Autumn Sun

The glorious October sunshine radiating through our windows throughout the week felt at odds with the mood within our home. L spent the week bundled in blankets on the couch, while outside birds sang, the trees began to change colours and the sun shone. Being sick is no fun, but it always feels worse when the weather is beautiful. I started prising her off the couch, away from her crochet and audio books, to come and sit outside in the sun with me, just for a little. In the warmer afternoons I coaxed her around the pond, through the green leafy archways at the bottom of the garden and up to the lake where we watched fish leap and tourists ramble across the castle grounds. But I couldn’t keep her outside for long and wrapping her arms around herself she would quickly return to the sanctuary of the couch. So I made a plan to kidnap her and in Sunday afternoon's sunshine A and I paddled her around the lake in the little rowboat. She sat there half exasperated with A and I, as we languidly navigated our way through the water lilies while singing along to wedding music from the castle. It was The Skye Boat Song, the song I used to sing to them when they were little. And though L wished our bonnie boat to speed a little faster, we took our time, holding her captive in the most beautiful prison.