The first early darkness of GMT in the studio/work room. We have installed winter lights. 4 years in, living in this house, and the yard is where we want it to be. Even last year the yard did not spark joy when illuminated in winter but the curious weather of 2025 gave us an enormous growth spurt of our container and climbing plants from September until now. We picked a fresh strawberry yesterday and there are still tomatoes ripening.

The loss of natural light in the afternoon is sad but an urban jungle illuminated  by festoon lights is going to be something to look forward to as my afternoons get darker.

The upstairs room above the studio has a deep window seat, a fabulous place for reading books. Largely ignored in the winter it will become the favourite place it often is in Summer.

The window seat also has  really heavy curtains so it becomes like a glass walled hide-out.

Of course seeing our winter yard in the dark, gives a different perspective and already I have spotted a corner where another container tree  might find a home. A Mimosa perhaps?

All this and I didn’t even turn on the old mortuary neon light!