eaten, others went straight on the compost.
There were beans a plenty, courgette and summer squash gluts galore.. Pathetic carrot crops and miserable tomato blight. Crunchy salads and peppery radishes. Soft sweet fruit. Weeds weeded. Apples picked and prepared. Paths mowed. Visits made. Friends met. Drinks drunk. Meals savoured. Walks walked.
And you missed the highs and lows, I missed sharing with you. I’m sorry you weren’t there to share my meals with me, what grew and didn’t, what happened and where I went, including a blogging meet up with my buddy Karen in London (Karen of Small House Big Garden Florida fame) , nor did you get to share in the worlds ugliest orange and courgette cake – luckily for you!
Now we shift into autumn, bonfires and fireworks, deep dark greens and glorious pumpkins. Chestnuts picked. Blustery weather to blow me along the promenade. Soaked fields to cross. Evenings creeping in. Damp fallen leaves to kick up. Autumnal sun to warm me.
I plan to stick around, blogging is a part of me and there are new adventures to share and delight in. I hope you will join me
That’s me. What about you? Busy too I guess?
Promenade Plantings 
You do come and go, and it’s always nice to have you return. In some ways that’s true of me, too, though not in a blogging sense. I live in two places requiring coming and going and that’s not always easy. I look forward to sharing your new adventures.
Lovely to hear from you. I remember the living in 2 places thing – sometimes it geta complicated and somehow all my socks and pants always ended up in one place and not evenly distributed! Ha. Life. X
I was just thinking about the other day. Apparently the brainwaves finally arrived. Your description accurately describes the affliction menacing my garden blog. My beer blog….I made time, or at least more time for that one. I look forward to your “regular” return! You have been missed!!
That’s the “problem” with a busy life with lots of interests and distractions on the way! It’s lovely to be back and have such a warm welcome, thank you my friend
So nice to see you pop up here again! Thank you for the mention/linkup, too!
Spending the afternoon with you was one of the highlights of our trip…and damn do we LOVE that Algerian coffee we bought…thanks to you!
See you in March!
Oh phew< i Meant to aks how you got on with the coffee! you will just have to stock up next time you ar ehere.
and it was a pleasure to meet you and Maggie, a real pleasure
Glad to hear you’ve been enjoying some pootling and pottering Claire. It’s actually great to read a truncated version of what you’ve been up to through the seasons. How fun to meet up with a blogging buddy! I wanna see the worlds ugliest orange and courgette cake… go onnnnnn, let us see.
PS. LOVE Mister Googly Eyes.
I did have some stick on moustaches but I can’t find where I hid them!!!!
I wanted to say the same 😉
I think every courgette should come with googly eyes Helen 🙂
Lol 😉
Oh, it sounds like you had a lovely summer! I’m glad to see you here, as I’ve missed you…though I’ve been pretty lax about keeping up with many of my favorite blogs lately.
Hi Cindy, lovely to see you too. We have the winter months to spend round our fires to chat and tell yarns eh?
Lovely to hear from you darling girl, the best kind of absence is one like this when you are just busy pottering about and getting on with a good life.. they all have ups and downs but that is the job of life.. glad you had a wonderful summer in the garden!
You know Celi, every summer in the garden is good one no matter what the weather or what crops I manage to eek out, it’s all good if its in the garden x
Beautifully written and fun to read. Great photo, too. Welcome back.
Yes, amusing post. Great to hear an account of your adventures, Claire!
Thank you, it’s been lovely to have such a warm welcome back !
Good to hear from you! Life sometimes takes over doesn’t it! Sounds like you had a good allotment summer. Hope your next post won’t be far off!
Hi Cathy, well as you can imagine there is a fair amount of catching up to do! But where to start?!
Lovely to see your post Claire. Life has this way of taking over every now and again.
Looking forward to catching up with it all when you post it.
Have a beautiful weekend.
🙂 Mandy xo
Hi Mandy and thank you – yes we had a lovely weekend, lots and lots of walks in the sussex countryside, nothing beat sgetting out and about and blown about!
‘Busy’ doesn’t begin to describe it….but you already know that…Good to see an update from you!
Do you have a moving date yet? I’m so curious as to how life i.e. your garden will be in your new place 🙂
Mid-January, we think. Right now, it’s colder in North Texas than it is here in RI!
Claire, not so long ago, I thought, “I wonder what happened to Claire” but people come and go in the blog sphere so the thought past. Good to hear from you.
Hi Glenda, I really should have put a holding page or post up so at least people knew a bit more! Lovely to be back !
