- We’ve just returned from a week in the south of England, and whether you read the post title as sarcasm or positivity, you’re right. It was a week absolutely crammed with greater and lesser screw-ups, from the misplacing of vital items (or information) to communication failures and missed meetings. Everything was of course resolved, sometimes expensively but not cripplingly so, and sometimes miraculously easily considering. More surprisingly (to me), nothing ruined the mood. Nobody got fed up and grumpy. It was all just an adventure and a really good time. Honestly, I’m not used to this. It’s confusing. But I’ll take it.
- Another thing I’m not used to: actual sunshine in a British holiday. Historically, we have the worst luck with weather. Literally every break we’ve ever taken in Great Britain has been rainy and windy and unpleasant, no matter where or what time of year. This time looked set to be the same, but reality defied the forecast, giving us acceptable days at the start of the week and absolutely glorious ones at the end. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen England looking so perfect: golden sunshine and radiant spring countryside. It was utterly wonderful.
- One more confusing but welcome novelty: returning from a holiday feeling actually refreshed. Honestly, I can’t explain how weird this is, and I really don’t know what made the difference. Obviously the kids are older and so much easier – they’re getting to be simply good company (and were completely fantastic on the many, many long drives). But even before kids, holidays have always tended to exhaust me. And this one certainly wasn’t more laid-back than others. We were on the go constantly and not getting a lot of sleep. And yet. Everyone was happy, pretty much all the time, and I came back feeling relaxed and ready to go. It’s weird.
- This does help with my ongoing stresses, but in any case, I have reached a state of Zen acceptance about all the uncertainties. Whatever, dude. Stop trying to plan everything. (We’re not buying the house. Did I mention that? Our offer – and opinion of the house’s actual value – was far too low, which is something of a relief, since we don’t want to leave our village. So the remaining uncertainties are just of the job variety.)
- I’m getting so much joy from seeing my kids take leaps towards independence. They had a week of day camp (dance and crafts) before we went away, which they’ve done before and basically enjoyed, but this time they had (best) friends in the same programme. So much happiness and so little need for mommy. I’ve coordinated with the mom of two of those friends to sign them all up for some summer holiday programmes, which is a great relief – guaranteed enjoyment.
No 12 of #52recipes (so still 7 whole recipes behind): this perfect white asparagus cream soup, from the queen of Instagram Stories. Completely delicious, though I added very little cream and it was still almost too much. Possibly because I’d left it bubbling too much and too long, so the soup was already pretty strongly flavoured.
In other recipe news, I scored a free copy of Nigella’s Feast on holiday, so I’m very excited about that and wishing I had an upcoming Occasion to cook for! …Not really. I’m definitely still in need of some quiet time. But I am excited about the book.
Woolly thoughts (and fuzzy logic) 