One week down

Ahhhhhhhhh Monday morning, and we've survived the first week of the Summer hols :: one week down and only six more to go.

Last week, as I think I mentioned, we had J at home with us. It was a week consisting of very little in the way of plans, a week of taking each day as it came and muddling through. It was easy going, relaxed, quite lazy at times and due to the very unpredictable nature of the weather we found ourselves housebound for quite a lot of it, waiting for the rain to stop, hoping for grey skies to turn to blue. Some days it happened and we saw sunshine, but for many days it did not.

Because of the weather, we  predictably ended up with a fair number of extra children in the house at any given time of the day, with the number of pairs of shoes in the hallway giving me an instant headcount of visitors. Lots of surprisingly noisy games of hide and seek went on. Lots of thundering up and down stairs (boys can never just walk up and down stairs can they?).

And while the Little People did their thing, J and I spent the first half of the week attending to some very long overdue domestic chores and took on a bit of a clear out and sort out. Some rearranged furniture, some new storage solutions, a great deal of reorganization  and an incredible amount of junk turfed out and recycled/slung. It was quite a theraputic way to spend a few wet days indoors, if a little dull and unholidayish.

We took to eating quite a few of our meals picnic-style last week, all four of us sat cross legged on the floor around the little battered wooden coffee table. The Little People just love to eat this way, and I can remember feeling the very same when I was little, there's just something intrinsically happy and carefree about picnicking, even if it's done indoors.

Our normal, sensible, bowls of school-day cereal were replaced with holidayish warm chocolate chip brioche rolls. Fresh orange juice replaced water. The Little People thoroughly approved of this holiday breakfast routine. Smiles and chocolatey fingers all round.

In amongst the predominantly grey, wet weather of last week, we did experience some wonderful little spells of sunshine. Small pockets of summertime, small moments to be savoured. And on these mornings it was a delight to sit myself on the warm front step, coffee in hand, my face upturned to the sun, listening to the sound of the Little People and assorted neighbourhood children playing up and down the street.

Ahhhhhhhhh the sounds of the summer! Shrieking, yelling, excited children doing their thing. Wheels and balls, bubbles and chalk, blankets and dolls. Some squabbling too, tears as well, but mostly good natured play.

I tried very hard last week to feel positive about the weather, to feel OK about the endless droplets of rain that fell. My garden is loving it, plants are thriving. The countryside is looking green and lush and beautiful. Plus it made it reasonably OK to stay in pyjamas all morning, which quite honestly is a real bonus for the likes of me as I love love love wearing my pyjamas. Really. I am wearing them right now in fact, just so you know.

And yes, it wasn't all grey and wet all week, like I say, there were the odd pockets of sunshine...I took the above photo late one afternoon after it had been raining most the day. I had made myself a cup of tea and looking out the kitchen window I noticed that as if by magic, all the rain clouds had been blown away by the wind and the grey skies had indeed turned blue. I took my tea out in my little back yard and really, truly enjoyed that little snippet of summer weather before it too got blown away. You have to grab it while you can. Grab it and savour it, enjoy the moment.

 

As we did the day before yesterday too :: a spontaneous little mid afternoon outing to our local reservoir, when the sun was shining and blue skies were above. We parked the car at the boathouse then walked the footpath right around the water, stopping at this spot to spread a blanket and brew a cup of tea. Chocolate biscuits. Peaceful and tranquil, well thats if we can ignore the squeals of the Little People as they hurl stones into the water and see who can make the biggest splash.

Ahhhh summer holidays, I do have to say I love em for the most part, even in variable weather.

Here's hoping I'll feel the same at the end of week seven.

Ever hopeful, thats me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Comments

[Jo]

Oh I have so jealous of you summer blue skys, not so much the rain :). We've had our fair share of rain here, but spring is coming.

Great job on decluttering, we've started here too, in anticipation of our spring clean.

Have a lovely week, here's hoping for more sunshine.

xx

[Nina - Tabiboo]

Deep breath - thats woken me up with all your fresh blue sky pictures!

It's been a mixture here too and last week was the same with tidying and sorting though not that heavy on the slinging out - I'm a very bad hoarder. Plus a little bit of illness thrown in for good (Summer Holiday) measure!!

Have a lovely day or week and here's counting the weeks down with you!

Nina x

ps. I'm sat in my pj's too!