1. Another nice day so I take Lily for a (slightly) early walk. We walk the long way, along the top of the quarry, and as I turn out of the woods near the ruins of the POW* camp, the sky – for a moment – is a gorgeous rich red. John calls to say he’s on his way home and when I look up again, just a couple of minutes later, the colour has faded to a more usual gold.

1b. The air is truly autumnal: smoky and chill.

1c. I’m surprised by the sudden appearance of a dog at my side and it takes me a beat to realise it is a young, slimmer springer, not our old girl. Until the end of the path, the dog runs between her mum (some way back) and me & Lily. She wants to play and eventually, grumpy Lil joins in.

2. I’d meant to turn the pots I threw last week but things got in the way and now they’re stiff leather hard. They’ll have to make do with a delicate bit of scraping and a wipe.

2b. I make a quick little felt vessel to remind myself how to do them (someone has asked me to show them): it felts surprisingly quickly and before long, I’m fine tuning its shape.

3. When I take off my jumper, the cool washes over me and I realise how uncomfortably warm I had been.

* an army training camp turned into an Italian POW camp in the later years of the Second World War. Our woods do have a fantastic, varied history!