Blue moon at the farm....

 I recently spent a week 'house-sitting' at our family farm, while my Mum, youngest sister & brother-in-law were at Pinehurst in North Carolina with Will, my youngest nephew who was taking part in the US Kids golf final there. It was a brilliant achievement for him to even qualify...he's only just 7...and in the end he finished 32nd out of 131 children from 51 different countries. So proud of him...and he made lots of new friends and had great fun, which is the main thing when you're 7!

 It was also good for them all to have a change of scene after the past few months..and years..of my dad's last illness and recent death. And I got to spend time in this magical place...

 Evenings were my favourite times...work finished, chores done, animals fed....time to rest my arms on this gate and drink in the beauty and the silence...just a few red kites mewing overhead to break the spell...

 This old house holds 35 years of memories for our family...happy and sad....growing up angst, baby joys, new puppies, illness, laughter, dancing, weddings, divorces, emigration and death....it's all here, embedded in the old walls which already hold hundreds of years of other families lives...

 The apples are plentiful this year, already hanging heavy on the trees...

 The sun just glows on the deep green grass....I was standing by the old walnut tree to take this picture. It's where we love to sit on hot days, shaded by the boughs...

 You can just spot Will's shetland pony quietly cropping the grass ..

 ...and here is Jock, who was born here...I was there when he came into the world...

 The dogs, as you can see, were terribly stressed without their owners...!

 Dear Millie and her faithful companion Cora....delightful dogs (I left Alice at home with Paul...five dogs is too many! But I visited them both every day...)

 The driveway is like the road to serenity...when you arrive home at night and close the gate behind you, all is right with the world...

 And my brother-in-law's ancient cat, Moses, is always around somewhere...in warm weather, he loves to soak up the last of the days heat from the tarmac...

 On Friday, the last day of July, I watched as the blue moon rose...

 ...the last blue moon until 2018....

 ...so beautiful, it demanded many photos!

 The other very special thing for me about that week on my own at the farm, was that I wasn't really alone of course....as well as the dogs, the cat, the cattle, ponies and sheep....there was someone very special there with me...

 As I sat in his chair in the evenings, watching the light fade from the sky, looking out onto the views that he loved best of all...

I felt my darling Dad all around me. He was in every room, around every corner....just out of reach. But ever present. Keeping watch over me, and over his beloved home. As he always has...

I hope you are having a fabulous summer...now going fast! Make the most of August...

xx