Busy (Gently) Doing

I am happy to report that our dishwasher is finally fixed.  I am not entirely sure what solved the problem in the end, I am just happy to have it back in the kitchen and working; it sat in the garage, in pieces, for weeks whilst it was being fixed.  I missed it.  

It has been another month filled to the brim, some days it was about prioritising the most urgent of urgent things, I am happy that that is all over now.  I have, it would seem, forgotten about planning my life to ensure that things are not too close together, allowing time for organising and sorting time things has been forgotten too.  I had got rather good at that prior to the first lockdown but it would seem that skill has been neglected for too long and has become a little rusty.  I managed to double book myself for one evening as I failed to put a meeting in my diary which had been planned months before.  I fitted them both in but not without spending considerable time re-arranging the times to make that work.  It was an extra I could have done without.  It is all too easy to drop a ball when you are busy.

I have been looking at the coming weeks which are the summer school holidays here in the UK, for us this means that several of the things that we attend are paused and we change over to a more fluid, go with the flow rhythm.  I had convinced myself we were not that busy, that is not quite the case, we do not have a single, completely free, weekend until 10/11 September that has been blocked out to keep free.  The weekdays are not jam packed but there is little space for much else.  I am really looking forward to three days at home completely alone when everyone else is away.

It seems like weeks ago now but we started June with a long weekend for the Platinum jubilee, husband was home for two extra days.  Beacons were lit across the country all at the same time, one was within walking distance of our house so we wandered up there.  It rained, very hard, whilst we were walking up the hill to the Beacon we got rather soaked.  When the Beacon was lit it was dry, we used the warmth of the fire to dry out a bit before walking home in another rain shower!

We have spent some wonderful hours with friends, a long bike ride over hills and lanes not far from our house, a wild swim, my first of the year in a local lake, visitors from the USA who moved away eight years ago and we have stayed in touch with.  We spent a lovely afternoon at a local place, revisiting memories of the hours spent there together when they lived in the UK, I love that each time they come over we pick up from where we left off despite the long gap in visits.

There has been a lot of fundraising going on, I am ready for a pause but, with it being the summer and living in a tourist area, that is not going to happen any time soon.  We are over half way through now so we might actually achieve our target by the end of the year which would be rather marvellous.  We have had a second hand book sale and pop up cafe, a have a go Archery day, a garage sale and a BBQ.  We were supposed to be hosting a Curry night and Quiz in our village but two weeks before the date we did not have a single booking so we pulled the plug on that one, I don't think my village is into curry.  Luckily the hall we had booked did not charge us despite our cancelling.  I have to say I was quite relieved,  organising large events is great as it raises lots of money but, it is exhausting doing it on top of everything else going on.  I have become a master at baking four cakes simultaneously, I am using the same four cakes each time baking is needed and now have a good supply of each in my freezer.  I just need to get better at remembering to take them out of the freezer in good time!

Cameron has been home with us full time for weeks now, Alice and I are enjoying this whilst it lasts.  I have taken him out with a friend to go mountain biking, a few times, Alice and I have been enjoying walking in the woods whilst they are riding.  He came to a home ed group with us a couple of times which felt like old times again.  His course and exam results will be out in August, we are hoping that they will be good enough for him to earn a place on the next level course that starts in September.

My Explorer Scout unit has had a busy programme, we had a fun evening with a local outdoor bowling club who hosted some of us to have a go.  I could not even get my bowling ball, the bowl, to the end of the green and could not roll the bowl as everyone else seemed to be doing with ease until someone pointed out that the ball I was using was far too big from my hands which admittedly are on the small side.  Once I changed bowls I was all set and rather enjoyed the last few matches we played.  We have had two evenings with other local units, a wide game in the woods and a rounders match and BBQ.  I assessed a small group for their  Bronze D of E Expedition, Cameron and his group have been sorting themselves out for their Gold D of E Expedition which is taking place in a week or so.   Husband and I led a day of canoeing training for some other leaders in our area, it was a great day out on a local lake.

Despite the busyness I have managed time for resting too.  I have continued to have afternoon naps which have been a life saver.  The pause and recharging an absolute necessity to keep everything moving along.  I have been going to bed earlier too and spent more time reading.  I managed to finish reading three books in a month which is unheard of for me, I had no book to read for a few days until I manage to borrow a couple from a friends shelves, the best kind of library.

We are off as a family camping this weekend for a few days, with a day at home following by a second camping trip to support Cameron and his group whilst they do their D of E Expedition.  I am rather looking forward to the simple life of camping without the clutter of life at home.  I apologise in advance if I don't come visiting for a while and if you comment, it will not be lost in the ether of the internet it will just be waiting patiently for me to approve it.  There is patchy reception where we are planning on camping, normal service will be resumed soon after.