Sunday 31st October
Day 193
They say that tonight, All Hallows Eve, is when the veil between this world and the other world is at it’s most fragile. Easy for the spirits - both good and bad - to pass through.
They say that tonight, Samhain, which means Summer’s End in old Irish, marks the beginning of the dark half of the year.
Still, my husband comes home in the fading dusk - when yesterday it would still be the afternoon - bringing a bunch of sweet peas from the allotment. Their petals are bruised with rain drops.They carry a faint perfume and a memory of all the colours of July - lavender, rose and fuschia.
I draw the curtains against the night and put potatoes to roast in the oven, and on the shelf below a plum and apple crumble crunchy with hazelnuts.
And I think about my father who has been in bed all day with a dizzy head, who can’t get to the loo or the phone. So I wish I was one of those spirits who could slip through the shadowy border and visit him with a cup of hot chocolate - and still be home for supper.