We missed you, it’s lovely to see you back here! Real life gets in the way sometimes, but hey…that’s real life! Love your new profile photo 🙂
🙂 It’s a bit smart isn’t it! Probably too smart for the likes of this blog 🙂
I’ve missed your posts so much my friend, but I understand – who can avoid the real world no? Lovely to hear from you again!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
And lovely to see you my friend
Being absent for a while because of life is something we can all understand; it’s probably a good thing. I’m sure you come back with more to share as a result. I’m guilty of the same, but know that if I went ahead with that half-hearted post when I haven’t the motivation to take it further, it would hardly be worth it. Sharing is best when you really want to do it. Sounds like you had a pretty lovely summer, and I love the autumn sensations that you conjured up here.
Hi there, I think you are right about a half-hearted post, my heart wasn’t in it earlier in the summer, but it is now! And we have autumn and winter to look forward to, swapping tales and lives, it wil be fun!
Was just thinking of you the other day. Glad you plan on sticking around!
Isn’t it great when we think of each other. I just love that. Thank you and hope you have a super week
Thank you for all your local news . . . . there seem to have been an awful lot of people in the same busy situation or needing some ‘me’ time during the past half-year or so ’cause have been checking quite a few blogs on Mr Google to see whether my address had slipped in between the cracks to find they had not posted . . . 🙂 ! Lovely to read of your doings . . .
Hello lovely! And lovely to see you here too! I realise how special this blog is to me, it’s the people I’ve connected with over the years that make it special. Full stop. Hope all is well with you x
I love the change of season especially through the garden… it shifts your thoughts and mind into new ideas with new seasonal harvest to cook up in the nest. Happy transitions!
I know what you mean, I bought some allium bulbs the other day, nothing amazing but they will be wonderful in May, and I’ll get some lovely surpirses as I’m bound to have forgotten where I planted them! Thanks for popping into the promenade 🙂
Just thought of you the other day as those Nigel Slater orange cake days are coming closer…and I’m looking forward to making that delicious cake again. I’m too busy but still find time to enjoy my autumn garden…and visiting your blog 😉 Happy autumn days!
So true Annette, those orange cake days are around the corner. In fact I’m now looking forward to winter even more as I’d forgotten about the great Seville oranges, which I adore and are so special. Great to see you!
I’ve missed reading your shared tidbits! Quite busy over here with the transition from raising veg to raising a little human. I hope to read more of your writings when you’re so inclined to share.
Congratulations on your little one, that really is wonderful news to share, the best kind of news I think.
Sounds to me like you’ve been living and carrying on with things absolutely as you should. Hurray! But ever so glad to have you pop in for a cheery Hello. And I love your new ‘do—a beautiful new photo of you altogether, my sweet. So very happy you’ve had a fine summer break. Hope it’s a glorious remainder of the year!
xoxo,
Kathryn
Hello gorgeous! He, he, he my new “do” of course has a sory behind it! A very good friend was persuaded to take some proper photos – you know the kind where I’m not hiding behind sunglasses 🙂
Hi Claire! Great to hear from you and know all is well! Life is for living and taking a break from blogging (or any other activity) is just fine with me!
Hi there, it’s lovely to be back amongst my friends x
Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging – and that’s ok!
And that’ sOK with me too Tandy 🙂 Lovely to be back tho!
So glad that you paid me a visit, Claire, but even more to find this post. I think quite a few of us had a busy time this year but, with cold weather fast approaching, we’ve come back to WP to roost. Welcome home!
Thank you John it does feel like home, it really does
Welcome back Claire! I know life is just busy sometimes. Thank you for the visit! Take Care, BAM
Hi Bobbie, and thank you for visiting, lovely to see you 🙂
Pleased you’re still around and will appear again when the time is right.
I’m AWOL from my blog too, sometimes there are just other priorities.
I’m in good company then! I see you’ve been busy in the garden/croft though
Sounds like a good summer Claire! Love your new header (zucchini strips?)–very artistic!
Hi Inger, lovely to see you and hear from you. and thank you, yes a photo from earlier in the summer when we were drowing in courgettes and summer squash and I had to get seriously inventive!!
I’m so glad you plan to stick around, Claire. Yes, you were definitely missed and I did wonder. 🙂 But I’m also having quite a time keeping up, so your absence sounded familiar to my concerns. Sometimes it’s just difficult to have all the experiences that are worth sharing and then find the energy or time to write about them! We are doing well. My husband is headed into hip replacement surgery next week and so we’ve been dedicated to getting life ready for a recuperation period. I should, in theory, have lots of time to blog. And again, so good to hear from you. Your summer sounds lovely to me!
Please send my best wishes to your husband for a successful operation and a speedy recovery x
I so here you! I’m lucky now to get a post up a month. There’s just a lot of real time life to live. Nice to see you however and whenever. Cheers! wendy
Good to have you back! Looking forward to future posts.