Forgve me its been 5 months since my last blog.......

Hello

Well its been a hectic few months in this household we've been at the beach alot - the garden has come and is almost gone - not much in the way of autumn colour here or conkers or coloured leaves unless you count crispy brown as a colour. Living in Orkney the winds during the end of September early October are fierce - because of the equinox - therefore we have as they say in these parts:

Leaves on
(Gale force winds)
Leaves off

Its a pity - I never realised how much I would miss the autumn somewhere with such issues at this time of year. Also relatively NO or little blackberries (I love brambling and force the children to do it whenever we are near somewhere at the right time of year). Whilst I am not a fan of cooked brambles in pies, etc., the smell is heavenly!! It so reminds me of growing up in Oxfordshire at one of the bases my Dad was posted too.

Anyway - gardens doing great - not many misshaps although I have been away alot in the summer and relied on friends alot to come in and water tomatoes etc. We got a lovely crop and made alot of sauces for the darling daughters pasta addiction. We have had a French student how was with us for 9 weeks - which was lovely - she did a blog when she was hear with many photos of the garden and the island and the link is here (I hope it works!!!)

http://amelieinorkney.blog4ever.com/blog/index-333026.html

We now have a new student in the house from Germany - she's lovely and we are getting along very well. Its almost time for the October holidays and a trip to Edinburgh is on the cards for the weekend - we will catch up with a few chums and generally do lots of mainland things (eat alot of stuff - visit the botanic gardens in edinburgh and just drink in the autumn colour then).

Work has been quite tricky - I discovered I was dyslexic in late June and its had all sorts of impllications for my PhD study (you'd think to be honest I had an infectious disease!). We've just got lots of IT equipment and I am learning to write and re-read several times to try to make sure what's on the page is what I think I have written. I have been reading up alot about dyslexia and its really interesting - it's so broad, its often genetic (2 dyslexic children should have perhaps been a giveaway eh?) and it effects (or affects ? - that's one word I have always had a bother with!!) people in many ways. So slowly I am finding out about the way I think! Scary.

I am going to try (try) and keep this blog up as its a good place to update myself on things, bore some folks and somehow or other relax back into writing. I get so wound up about writing now, but I use to love it. So I need to do some for enjoyment!

I have learnt so much from the moneysaving site www.moneysavingexpert.com and slowly I am seeing such a change in our finances. Our debts have come down so much in such a short space of time I am amazed (having the lodgers helps of course!).

Dearest daughter has an invitation to audition for the Scottish Youth Orchestra (go her) in November. Dearest son is going to his first ever rock concert in Glasgow in November - its me and him and my OH - we are going to see Muse at the SECC - we are flying down and its a real treat for us all. I think I will need earplugs.