Sunday 22 March 2015

Lots, but not much


We planned a quiet weekend. They don't happen very often. I've started with a sore throat and cough - again - and Joe's the same. I've never known anything like it. You shake one thing off and another arrives immediately to take over.

But spring is upon us and we've had some glorious sunshine. Which meant walks in the locality (no travelling allowed during a quiet weekend) and a bit of pottering outdoors.


Ambles through the village: friendly sheep who are used to passers-by. And chickens who reside behind the pub.


The whole 'slow' movement appeals to me: slow food, slow lifestyle. Things are quite literally slow for us at the moment, as Joe prefers to walk than ride in his buggy. He has no reason to hurry up and enjoys stopping and noticing anything and everything. There's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere...


I do love the way a sunny day can change your whole perspective on things. Quite the contrast from Friday's eclipse when we were plunged into eerie darkness in the middle of the morning.


We've fed the ducks, visited the chickens, chatted with cyclists and watched the steam trains. We met a greedy Shetland pony and saw an amazing sight: three kingfishers darting along the river in a line. Far more exotic than the resident mallards (but virtually impossible to photograph).


Joe's little legs have seen plenty of action over the past couple of days. I hope the fresh air helps him feel a bit better.


Blossom's appearing on bare branches. And there are signs of things to come: bluebells are putting up their leaves. Wild garlic is carpeting the woods already.


At home there was an important first for 2015: line-dried bedding. Tonight there will be hot baths and the pleasure of sleeping in sheets which smell of outdoors.


There's something about the arrival of spring which makes you want to get outside and tidy the garden and plant things. Last week I swept so vigorously I gave myself a blister on my hand. Proof of a job well done. This afternoon I lifted some snowdrops while they were still 'in the green'.


Our Alpine strawberries have gone mad so I divided some of those into little pots (and intend to give them away). Some of the herbs we assumed had perished over the winter are putting out little shoots too. Even a dead-looking geranium, shoved under a wooden crate and forgotten about, has two bright green leaves emerging.


So, a weekend with no plans has been spent doing lots of things. But little things. None of them urgent or stressful. We haven't felt obliged to visit people or to have anyone over. Instead it's been just us three. Pottering, wandering, planting, eating, reading.

A weekend well spent. I hope yours was the kind of weekend you enjoy.













15 comments:

  1. Glad you had a good time and got out and about! xx

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  2. Hey Sarah,
    I'm sat here with that lovely full up feeling I sometimes get on a Sunday evening. It has nothing to do with food, but everything to do with a weekend well spent. Ours was a mixture of doing and pottering and relaxing. It was lovely. Your animal pics are real beauties. And hoorah for Joe and stopping and looking. Olly helped me to do the same when he was younger. Now he hurtles from one thing to the other.
    Leanne xx

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  3. Loving your photos (as always). Sometimes a 'slow' weekend is essential to reset your system. It's lovely just pottering around home. Sarah

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  4. Sounds like a quite blissful weekend, although I'm sorry you're under the weather again. I do hope it passes soon. I remember well slowing down to a toddler's pace, it's quite refreshing isn't it. Things are sprouting here too, a little tarragon plant I thought was dead has sprung to life. I hope you have a good week Sarah. CJ xx

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  5. Slow is quite simply blissful! I love weekends like this. Yours sounds just lovely and hopefully it will prove restorative too. Wishing you a lovely week, Bee xx

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  6. Your weekend sounds very nice. I'm so sorry to hear you're sick again, I hope it passes quickly.

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  7. Looks perfect Sarah. I'm sorry to hear you are under the weather again ....It's having little ones, they get everything, then generously pass it on.
    Hasn't today been gorgeous.....makes you feel so cheerful.
    Jacquie x

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  8. A weekend like yours is just my favourite kind of weekends. I do hope you feel better though.

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  9. Sounds like a perfect weekend and lovely to be able to dry the washing outdoors again. Hope the colds and snuffles soon pass.

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  10. This post really feels like Spring, if you know what I mean... wonderful!! : ) I hope you get better soon! x

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  11. What a lovely weekend - I did much the same. I decided recently to slow down a bit, stop trying to do too many things in an impossibly short time space. I too tidied my garden, bit of sweeping, bit of planting, mostly looking at it from the doorstep with coffee on hand and dog side, pondering what to plant this year. Keeping it simple is sooooo good :) Have a great week
    Kate x
    www.loopandbar.co.uk

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  12. Sounds like a meander in the slow lane was just what the doctor ordered. Hope you're feeling much better soon.

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  13. line dried washing in the blustery north, sounds good! X

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  14. It looks just the right kind of weekend, not too busy and not too slow. I always loved that bit of childhood where I walked at the pace of a toddler surrounded by fascinating things, the later bit where he or she (2 of each here) always ran ahead of me was much less fun.

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