Indeed it has. It’s been a busy few weeks. I spent ten days with Magdalena in Haute Savoie. The weather was glorious (less so in Utrecht on my return). The sad news is that the artisanal cheese factory (or “fruitiere”, as they are called locally) had burned down. The owners are continuing to sell cheese and other products from a truck nearby, at cheaper prices than in the supermarket, so we can still enjoy tomme, reblochon and abondance. I had hoped that the autumn colours would be clearly visible so that I could do an autumnal painting of the village to complement the summer one on this website, but they are only beginning to show. Higher up, at the Cirque Fer a Cheval, where we went last Sunday, they are a little more visible, as you see in the picture, but it’s still early days. Sunday was my birthday, which was celebrated in style, thanks to Magdalena, her son Michael, fiancée Astrid, little Arthur, Gérard Zerah and his companion, and her grandchild.

Back in Utrecht it’s time for making Christmas puddings. I bought the ingredients in Dublin earlier in September, and I prepared the mixture last night. Right now three puddings are steaming on the cooker, and are nearly halfway through the cooking time of 8 hours. It’s one of the signs of oncoming winter, along with the shorter evenings, which interfere with my paintings. At the weekend, Magdalena and I plan to visit a sick friend in Paris and also to see a special Van Gogh exhibition in the Musée d’Orsay.

Next week I go back to Nairobi.