A Summer Whirl – August 2021

I’m sitting in one off my all time favourite places, The Bishops Palace in Wells, Somerset. I’ve bribed the girls with ice cream and am hoping for a few minutes of peace. Despite the trees being in full, mature green leaf, and the flower beds an abundant display of reds, golds and purples, it feels like the giddy hot peak of summer is waning, and we are entering another seasonal change. How has your summer been thus far? Ours seems to have been more than usually hectic. I think this might be because we’ve been trying to squeeze a year and a half of seeing people into a few short weeks. Also, having felt under par for so much of last year, it’s great to have all my energy back and I’m catching up on the many jobs left undone over said period.

We ended our home ed term way back in June, even before midsummer’s day. Lanky Dude and Rhythm Dude ended their respective university and college years, both with excellent results, and we then had about a month of holidays. Firstly, a trip first with Granny, down to the New Forest area. It was so special to share some of my favourite old haunts with her, to see my lovely sister after far to long a while and to giggle and laugh together.

Next was our annual home ed group camping trip. It was wonderful to be amongst friends, old and new, after so many months of restrictions. My cup was overflowing, as we talked together, laughed together, cried together and prayed together.

Next we had nearly two weeks up in Northumberland, stopping in York on the way up and with cousins in Staffordshire on the way down. Northumberland was beautiful…so much wide open space, so many sheep and amazingly not too much rain. We stayed in a very relaxed farm camp site, surrounded by sheep, but with a multitude of local shops a stone’s throw away. Easy camping.

August is usually a slower paced month for us, but these last few weeks have been full; many great catch ups, three belated kids’ parties but also a never ending “to do” list. Lanky Dude has been working at the same engineering firm he was at when during his gap hear. There are less staff now, and he’s been given a lot of responsibility, opening up by himself some days, and setting the machines working. Rhythm Dude is working at our local butcher’s shop, making hundreds of sausage rolls, pasties, kebabs etc and learning lots of other useful skills. I’m very glad they’ve both found work within small business, giving them an insight into how these run. Their band has also played at several different events, and they’ve also been catching up with friends, so they’ve been juggling too. It seems we’ve swung from one extreme to the other over the year!

I’ve been busy in the garden and kitchen, in my continual strive towards a more self sufficient life style. I’m learning some new ways to preserve food, that doesn’t just involve the freezer. It’s satisfying but time consuming! Our pigs are growing well and I’m super grateful for the very experienced and efficient pig group we are part of this year. Our bees once again left us for more attentive keepers; one day we’ll do enough to persuade them to stick with us. However, given how busy we’ve been, I’ve not missed them too much. Sparkly Eyes spends hours with the chickens, whose eggs we enjoy most mornings.

There is much going on in the home ed world too, which I’ll write about in the next few posts. As we start thinking about next term, I’m going to focus the next couple of posts on the different ways I prepare for it; both practically and spiritually/emotionally.

In the meantime, I’m going to do my best to carve out a bit of time each day to be still, to read and to gaze at the clouds. I’ll let you know how I get on!

Thank you as always for reading and subscribing to my jottings and ponderings. I appreciate each one of you, and an especial welcome to the new folk here. I hope you all have a good week and are able to do some cloud watching too.