Saturday 9 April 2016

More Savoring Needed

The girls and I have had two weeks at home with our Bloke mixed in with family weekends and I felt a bit guilty (not like me at all) that we had not used our time wisely but then I looked on the memory card in my camera which changed my outlook.


We all went on an egg hunt with old friends and their families followed by drinks and chip butties in the pub - a really great catch up with cliches like, "I can't believe they are growing up so fast!" "Are you still teaching Jo?" "Did you make that?" etc.


I have found an unlikely new pastime, burning brash. We have spent two days at the farm clearing woodland areas to allow new spring growth. We also put the smashed up bits of the old cabin to burn and took the rest of the good bits down in preparation for the new.


The areas we cleared last year are thriving and you have to sort of look past the carnage and dream the green of the following year.


Little M and I wondered down to the pond in search of frogspawn and were not disappointed.


I even spotted some toad spawn which I had never seen before.


We visited Berrington Hall National Trust to learn about the Georgians. I was intrigued by these paper sculptures and admired the artists knowledge of pattern cutting. They represented people who had lived in the house.


There was a phenomenal local embroiderers exhibition in the rooms on the top floor which were a delight. 

We also visited Sunnycroft National Trust on another day which similarly has a stitching link as the spinster who finally lived there was one of the embroiderers for Queen Elizabeth II coronation robes.


We had family maintenance duties; both children needed new PE footwear, there were gift book tokens to spend and hair cuts needed. I only succeeded with one there, I have a strong willed little girl who will not have her hair cut. Big Sis loved her first ever proper pair of chosen trainers so much she made a little drawstring bag for them on the sewing machine to keep them clean. Little M made a purse for storing her still gargantuan stash of chocolate mini eggs which she is eating eight at a time!


We welcomed two new chickens into our family and received our first beautiful egg from them.


We had friends to play, my girls went to others to play, we bickered a bit, we baked cakes, we dug the allotment, I snatched many moments of knitting, sewing and crochet on April shower days, I gave up on tidying the house and we watched more TV than we normally do. 


I read a book! Us by David Nicholls,I hardly ever read anymore, it was fantastic. Bloke reads every night (The road Home) and reading with the girls has been a joy for everybody over the last two weeks.

So I think I should just chill out and stop berating myself, we have been having a wonderful time all along, maybe I just need to savor these moments a little more. We might round off the holidays with Sunday Lunch out tomorrow - that sounds good.

What have you been up to?

Love Jo x

12 comments:

  1. What a fabulous Easter holiday ( which is really weird this year as different LA's have had different school holidays). You all look as if you've had a really good break interesting and varied as usual. Glad to hear you have new chickens and what a pretty egg. I know you don't eat the shells but they always seem to taste better out of a pretty shell (total bunkam I know).

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  2. Your hols sound nice, I feel like a jibbering wreck after two weeks of hols.we've done a minimum of two parks a day, visited friends, eaten out lots and done cinema trips. Loved it all!

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  3. I would love to help you burn all your wood....I love a good bonfire ! Nice time had by all then. Sweet that your little one has made a bag to keep her shoes nice. Mine are all in their original boxes.

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  4. It sounds like you spent your time well :)

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  5. It sounds idyllic, with lots of lovely moments for you to treasure.

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  6. Not a moment wasted that I can tell, Jo :) Thanks for sharing some highlights of you holidays. The paper sculptures are especially interesting to me, and the fresh egg from one of your hens is beautiful. I was also interested in the toad and frog spawn...and thinking we could probably see some at our ponds, too, if we looked. It is great that you are preparing for the new cabin! Are the frogs noisy at the farm during Spring? At some times, usually in early Spring, the frogs make an amazing volume of sound here! I end up reading more study type reading than stories lately, and am ready for a good story with a happy ending :) Hope you are having a fine finish to your holidays and that you launch into a happy week. I am gathering some photos to show you some of what I have be doing. xxxx

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  7. It sounds like you have had an amazing Easter break! All these times we spend with are little people are precious as they won't be little forever! I don't think the particular activity matters

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  8. Oop accidentally published too soon!! Meant to add 'so long as us adults are able to spent quality time with them (which is something i sometimes find hard to do).'

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  9. No berating my friend, little ones have to have a lot of down time, and it seems like even though you think you did not do much you did a LOT! I think we schedule our kids to much, they need time to just play, read, make lovely purses and bags and just be.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  10. I have been feeling similar guilt this Easter - too much time dragging the kids here and there on errands, or us all having to stay in for some reason - but when I look back I think they (and I) had a pretty good holiday. Your comings and goings are so like ours, it makes me smile. x

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  11. Please don't berate yourself, it looks like you did a lot of fun things together! I understand how you feel, though. I always spend a few days of any break just vegging at home. I'm already looking forward to doing that for the first couple of weeks of our summer break, which starts at the end of May. :)

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  12. Don't berate yourself too harshly, as you look back I think you always find you have achieved more than you thought. It looks like you accomplished a lot in he two weeks break & family time is so important xx

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