Elderwick Almanac — High Summer: The Evening Entry

The Elderwick Almanac: High Summer — A Cosy Story
By Cecily Ash

Cecily Ash has kept the walled garden at Elderwick most of her life, and writes its almanac by lamplight at each day's end.

Tonight we follow her in from the garden — lamp first, then the stove, then the green ledger with its ribbon at the summer pages. Moss the cat has claimed the sacks, one white ear turned toward the door, while outside the brick walls hold the day's warmth long into the dark. This one is a quiet, unhurried sit by lamplight: shallots drying on the frames, the first codlins gone into a pie, swifts screaming round the chimneys at dusk. Then out into the blue evening for the watering, can by can from the sun-warmed tank, while Ned's whistling fades up the lane. It's less a story than an evening you're allowed to borrow — one cultivated place, turning gently through its longest days. Perfect company for drifting off.

Thanks for keeping this open for all of us. Sweet dreams.

— Ian & Alex