Balance, greetings and sand.

1. In the scrape, a robin balances on the broken clay at the water's edge.

2. There is a friendly feel to the lower cricket ground today, with people calling out greetings to each other through the hazy autumn air.

3. A couple of days of fine weather after a night of heavy rain and there is already fine dry white sand on the paths.

Workers, visiting a mosque and aspirational.

1. The ants in the compost heap who stopped me from turning my garden waste earlier this year, have  gone, leaving a fine soil, ready for bulb-planting time.

2. We find out from a school WhatsApp group that our town's mosque has an exhibition on -- part of Heritage Open Days. It's always instructive to see behind doors that are normally closed to you; and this exhibition is particularly good, with a 6th century botanical text, and a 15th century engineering text, both lavishly illustrated. A boy a little older than Alec shows me each one. ‘But wait, it gets better’ — and it really does. There are also models and photographs of major pilgrimage sites -- which is interesting for me as I've been writing content about travel vaccines for Haj and Umrah. And we are welcomed so warmly by people we know from school and our neighbourhood.

3. For Sunday evening, a lightweight sit com that is so aspirational we don't even need to consider aspiring to the lifestyle it depicts.

What happened overnight, dull letters and in the freezer.

1. Even on this well trodden path near a road, where last night a tree made a pool of dark, a badger has turned over the soil searching for worms.

2. On the mat a few dull letters.

3. To find fancy ice creams in the freezer -- ready for the weekend.

Fifty-minute wait, autumn at the greengrocer and timed just right.

1. A coffee, a brownie and a structural edit loaded on to my Kindle.

2. Passing a greengrocer. Victoria plums AND Kentish cobnuts.

3. We come to the station just as my mother's train pulls in.

Clearing, follow and lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds.

1. On Sunday the pond water was cloudy from the heavy rain. Today the sediment has settled and the water stained with last year's leaves reflects the canopy.

2. I follow my own footprints on the second time round the field.

3. Finally, after supper, we are allowed to try Alec's lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds.

Getting things done, games and evening's work.

1. Our neighbour's voice over the garden wall asking me if I'm there -- I can tick off my gardening item; and my social contact item. 

2. I find Alec adding games that he thinks I will like to my computer.

3. Between us, we bake a lemon drizzle cake after supper.

Sunday morning, wet day and separating eggs.

1. No one else is awake, and I can do exactly as I please -- which is sitting on the sofa with a magazine.

2. It rains hard and persistently for the rest of the day and I feel pleased that I got into and out of the woods early on.

3. Teaching Bettany how to separate eggs by holding the yolk and allowing the white to run through her fingers -- she is making soufflés for supper pudding.