Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. This is my favourite time of year and our house is beautifully decked in autumn splendour. Berry wreaths and bowls full of pine cones; no towering ironing pile, no doggy nose prints on glass doors, or cat hairs on sofas. There is a lingering smell of apple crumble and home baked bread, soup simmers gently in a pan while several demijohns of elderberry wine are bubbling away in the airing cupboard. But what has brought about this amazing transformation?

The thing is I had a diary full of back to back courses planned - as did several other tutors at the local adult learners centre - but low turnout at enrollment evenings means that the majority of the courses on offer are not running after all. At least not yet. So (until my other Confidence courses start on 5th October at the Community Centre) I've got some lovely, unexpected,free time.

Having three dogs, three cats and a hen means I can't really opt for a duvet day, so I've been very productive - growing veg, preserving fruit and cleaning anything that stands still. I'm dashing around like Wonder-woman and (surprisingly) loving it!

I'm not sure how long it'll last before boredom sets in, but at the moment my husband thinks all his Christmases have landed at once. He's even been helping with the cooking, stirring sauces and mashing potatoes.

This afternoon we climbed the apple trees and gathered up the windfalls. We brought in a basketfull and then went off to Harvest festival to sing "Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home" and our community choir did a very tuneful version of Rutter's "All things Bright and Beautiful" and the lovely Psalm 23 to the theme tune of The Vicar of Dibley...

I love the seed-time and the 'Harvest of Produce & Promise' but even more I value the annual reminder of the 'Harvest of Souls' when all God's people will be safely gathered in. The Lord of the Harvest is always near - just waiting for an invitation into our hearts and lives.

Today was Back to Church Sunday - an annual project aimed at inviting those people who have drifted away from church and would love to rediscover that relationship. The theme this year was 'Come as you Are' but if you didn't make it this morning you can still respond to that invitation anytime and anywhere.

Why not come to church now and avoid the Christmas rush?