I am not ready for Summer, not just yet. May is a month where the freshness of Spring begins to slip away and the heat of the Summer begins. Today was certainly one of those days. Already I feel the loss of the quiet, gentleness of the morning light in Spring, even waking at 6pm I am confronted by day. I love of the months of March and April how to wake early you are waking with the Sun, and to sit in that diluted light sipping quietly the first tea of the day as you gently awaken into the new day is such a warming experience. As I said, come May and the light is already there to awake to, a more urgent lighter harsher light that hastens me into my day. Anyone else know what I am talking about? The harshness, the starkness to the midday sun of Summer.
But I wish to take a step back from the present, perhaps two steps. It is strange how time moves at the moment, and stranger how easily I feel we have adjusted to this new rhythm of our days. When the country hit pause, how many weeks ago now?!, I welcomed the change. I know this is a strange and difficult time in so many ways, but I can also see so much good in it too. Talking to those near to me I am fascinated by the reactions I see, a real divide in some people hating this experience and others finding the joy and relief in a chance to slow right down. And yes I fall into the latter category, slowing our life down, a life that from the outside would probably already seem slow, but one I felt dragged along by all the same. Last year I read a book, 'Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking'; I am an introvert and that book spoke so much to me. I feel introverts have to live in an extrovert world, but now all of a sudden I am an introvert getting the chance to live in an introverted world, no wonder I feel more at ease with life. Our days have filled again, just in a different way, and time has moved along so that Easter was nearly a month ago now, how has that happened?!
We took the Easter holidays as holiday with no homeschooling for those two weeks but settling into the changes lockdown presented and making sure the girls felt happy, safe and understanding of the new situation. Really we hit the ground running in the garden (a blog post all on it's own) and made sure the girls got out for a walk around the island at least once a day, making the most of the good weather after one of the longest hardest winters I have known here. Highlights to Easter were:
-the girls painting all the eggs they were allowed too (plus painting them so that they stuck in the egg cartons and we had to crack them straight from the egg boxes..)
-walking from Highertown beach around the coast to Old Quay at the equinox low tide, exploring all the way
-still being able to get some hot cross buns from the bakery and taking them down to a lawn overlooking the beach to eat them al fresco.
-staying up late baking a proper cake for Easter Sunday to surprise the girls with
-having our traditional Easter egg hunt around the garden
-the girls being given an Easter egg each by a very kind anonymous person who wanted to make sure all the children on the island did manage to have an Easter egg this year
-being given a beautiful bouquet of flowers from our local flower farm
But I wish to take a step back from the present, perhaps two steps. It is strange how time moves at the moment, and stranger how easily I feel we have adjusted to this new rhythm of our days. When the country hit pause, how many weeks ago now?!, I welcomed the change. I know this is a strange and difficult time in so many ways, but I can also see so much good in it too. Talking to those near to me I am fascinated by the reactions I see, a real divide in some people hating this experience and others finding the joy and relief in a chance to slow right down. And yes I fall into the latter category, slowing our life down, a life that from the outside would probably already seem slow, but one I felt dragged along by all the same. Last year I read a book, 'Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking'; I am an introvert and that book spoke so much to me. I feel introverts have to live in an extrovert world, but now all of a sudden I am an introvert getting the chance to live in an introverted world, no wonder I feel more at ease with life. Our days have filled again, just in a different way, and time has moved along so that Easter was nearly a month ago now, how has that happened?!
We took the Easter holidays as holiday with no homeschooling for those two weeks but settling into the changes lockdown presented and making sure the girls felt happy, safe and understanding of the new situation. Really we hit the ground running in the garden (a blog post all on it's own) and made sure the girls got out for a walk around the island at least once a day, making the most of the good weather after one of the longest hardest winters I have known here. Highlights to Easter were:
-the girls painting all the eggs they were allowed too (plus painting them so that they stuck in the egg cartons and we had to crack them straight from the egg boxes..)
-walking from Highertown beach around the coast to Old Quay at the equinox low tide, exploring all the way
-still being able to get some hot cross buns from the bakery and taking them down to a lawn overlooking the beach to eat them al fresco.
-staying up late baking a proper cake for Easter Sunday to surprise the girls with
-having our traditional Easter egg hunt around the garden
-the girls being given an Easter egg each by a very kind anonymous person who wanted to make sure all the children on the island did manage to have an Easter egg this year
-being given a beautiful bouquet of flowers from our local flower farm