Dear Annie,

When I began writing this notebook I didn’t have a face or a name to write it to, just a hope and a prayer. I suppose I wrote it as a kind of call to the universe; I hoped that the act of putting my thoughts to paper would work as a summoning spell, to guide the right person to the Nook. And here you are.

I hope you don’t find these notes too fussy. In many ways they are as much for me as they are for you. I began writing them back in the spring, when I knew I wouldn’t be spending another winter here. I did not know who would be guardian to my little home, but I hoped for someone just like you. I am lucky that way; fate has a way of knowing what I need and when.

Please don’t see this as a list of rules or compulsory tasks. It is simply a guide to the things that make living here easier and, dare I say it, more pleasurable during the winter months. Adherence to it will also make my restoration to the Nook in the spring—should I decide to come back—a smoother affair.

Feel free to add to these notes anything you find useful. I am not too proud or too old to learn new tricks, though there is every chance that I may forget them as fast as I learned them!

You might want to get in a few provisions for the bairns on Halloween. The locals know that I won’t be here, but some might come down anyway for the sake of tradition.

Don’t let the seagulls bully you. Show them who’s boss, or at least that you are their equal. They are beautiful birds when you get to know them.

Above all, take care of yourself, my dear. I think you need Saltwater Nook almost as much as it needs you. I may be an old woman but I see more than most. Fate brought you here for a reason. The rest is up to you.

With Love

Mari

Annie flicked through the pages. September seemed to be mostly battening down the hatches: checking the paint on the outer shutters of the old tearoom, cleaning them of bugs and dirt that might have gathered between the panes and the shutters. A general tidy-up around the garden: Cut back any of the tender herbs you might want for drying. The woody herbs will be fine to harvest as you wish throughout the winter, though you might want to pull the sage and thyme tubs up to the porch for shelter. Cut back the lavender when the flowers have begun to dust the pebbles like lilac confetti.