So, it’s autumn. The rose hips are red and the leaves are gold. The swifts went weeks ago, and the swallows and housemartins disappeared between Sunday and Tuesday. And so will this blog – for a while.

As a nation, Scotland is embarking on the big adventure of the referendum this week. All the facts we can get are in, it’s down to the final quiet thinking. I’ve said my bit, I think we can make independence work if we want to, and now it’s up to everyone to say if we really want to do this. With 97% of the electorate registered to vote it should be a representative turnout – which means that whatever the decision we reach, it will be one worth respecting.

But as a family we are off on an adventure too. Several of us are planning to move house. Some of us have found, or are planning, new jobs. One of us is going to retire. All of us are facing change and upheaval, and, though it looks like it will be better when the dust settles, a lot of my time is going to be spent helping and supporting everyone through it, and the blog will have a short sabbatical. There may be intermittent posts (there are still 17 herbs to cover!) Work on The Territory of Rain and the garden will continue – slowly – and the book behind the herb project is just begiining to take shape in the shadowy depths of my mind. But there will be no regular postings until the new year.

See you then!

Let friendship and honour unite,

and flourish on both sides the Tweed!