I am looking at it all through rose coloured glasses now, though. I have stopped worrying about projects, and there are so many things that have simply fallen from my plate at work into someone else's hands. What if I'd just told them ages ago that I was too stressed out? It's not my nature to plead mercy.

I am coming back to being myself though. For the first time, I am wearing skirts to work. I no longer care about blending into a male-dominated sector. I have proven myself and proven that I am practical and pants-wearing and you know what? I can be practical in a skirt too.

Back from holidays, the cats are needy. Evenings we walk across the road to the gravel pit and pick wild blueberries - six litres over two nights. I also gather ripe purple juniper berries for soap. Canning Okanagan peaches late into the night - 18 jars and counting. Fabric arrived via mail - many quilts planned for winter. By day, I sit in front of dual flat-screen monitors, phone jammed between my ear and my shoulder. By night, I retreat to pre-industrial living.