1. I take a seedling census so I know what I still need to plant and I’m pleased with the results: lots of healthy seedlings.

1b. With a little shuffling and an additional shelf made from a piece of wood, I manage to fit in dozens more extra plants.

1c. The cats all sit in odd places during the day: what is the fascination with sitting in bare soil today?

2. The sun dapples the woodland. Lily looks beautiful in the clearing.

3. I finish the coloured squares and begin with the grey borders. I measure the first: it’s just the size I need it to be.

1. A lift to the studio from my lovely neighbour.

2. I don’t particularly like my work in my class today – it smudges and skews too much. I try putting it on end – making a vase out of one piece and a … thing out of the other – which improves it — but more importantly, offcuts from making the latter inspire the rest of my afternoon.

2b. Pleasant curves appear from nowhere.

2c. I finally, FINALLY glaze a project that’s been hanging over my head for months. Who knows if I’ll like the finished piece but at least now it’s finished.

3. I eat a snack on the balcony. Kaufman, at my feet, and the neighbour’s cat a floor below want to share my ham. It’s good ham and I want it all to myself but they’re too cute to resist.

1. A morning in the garden (or at least in the greenhouse). The pleasantly repetitive nature of potting on (I could never be my dad – pricking out thousands of tiny lavender seedlings – but a couple of dozen aubergine, chilli and courgette seedlings are enjoyable.)

1b. Strange stretches out in the daffodils.

2. R pops by with good (or at least improving) news and once that’s established, we nerd out about stars.

3. An afternoon at the allotment. I work on my herb beds in my original plot – between weeding and covering the soil with pine needle compost, they’re starting to look rather smart.

3b. More weeding at the other plot: there seems to be more strawberry plants in the bed now it’s not cluttered with bittercress, rosebay and dandelions.

3c. I’m without my canine companion today – it’s a bit warm, and she’s still sleepy from the weekend. But that means I get a cat joining me instead. She starts meowing at me cautiously from the other side of the plot but then comes over for a purring hug.

3d. The weeds I bring home for the chickens look unbelievably green. They create a thick edible carpet in the run.

3e. Blacksy the chicken waddle-runs after me as I walk over to where I keep their seed.

1. Despite having to pack up, clean up and “enjoy” an … amusing altercation with the woman next door, we still manage to get up and out in good time without being rushed.

2. The first seals we see are young pups, born last autumn and still wearing their pale fuzzy coats. Another colony is more active, slithering down into the sea and coming over to investigate. We sit just a few metres away from a big group: they sniff the air and looks at us questioningly – us strange creatures that pull up in strange contraptions every few hours and stare at them for a few minutes, then go away. I wonder what they make of it all.

2b. A cormorant walks around less than gracefully, making me laugh out loud. Similarly, a puffin takes off from the water, stumpy little legs hanging back from its round body.

2c. To imagine what life would have been like living in the light houses, or to be a fisherman, out at sea when the waves were/are considerably less forgiving than on a still, spring day.

2d. We all wobbly on our legs when we return to solid ground. Lily surprises me by not vomiting on the pier. John too.

2e. We’ve had better fish and chips (they’re not bad, just we’ve had better) but the donuts and coffee from the van on the harbour are surprisingly good.

2f. We drive along to the sandy part of the beach. It’s not far over the sand dunes and I think Lily knows what’s waiting for her. Again, she helicopter-tails down to the water and plonks herself in. She much prefers being in the sea rather than on it.

2g. We find a tennis ball at the shore line and though she’s never been a big fan of doing it (and certainly not in her older years), Lily fetches it for throw after throw. One fetch leaves her drips wet from head to tail and we laugh at how much she looks like a slick seal. Later, we find an oversized tennis ball at the high tide mark: it’s a little too balloon-like for Lily but it amuses us.

3. The row of solid chimneys and the graceful wind turbines in the foreground.

3b. The field’s furrows flicker from dark to light as we approach.

3c. Dancing to the Detroit Cobras in the tunnel under the airport runway.

4. Everything has grown in the short time we’ve been away and our world is greener again.

4b. I didn’t see Kaufman before we left on Friday so I’m glad that he’s waiting for us when we get home. It takes a little while for the girls to appear but when they do, they seem glad we’re back too.

4c. Lily is, at first, very excited to be at home and she checks everywhere (and every creature) for new smells. But soon, the day – the drive, the sailing, the sea splashing – catches up to her: she makes herself a nest with some cushions and a blanket, and curls up to go to sleep.

1. A walk to the shop turns into a beach stroll around the Heugh. Lily ambles along beside us for some time until she suddenly spots the water and runs towards it. She sits down with a satisfied pant. Later, she tries to chase stones that we skim across the flat surface.

1b. The distant islands are so indistinct that they blur into the sea, making it look like the horizon has gone a bit wobbly.

1c. I buy some local kippers for lunch, from just down the coast at Craster. We enjoy the Game of Thrones related puns.

2. Another walk later in the day. We’d planned to go towards the castle but the wind deters us. We look at it – and seals, and the islands in the distance – through binoculars again instead. The island on the horizon is barely visible with the naked eye but with the lenses we can see the windows on the buildings. Magic!

2b. I can see it so clearly that I can almost feel the texture of the seal’s fur. The sun makes another’s whiskers sparkle silver.

2c. The clearness of the water at the shore, the blueness beyond.

3. The brownie is a blondie tonight and it is delicious. The best bit about the whole meal.

3b. Until a sudden cloud hides them from us, we stargaze from the back garden. We both see things we’d not seen before and come back inside with a fresh sense of excitement.

1. It’s a bit of walk to the north shore but it’s worth it: one of my most favourite beaches in the country. Walking through the dunes, Lily is happy enough but when we reach the beach, it kicks up a notch: she helicopter-tails the whole way out along the golden sand and sits triumphantly in the clear water.

1b. The churned up sand glistens like glitter in the water.

1c. John and Lily enjoy rock pools in their own ways. I sit and watch the sea.

1d. A little green troll hand sticking out of the sand. (It may have been seaweed.)

2. We pick up sandwiches and milkshakes from the post office and eat in the sun in the garden. Afterwards, I crochet and snooze on the grass. Utter bliss.

2b. I take Lily out to the Heugh, on the south of the island and, looking out over the lake like water, I see seals ducking and bobbing in the water. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them in the wild and I can’t describe how amazing it all is.

2c. After fetching John and the binoculars, we gaze out at the islands and watch dozens of seals sunning themselves on the shore. The swimmers are now staying over that way too but every now and then one comes closer and we watch their slick heads and bodies undulate through the water.

2d. I hear a familiar noise – a quadcopter flying high over the harbour. John is as transfixed by that as I am by the sea mammals.

2e. A heavy mist rolls in the alarming speed. First Bamburgh Castle disappears then the seals on the islands, then Lindisfarne Castle huge bulk disappears too. We feel it surrounding us – my sun baked arms grow goosebumps, and see it floating around the walls of the old priory. We feel like we’re in a John Wyndham novel. We’re not alone in noting its strangeness – the chef from the pub fetches someone from inside to show them the phenomenon.

3. The people in the pub are lovely once again.

3b. After dinner, it’s too misty to look at stars so we happy three curl up on the sofa and watch a film. My stack of crochet squares grows.

3c. We watch a couple of episodes of the 1981 Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy TV series. We note that the language is to us like Shakespeare is to others: the words, cadences and rhythms are part of us in a really base way.