The recent weekend saw my irritability hang around me like the clouds and the incessant rain we’ve been having. Couldn’t shake it. Except for when I ventured outside. A bit of weak Spring sun broke through the grey for a while, and the wind blew the growing green grass in the field. The dog was…
Category: Small Things
Where I reflect on the good things in the past week
Bluebells and celandine
First day of Spring, and there were bluebells by the side of the road today. They reminded me of someone who died too soon, and then led me to think of the unnattained dreams of my own heart and how short is our time here. But in spite of my melancholic thoughts, it was good…
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…
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…
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…
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 Sunrise
Every Friday, I drive through sunrise. I get in my car in softening darkness, the sharpness of night-time lingering in the air outside. The hedges and lanes are blanketed in a lightening grey. As I drive, glimmers of pink begin to streak the sky and there are glimpses of the sun’s gold behind hills and…
Fathers’ Day
Small things make a big difference, right? It’s a recurring theme on this blog and, this Fathers’ Day, it’s the small things I’ve been thinking about. It started when I was trying to find the words to put in my dad’s card (always a tricky one for us Brits – we want not too gushy,…
Life Lived 