The Fall Report

You know I once hated this season. I’m a summer girl; bright sunshine, long warm days, cloudless skies. But I’ve slowly started liking Fall. And this year in Bergen, surrounded by auburn and marigold colored leaves and spiralling sycamore seeds, I decided Fall was beautiful too. Some of the sunrises; getting ready to cycle to work, dawn breaking. And the glorious evening sunlight bathing everything in a rich, buttery glow. There were still so many days of lovely weather, too. But you started to feel the shift, that it might be warm in the day, but evening’s cold air would creep in sooner and sooner. And during the week of my half-term break, it was clear what season was in charge.

I left Bergen in a light sweater. The tiny plane was approaching the end of its laughingly short 35 minute journey; the winding Broads below, a blue curving ribbon across a rich green landscape, punctuated by forest and churches. As beautiful from above as it is below. The plane touched down to soaked tarmac, heavy showers and an impressive rainbow. I got out and wished I had a winter coat. The change was clear; this was Fall proper. The house was cold, the dogs were warm, cuddly and at least as over-excited as me.

It was a week of freezing-cold mornings, those kind of days with sun so bright you needed sunglasses inside, and a biting easterly. Normal Norfolk stuff. The dogs and I mucked about, chilled out and enjoyed a well-earned break from pesky eight-year-olds. Maya took me for long drives through places with unpronounceable names, listening to hip-hop with unprintable lyrics, the dogs sleeping through it all. Grey skies, merging with the landscape, muted, peaceful. Like the soil was resting, the roads breathing a sigh of relief after the mad whirl of summer. On one drive, we passed two birds-of-prey perched over a dead deer in a fallow field; like a frosty safari.

It was November four years ago we moved into this house. Standing in the kitchen, watching birds at the feeder, clouds hurrying past, leaves falling, messing up the lawn. I thought of all the things that have happened, all the places I’ve been, its incredible how much you can squeeze into four years. And yet, some things never seem to change. I raked leaves, the sun sank lower, Suzi munched on a mini log-bone, Prune snuck into the shed and sniffed the air from in there, some more leaves fell where I’d just raked. The last of the geese flew off overhead, a tractor rumbled past. All was well in The Hyde, and normal in Norfolk.

I left on Sunday, saying bye to the house again…
And that’s the full Fall report for now, and a few photos of snack-time to finish.

And now it feels more like winter, I’m still getting used to the big change in temperature here! (Lunch duties aren’t that fun anymore). Enjoy Fall, or winter or whatever they call this… xx