Discussion, omelette, and to bed.

1)  An interesting discussion with friends about juggling (and yes, we even tried proper juggling) and finding balance in our lives.

2) Our milkman has started delivering eggs as well as milk, and we’ve taken advantage of this. Lunch was a delicious ham, cheese and chesnut mushroom omelette.

3) Zumba tonight was hard work (I assume I was just more tired than normal), but the walk home was refreshing, and I’m off to bed now 🙂 .

Morning, more time, and extra hour.

1) A morning to myself – I got all sorts of things done, and ticked off the list.

2) After lunch we went to the new Helix Park. While K and M went for a rollerblade session together, A and I went for a run. Afterwards, A said that he hoped we would do this regularly – that this way he gets to spend more time with me 🙂 .

3) The prospect of going to bed knowing that, as the clocks go back tonight, we’ll get a whole extra hour in bed tomorrow morning 🙂 .

Walk, chat, and bed.

1) My friend and I went for a good long walk this morning. It was dreich and drizzly, but we went anyway, and I was glad we did.

2) A stolen moment to chat, when K called from Bangkok.

3) To finally realise that I’ve finally done everything I needed to do, and can now go to bed 🙂 . Night night x

Half-skating, sunset, and warmth.

1) I hear shouts of laughter and look round to notice two lads, with one pair of roller boots between the two of them, arm-in-arm, half-running, half-skating down the road.  They were clearly having lots of fun!

2) This evening’s sunset was beautiful. I especially love the dusk sky – a clear blue, with highlights of purple and pink and gold.

3) We put the winter-weight duvet on the bed yesterday. I am so looking forward to snuggling down into it again this evening 🙂 .

Solas 2013

We’re home from another fantastic weekend at Solas – the creative arts festival we’ve been going to for the last three years. We’ve loved it each year we’ve gone, and it certainly didn’t disappoint this year.

Some beautiful things from the weekend:

1) The new location – a lovely venue, set in the middle of Perthshire. The campsite was well-run, and our surroundings were beautiful.

2) Some fabulous music, good discussions, a cooking demo (using local ingredients), and some fun songs and stories.

3) The children’s programme was, as usual, really excellent. Our kids spent a wonderful four hours making shelters, making nettle strings, toasting marshmallows over the campfire, and other fun things with BEES.

4) The kids slept in until 8am on Saturday morning (a very rare occurence!).

5) Meeting up with friends we last saw a year ago.

6) Time just to wander, and soak up the atmosphere.

7) A wonderful communion service on Sunday morning, accompanied by some beautiful singers – I could have listened to them for hours.

8) While there were several short, very sharp, rain showers, but somehow we never actually got wet the whole weekend. Not only that but the wind picked up in time to perfectly dry our tent before we needed to pack it away!

New project, to bed, and refresh.

1) Today I cast on a new project. I love starting new projects; the anticipation, and then starting to see something I’ve envisaged taking shape.

2) To finally put a very tired small girl to bed, after a very exciting and busy couple of days. She did really well at her dancing display, but I’m glad it’s over for another year!

3) A long refreshing shower, after an evening spent in a hot changing room.

An upside-down weekend.

With A away for the weekend, we wanted to spoil M a little – she was missing her big brother a lot 🙁 .

1) We made doughnuts for breakfast on Saturday, using my Nana’s recipe. They tasted as good as I remembered them tasting, even though we didn’t have a silver thimble to make the hole in the middle, and had to use a tiny cookie cutter instead.

In the evening, we went out for dinner, and then a walk along the canal. It was all very grown up, even if M did forget to bring her coat – she looked very cute dancing along in Daddy’s fleece though!

2) During the day, M helped me make Lemon Drizzle cake and Malteser slice, for church youth group on Sunday. We had a beautiful walk at Plean Country Park too – the rhodedendrons were blooming, and were glorious.

3) At Youth group this morning, we had a visit from a couple who spent 17 years living and working with a tribe living in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. During that time they translated the New Testament into the local language – quite a feat, considering the language had never been written down before!  It was an absolutely fascinating talk – I could have listened to their stories for hours!

4) A arrived home mid-afternoon, having had a wonderful time at camp. My brother came over, and we took advantage of the lovely weather and had a barbeque for dinner. Two tired children are now in bed 🙂 .

Waking up, sunset, and not really awake.

1) A lie-in – a lovely way to start the day.

2) In the evening, I sit looking out the window at the beautiful tree, gloriously robed with white blossom, and framed by an incredible sunset.

3) A child appears at the door, sleepily rubbing her eyes, and claiming she can’t sleep. Everything about her indicates she’s been deeply asleep. I put her back to bed and snuggle her back down. She’s asleep within moments.

Outside, spring, and… relax.

1) The kids were working happily away on their projects this morning when I pointed out that it was actually quite nice outside. I think it’s been so horrid for so long that they’d forgotten about going outside to play.  They didn’t need to be told twice – they tidied up, and were out (bike and scooter) within minutes.

2) M suddenly jumped up when she spotted friends passing by our house… we went out and had a chat. There’s finally a sense of Spring in the air.

3) To curl up in a warm bed, with the candles lit, and the music playing.