Autumn shades of amber grain

Autumn is upon us. It's 6.45am and only just becoming light and a coolish 10 degrees. Summer is withdrawing her favours but her beauty is still apparent with cloudless skys and little wind. The oyster catcher chicks on the beach are flying but are still a dull black without the brilliant red feet and beaks of their parents and the shining cuckoos' call can be heard no more, presumably on the journey back to the Solomon Islands like a rat from a sinking ship. Frivolous bird, expecting summer all year round!

I love the changing of the seasons here. They are soft renewals without violence. You just get used to one then another nudges you awake and reminds you of a picnic on the sand or dinner by the hearth or birth or decay.

The cold, clear mornings also bring the john dory onto the beach. Disorientated in the shallow water, they are left high and dry by the receding tide and grace my table with their succulent flesh.

Ahhh... a life well lived.