Autumn

We are back home since a few weeks and have been busy tidying up. The garden was in good shape thanks to Mohamed who has been watering the plants and trees regularly.

The storks few over last week heading for their Yemeni winter residence announcing an early autumn. Last night we had rain for the first time and the temperatures have dropped. It is now warm instead of hot.

In a month or so we will be picking olives. The harvest will not be as rich as last year's which is to be expected. Last year's crop was exceptional. We have enough olive oil left to get us through another few seasons.

After Ramadan, the wedding season started. Sometimes we have 2 or 3 parties going on at the same time and this is only for this tiny village. A lot of new babies are expected by next summer.

We have plans to re-shape the garden a bit. Some trees have to go and others to be moved to another spot. This is ideally done in autumn after the trees have dropped their leaves and before the heavy rains have started.

Zakaria is being a handful every day and I'm starting to like the idea of sending him to pre-school next year. For some reason he doesn't want to leave me for more than 15 minutes and when he is with me we are arguing a lot. In fact, he likes to challenge me. I can see in his glistering eyes it is a game and when he loses he crumbles away in a corner sobbing.

I don't mind him staying home until he is 6 like most of the villager's children , but then he will have to become less energy absorbent.