Getting the summer holiday balance right, and accepting compromises
Working from home allows me to have fantastic flexibility during the school year. It gets a little harder in the holidays – combining fun, work and chores is a real juggling act. This week, it feels like we’ve got the balance right. I’m not saying it’s all been peachy, but as first weeks of the holiday go, it’s been a good one. The kids have had fun, been to few places and seen friends – and I’ve managed to get work done in my spare moments. Not as much as usual, but enough.
The main compromise is that the house looks like a pigsty – I don’t know how anyone maintains a tidy house in the school holidays. However, I doubt the boys will look back in a few years and say, “hey, remember than summer when the dishwasher didn’t get emptied and there was cereal on the floor everyday? Gosh, that was a big disappointment, wasn’t it!”
Spending time in the city
This week my eldest son has spent several mornings at a summer club in Cambridge. Which has meant we’ve spent more time in the city than usual – which has actually been the prefect fit for a week when they weather’s been more than a little unreliable. We’ve popped into museums, had lovely lunches out and visited all our favourite shops. Ok, well, mainly just Tiger. The boys love it in there because their money goes a long way. And I just can’t resist the lure of bright shiny things.
We’ve invested in some brilliant things to take on our summer holiday. We’re traveling through France by train, so we’ll need plenty of things to keep the kids amused on the journey. As usual, Tiger have aced it with their offerings!
Jewel-like flowers in my garden
We haven’t spent much time in the garden this week as it’s been very wet. However, while we’ve been shut indoors, the garden has been putting on it’s most colourful clothes. The pretty pastels of early summer have now given way to bright yellow, orange and magenta. In between the showers I’ve been out there gathering these treasures to brighten up the house. When it rains, you have to make your own sunshine.
This week I’ve also been…
Cooking… from Hugh’s Three Good Things – a book full of delicious meals that are great for those of us who like simple shopping lists.
Reading… a most intriguing book called Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce. It’s really very good and I’d highly recommend it.
Watching… In the Dark on the BBC and the Handmaid’s Tale on Channel 4. Both gripping stuff.
What have you been loving this week?
I’d been looking for some new blogs to read, and did a Google search with ‘country lifestyle blogs’ as my search title, and yours came up. So here I am, and what a pretty, highly readable blog this is.
What’s been making me happy? Cooler days.. oh I know so many people hate them when it’s supposed to be summer, but cooler days suit me fine. Buying a new wooden bead meditation necklace. Starting a new book and being inspired to look at Hugh’s cook book, and deciding to buy it. Now looking forward to trying the recipes!
Thank you for a lovely read.
Hi Maggie! Thank you so much – I’m so happy you’ve been enjoying it! I hope you love the Hugh book – everything I’ve made from it so far has been delicious and really simple to make. I’d recommend the lentil and bacon soup…and also the aubergines and chickpeas! x
Love lentil anythings, so will definitely be trying that soup. Enjoy your holidays!