Slow Living

It is always lovely to look back and reflect on what you have done over the previous weeks or months, taking stock, observing changes and celebrating achievements.  Even better if you can join together and see what others have been doing too in their part of the world, blogging is a wonderful way of making the world a smaller place.  Christine over a Slow Living Essentials hosts a monthly link up of reflections here are mine for May....

...nourish this month has been all about eating outside whether at home or out and about.  If the weather is warm enough in the morning we have breakfast outside our back door, it just started to be by the end of the month.  We have picnics all year round, in the cooler months these tend to be eaten inside at museums etc.  Now we are enjoying them outside and it is fun to come up with ideas to ensure that we don't end up with sandwiches several days a week.  We have been eating pasta, rice or couscous salads, homemade pasties, veggie 'sausage' rolls, tarts and of course rolls and sandwiches!

...prepare as you never know when you might need a picnic lunch I have bulk cooked some pasties this month and put them in the freezer.  I have filled them with a spicy lentil mix and a spinach and feta mix.  They freeze fairly well although the spinach pasties are a little soggier on defrosting!

...reduce with the weather warming up it was time for me to sort out the children's clothes and work out if they needed any more.  I never actually put away their autumn/winter clothes as it has been known to be cold all year round in these parts.  My eldest had only one pair of shorts but several pairs of trousers with holes in the knees.  I have cut these as near as possible to where they are worn and sewed a hem, now he has several pairs of shorts!

...green I have posted before about trying to remember to drink enough water, I really struggle with it.  Life gets in the way of me remembering too.  I was talking to a friend about this and she recommended drinking 1.5 litres or 3 pints of water on waking up, then eat nothing for an hour.  During the day she was drinking a further one or two pints and never with a meal/food.  I have been trying this for the last month and boy does it work!  On the occasional day that I forgot I felt terrible, really dehydrated, groggy and tired.  The days I struggle with it are the ones when we have to be someone very early and I can't wait an hour before eating but it seems to be ok on the rare occasion I have done this.

...grow we are now heading towards our growing season it is very short, just a few months, so it feels like you have to devote much of your attention to it, to ensure any results.  May has been about caring for seedlings and a small amount of sowing.  I have always been tempted to plant my seedlings out in this month but it isn't really warm enough.  Night time temperatures are often just above freezing between 0 - 5°C, far too cold for tender seedlings.  I have kept them in the polytunnel for the whole month.  The only sowing outside has been potato chits and onion sets which have both survived the cooler temperatures.

...create it was my daughters birthday in May so I was busy making presents for her.  I made some  dolly clothes for a wee dolly I made her a couple of years ago.  I attempted to follow a pattern to make a dress which ended in disaster (it was completely the wrong size/shape) so I used a dress that I  knew fitted to make a pattern, and I wrote a tutorial so I could remember what I did for next time.  I also made a skirt.  She had a little party with a few friends and I made them all a wee bracelet to take home with yarn and buttons from my stash.

...discover I have not had much time for reading this month as I have been really busy making and creating.  My reading time is the hour or so before I go to sleep and this has been taken up with secret present sewing and knitting.  I have been dipping in and out of an interesting book on child rearing around the world.  This is not a book filled with expert advice but rather an interesting study of how cultures around the world approach child care.

...enhance in the last week of May our village outdoor pool opened for the season.  This is a wonderful resource to have so close to home, it is a ten minute walk from our house as opposed to a twenty minute drive to the nearest alternative.  We do a lot of open water swimming too but the season for this is really only August/Sept when the rivers and lakes have warmed up enough!  As we home educate it is easy for us to hide and not engage with the village community we live amongst.  It is great to spend a few months of the year fully immersed in it as we visit the pool four or five times a week.  It also means that our village is full of really good swimmers which is a vital skill for all to have.

...enjoy the highlight for me this month has been celebrating a wee gal's fifth birthday.  I cannot believe I have been the mother to two children for five years, the time seems to have flown.  I have treasured every year of her life and I am so blessed to be able to spend all that time at home with her. She requested a small party with a few friends, a few games, some delicious food and lots of play.  It was wonderful to watch and listen to all the children sat on a picnic blanket in our living room (it was too cold to be outside) chatting together and eating their picnic tea.