It has to be acknowledged that sometimes, we fall out of love with our lives. Sometimes, our daily grind just doesn’t feel all that captivating. Sometimes, it is bloody hard work. Sometimes, other people’s lives appear altogether more enthralling, more attractive, more colourful. Sometimes, though, it’s easier than you thought to fall back in love…
Category: Lifestyle
Comfort
We have needed comfort in our house lately, with long bouts of illness and fatigue getting the better of us for weeks. For the children, that means pyjama days, hot water bottles and chocolate. For me, it’s comfort reads and comfort foods, naps on the sofa whenever possible and plenty of fresh air. Four Comfort…
Christmas Reflections
For us and our children, Christmas is complicated. It stirs up deep emotions about family and past traumas, about love and pain. For our children, these deep, complicated emotions tend to show themselves as huge behaviours, which seem at odds with the supposed sweetness of the season. For my husband and I, it adds an…
It’s the Small Things
“It’s the small, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay…small acts of kindness and love”, says Gandalf in Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Whatever our privileges, our lacks and losses, our talents and our flaws, we all experience darkness in our lives sometimes. This summer, as I look at other people’s social media…
Small Things
A few notes on the small things I’m thankful for this week: *Spotting: Butterflies and Moths In a week when the cool, rainy weather took its toll, and the children and I grew fractious through lack of routine, the few sunny spells were brimming with butterflies. In our garden, we saw peacocks, painted ladies, red…
After the Rain
It rained a little this evening, that gorgeous, soft, summer rain. And afterwards, the air was fresh and the plants and birds were that bit more alive and my own tired body felt brighter, the skin on my face fresher, the smile about my mouth easier. There are always the hot, hard work days, and…
Small Things
I’m a collector, really. I like to look around me and gather close the little moments. I find snippets of life and colour and hold them to my chest for all they are worth, and thank the Lord that there is still goodness in this world. Things like the smile of my baby niece, and…
When
When you’re tired, the kind of tired that others simply won’t understand unless they’ve been in your shoes, there’s one thing that can drag you along, body and soul. When you’re dissatisfied, or wondering if what you have is enough or what you’ve done is enough or who you are is enough, the same one…
Collecting Colour
Sometimes, we need a good dose of colour, and this Spring, I’ve been collecting it. It feels like no coincidence that at this time of year, after months of cold, grey weather, nature produces all these little bursts of brightness. We’re not through the cold and dark yet, not really, but early Spring offers us…
Books, books, books
I’m going to be controversial: I have a hard time enjoying World Book Day. I know, I know, it’s great to encourage a love of books in children. And it’s so much fun. My main issue with it is that my children struggle with sensory issues and don’t like changes to routine, so the pressure…
Small Things (or, More Observations Made in my Car)
“We were made for nothing more than this, finding magic in all the smallest things…” That’s from Ed Sheeran’s song, Celestial, which seems to play constantly on the radio in my car. I like how he juxtaposes huge, heavenly images like stars and sky and clouds with this one little line about the smallest things….
Driving Through Sunset
“Against the gradually darkening sky, the branches of the tree traced a pattern of twigs and leaves – a pattern of such intricacy and delicacy that those standing below might look up and wonder why the world can be so beautiful and yet break the heart.” From Alexander McCall Smith’s The Saturday Big Tent Wedding…
Life Lived 