Sue Woodcock: Delight in autumn's splendour

Life seemed rather quiet without him and Boo the pup misses him because they played together loudly and with great enthusiasm.

Some weeks I get to see quite a lot of Yorkshire. I was asked to speak to the Yorkshire Country Women's Association over at Poppleton. I drove past the huge school several times before I realised that it was a school. Modern and very impressive, the youngsters who go there are very fortunate. There must have been at least 400 ladies there and I will admit I felt a little awed. Thankfully there was a microphone. The talk over, I had a pleasant drive back home through the lovely scenery. It was a very happy afternoon and I met some great people. When I got home Boo presented me with the remains of two kitchen rolls which she had been shredding while I was gone.

During the week I took the three older dogs to the vet for their jabs and check-ups. Then it was round the corner for me to have an eye test. I do need new glasses and spent a little time selecting frames and when I had done so realised they were almost identical to the ones I already have. Fashion isn't really my thing and I am not too fond of change either. It was an expensive day because I settled the bill with the generator mechanic on the way. The filming for the TV programme is very intense at the moment as we have reached the semi-final week and have voted, leaving only two sets of contestants. All of them have put on shows and entertainment and have done lots of things for the village. I do seem to have spent hours being filmed. I shall be glad when it is all resolved.

I was a little hurt the other day when a woman who I had previously held in respect announced during a public conversation that I was not always truthful in what I wrote and accused me of lying. She quoted my reference to seeing the hares boxing in the spring, adding that there had not been any hares up here for 30 years. If I hadn't seen them I wouldn't have written about it. Such comments really only merit being ignored.

I went to Ilkley this week too, to a Blue Ribbon Luncheon Club meeting at a very posh hotel. I had a delicious lunch and sat next to a fascinating gentleman who had been in the wool spinning business after leaving the Royal Engineers. I enjoyed the drive home. The trees are absolutely glorious at the moment, between Skipton and Rylstone there is a deciduous wood, mainly beech, beside the road. The leaves glinting in the afternoon sun looked like a flame seen through amber. Everywhere the views are exhilarating. Looking over at grass woods from the other side of the valley the vivid spectrum is like a technicolour dreamcoat.

Heading up the dale to the weekly quiz I spotted what I thought was an injured pheasant beside the road being attacked by a stoat so I pulled over in case it needed putting out of its misery. I walked back and yes it was a pheasant but it was very dead. What I had seen was the stoat trying to drag it onto the verge. I assisted it by putting the remains of the bird out of harm's way. Back in the car I watched until the stoat emerged and pulled the carcass into a gap in the wall. Clever stoat!

The evening was fun, raising quite a bit of money for charity and when I drove home there was a low mist making the drive rather slow.

The weather is very varied and so are the temperatures. It is truly a "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" if the berries on the hedgerows are anything to go by. The birds around my barn are pinching all the food they can get including several cock pheasants, one of which actually challenged me the other day in the feed store.

Then came the wind and the rain, mainly sideways, causing little streams to appear and run down to the mire. Even this has its beauty, especially for the ducks and geese that congregate in them and splash around.

The house is nice and snug when the fire is lit in the living room and on such miserable days I can find plenty to do inside. I need to get in the coal and the logs and do the washing up, then I need to hunt for the remote for the TV that Boo has hidden somewhere if I want to relax later.

CW 6/11/10