This is my last day here in Berkshire so Mum and I went to do what my mother loves most – going around a garden centre.

This is our local garden centre – Squire’s Garden Centre, Wokingham.

We had a trolley and did our best to fill it.

I was fascinated.

Flowering primroses (how are they flowering this time of year, I do not know – ours only arrive in late April) were for sale which made me smile inside as I have a whole bank of them at home growing wild.

Their primroses….

My primroses earlier this year.

(I like mine best)

We sped around, outside first and then indoors, with our trolley when I spied this little chap.  He has an “honest face”.

I did not buy this white cat for OH, despite his position of Chairman of the Monster Mutual Appreciation Society.

Inside and Christmas had well and truly arrived – yes, even on 5th November which is leaving it quite late by England standards.

Yes, I bought this little chap for Mum despite wanting him very, very much for myself.  He has a excellent expression.  Sadly, there was only one wol, though Mum has promised, when she goes again (and she will) to keep a look out for another one for me.

There was an absolute dearth of sheepie things (they are missing a trick, there) but a plethora of Scandinavian tomte/nisse (not my cup of tea).

Anywho, we trudged with our Christmas sledge around and I even managed to start my Christmas shopping.  Flying home tomorrow.

I went for two walks today.  The first was with my mother and her dog, Teddy.

We went out at 7.00 am onto the municipal golfcourse that surrounds the house.

The sun was just rising and it was very still and beautiful.  Definitely worth the effort.  I don’t get up at 07.00 easily.  It’s just not right.

The rest of my day was spent wading through more family memoribilia, slides, photos, art and newspaper cuttings. I found a few treasures too.

My time here is drawing to a close – I go back home on Wednesday – so I need to get on top of things while I can but I needed a break and while the sun was setting, I went for another walk.

I am perhaps more than a bit obssessed with the trees and their fallen leaves.

We just don’t have trees like this in Shetland.

Katharine Faraday Boyd was born in 1879 in Hampstead, London, England to Philip and Lucy Boyd.  She is my Great Aunt, on my mother’s side, and played an important role in the family.  Although I never met her, she died 2 years before I was born, I was always told about “Aunt Kate”.

Great Aunt Kate wrote a daily diary from 1894 (so she started when she was 15 years old) until the day she died at 81.  This is amazing and I now have 67 years’ worth of personal diaries about to be sent up to Shetland.

There are a couple of years missing but I think I can live with that.  They may turn up somewhere else or actually may have never been written (though, I doubt that).

The writing is teensy-tinesy and there is a weather summary for each day written on the side.

The writing is small because the diaries (mostly Letts) are also ridiculously little too.  About the size of half a passport.

Great Aunt Kate led an extraordinary life.  She lived through two world wars, volunteered helping refugees in London and Belgium (received an OBE and a Belgium medal), went to the Slade School of Fine Art (the Henry Tonks era), looked after her younger sister when her mother died very young amongst many other achievements.

I am not quite sure what I want to do with the diaries at present. I have a feeling I should transcribe them, or some of them, because the history will be fascinating.  So that’s a project for the winter, and possibly many more to come.  Realistically possibly the rest of my life will be spent trying to decipher teensy-tinesy writing.  Am I mad to want to do this?

07:00 dog walk, I walk out of the garden gate and guess who I see? A beautiful roe deer just standing there.

I watched him a while trying hard to take a photo without looking like I was actually moving or taking the picture.  Of course he leapt away and then stopped again to look at me.  This time I made Lambie/Muzzah noises and we just watched each other for a long time.

Eventually I had to leave as Mum and Ted were well on their way with the dogwalk.

The weather was looming in a threatening way.

We upped the pace and walked fast round the agreed route.

Still, the morning first-light had it’s moments before the rain well and truly arrived so I took the opportunity to take photos of the beautiful old oak trees.

This is a “stag oak” for which the house is named.

From the National Trust website – “There is an old saying that ‘oaks grow for 300 years, rest for another 300 years and then slowly decline for a further 300 years’.”  So this tree is over 600 years old.  Wow!

Anywho, I am glad we got home before the torrential rain started.  I hope I see the deer again. He was nice.  I wonder if I could bring him home too (strokes chin), though I doubt Lambie would be too impressed.

Yesterday, Mr Foxy had two lovely rainbow trout skeletons plus the fish heads.  He was a very happy chappie.

Today, poor lad, he had two rotten tomatoes, a peeled over-ripe banana, a breadcrust (brown, of course, to keep Vulpes vulpes healthy) and two lamb chop bones with no meat left.

An interesting fact, foxes are not impressed with tomatoes – see how he throws it away but keeps going back hoping it is not as bad as he originally thought.

A robin was very happy with the fruit.

Another interesting fact is that both these films were taken is broad daylight and Mr Fox arrives in under a minute.  He knows. He is watching.  He is always there.  Just in the background but there.  I am very tempted to put out food, sit down and see what happens (though I won’t of course).