- Beach Walks…
Our Week In Pictures
Tag Archives: family
Bank Holiday England
We had typical English bank holiday weather this weekend by the sea – super-windy, with spells of bright sunshine and more than a spot of rain. But of course, with true British spirit, we didn’t let it spoil our fun. We made the most of the shiny new car’s people-carrying properties and took my parents-in-law (visiting this weekend) to a nearby seaside town where we had fun at the fair and a bracing walk along the prom.
This evening my father-in-law (a cruise veteran) and I, armed with binoculars and my iPhone, invented a new pastime – cruise-ship spotting. We identified first the Queen Elizabeth and then the Crown Princess as they in turn sailed past our stretch of coast 🙂
Rediscovered Mojo
I’m inspired to blog again! Driving home from dropping C and J off at the football course they’re doing this week, I put the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack on (loudly! I love the rare treat of being in the car on my own), and as I belted along with Miley I felt my mojo come back – yay!
Last weekend I came across a box of old CDs in the loft and I’ve been enjoying rediscovering old favourites – the Bluetones, Belle & Sebastian, Squeeze, REM – in my solo car time this week. I still love the old tunes, but I’m not always up for being pulled back into the old moods and feelings my unconscious mind associates with the time when those songs were the soundtrack of my life. Of course they were mostly happy times, but I love the wisdom and experience that comes with age and I wouldn’t go back to my 20s for a million pounds! So it is without apology that I write about my enjoyment of Miley Cyrus’s upbeat, well-produced songs, that evoke nothing but joyful memories of singing along with them in the car with my beloved children!
I don’t know where my mojo temporarily disappeared to. We had a lovely week at the beach last week, the children playing out with their friends from breakfast til bedtime. Perhaps I just had too much time to think 😉 I tried not to panic; I reminded myself that the sunshine of wellbeing was still shining brightly somewhere out there, even though clouds were temporarily obscuring it from my view. Yesterday I was ill and being forced into survival mode (no energy to do anything except relax in a sun lounger, yes it’s a hard life, I know) seems to have interrupted the over-thinking. Today, more relaxing in the garden; it’s good to enjoy the sunshine while it’s out 🙂
Cousins
We’re just back from a lovely day at my in-laws! It was my brother-in-law’s birthday and he was there with his wife and sons who, at 9 and 6, get on great with J(5) and C (7). I have two gorgeous first cousins, but as the oldest is fourteen years younger than me, the closest we’ve ever came to playing with eachother has been board games at Christmas. Meanwhile, although they see each other twice a year at most, soon after getting together, C, J and their cousins were excitedly exploring the ins and outs of each of Granny and Grandad’s upstairs rooms and collaborating on the important business of dam-building. (Evidently hot work for C. I, of course, was wearing two jumpers, a coat and scarf!)
Shoes are, yet again, newspaper-stuffed on the boiler!
To The Coast
I love where we live. We’re close enough to London for the capital’s culture to be part of our lives, yet an eighty minute drive through some of England’s prettiest villages brings us to the beach. Best of all, my wonderful brother and sister-in-law and their scrumptious 10-week-old son live around the corner. (Though my brother and I were born five years apart, our lives have shared many synchronicities, one of which is that we moved to the same town – 150 miles from where we grew up – within weeks of eachother.)
We came to the coast today to look at a house we’d like to buy. It’s been a while since I’ve felt such strong desire for a material thing, but as with any desire, I know the key to its manifestation lies in feeling good. I spent the journey to the coast listening to Abraham-Hicks recordings and focusing on good feeling thoughts, and sure enough by the time we arrived I was less attached to the outcome of the house situation and looking forward to a nice family weekend by the sea.
The rest of the day unfolded beautifully. My brother spontaneously decided to come surfing, after which we had a delicious fish and chip supper with him and his family. As regards the house – a call this afternoon from a friend put us in touch with a cash buyer for our current property, leaving us in the perfect position to make an offer on the new one. And the children’s shoes are, once again, drying out on the radiator!
