We came awfully close to a frost this morning with three degrees and some suspiciously crisp dew on the ground when I went out at five to let the dog have a pee. Fortunately not a real frost or I would have lost my tomatoes. Hopefully it will be a little warmer tonight, though, apparently not much warmer. The air today also had a distinct autumnal chill which is quite wrong for this time of year. And some rather lovely mists crawling along the ground.

I got busy fairly early today, with the geese and chooks fed by 6:30, some weeds pulled in the garden and 2 kg of cherries pitted, ready to make brandied cherries when I returned from the dog trials. They are now sitting in a sugar syrup, weighed down and waiting for the next stage in the recipe which will happen tomorrow night.

The dog trials today were pretty quiet. Some regular competitors were at a dog auction which had the poor taste to coincide with the trials, and others were isolated by the flooding they have had up north. Still, those who were there had a good day - it was the beginners classes today, so not too many sheep got yarded, but the dogs had a good time I guess.

Catering was fairly full on - spent the day making sandwiches, washing up, clearing tables - just like being back at Uni really. And I rashly volunteered to make two pavlovas for tomorrows lunch. What's that? I hear you say... Yes, there is another day of trialling tomorrow. Who knew ... And I am helping with the catering tomorrow too. After all, I am 20 years younger than most of the catering crew and if they can do it, so can I (she said, gasping with exhaustion ...).

So the first pav is in the oven, but it is a complete disaster as I forgot my recipe and added far too much sugar. I am tempted to pull it out and put another one in right away, but it is holding its shape so I will see what it looks like in an hour's time. I thought I could pop the second one in the oven tonight, then turn off the oven to let it cool overnight, but since it seems i am probably now going to be making three, I may have to whack another in the oven in the morning, then leave it cooling while we do morning tea and come back for it when we need it. Bother.

Meanwhile, Eleanor was supposed to be calling out to drop off some veges, which she duly did, but found a note on my door telling her where I was and called down to the recreation grounds. She insisted on driving me up to the house which, by the time we got to her car, then walked from the car to the back of the house involved rather more walking than popping over the back fence and wandering up the lane. Oh well. So I now have a fridge full of veges - most of which will end up in the stew I will also need to put on tomorrow night.

Who said life in the country was quiet? They were clearly wrong. If it were not for pavlova duty, I would be heading to bed fairly quick smart, but suspect I will be up till about ten waiting for the second one to cook so I can turn off the oven. Or maybe I will try to work out how to get the oven to turn itself off - I am fairly sure it has a timing function on it somewhere ... so wish me luck!