Busy (Gently) Doing

It's nearly a month since I last showed up here.  I naively thought that once I had been on my back to back camping trips then I would be able to return here as normal but that wasn't to be.  I am sorry I didn't come a visiting for a while, I am slowly catching up with you all and your news.

I wrote in my last post that June was full to the brim and I was happy it was all over now, looking back that was a little premature.  My life has finally slowed down to a very much less full to the brim feeling, but July was even more full than June.  The gentle part for me became about paring back my life to what was coming up next, focusing on that and not thinking about much else.  Spaces like this were quietly shelved along with most of the housework, tending the garden apart from a bit of watering when things were looking dry and anything else that I love to do when time allows for that.

The month started with a visit to a wonderful exhibition, I intend to write a post reflecting on that but I offer you one photo for now and a huge thank you to Ellie, an incredibly talented and creative blogger, who blogs at Feltabulous  who mentioned that she had visited this exhibition when it was near to her.  I thought that living in the rural North West of my country that it would not come anywhere near me so was amazed when I looked it up to find it was coming to where some dear friends live.  We visited together and all thoroughly enjoyed it, you can find out if it is coming near to you or somewhere you are visiting here.

We had a wonderful few days camping as a family.  It coincided with a heat wave with temperatures that were high for us Northerners (folks who live in the North of England are sometimes referred to as Northerners) who are used to cooler summers, it was exhausting doing anything.  I feel for all of you that live with those temperatures day in and day out all summer.  It only lasted a few days for us.  We walked many steps, swam in many rivers and a very deep lake, we rode bikes, a steam train and had a generally marvellous time.  We had the campsite to ourselves after the first night, sharing the place with the sheep and two traffic cones.  We were only a two hour drive from home in the same county as we live, we are so lucky that we do not have to go far to find a beautiful quiet spot.  I came home feeling totally nourished and relaxed.

Cameron, Alice and I barely unpacked from that trip as we had a day and a bit at home before we had to all go out again to support Cameron and his group for their D of E Expedition.  They had very different weather than the previous week, a lot more rain and cooler temperatures.  Whilst I think they would have preferred not have had quite so much rain they were glad it was cooler.  They walked 76km/47 miles over four days carrying all they needed for a camping expedition in their rucksacks, they are not allowed to buy any provisions on the way.  They were also unaccompanied by adults just the five young people learning how to take care of themselves and others.  They sauntered into the car park at the end looking totally relaxed and not at all exhausted having walked such an incredible distance carrying so much.  Alice and I stayed in the area they were walking through, we didn't meet with the group at all but were nearby in case they needed our assistance in any way.  We too were camping, the first night we spent on a sheep farm where we were serenaded by noisy sheep for most of the night.  We went on several short walks exploring new to us places.  We visited a village where friends used to live, they departed for a new life in Ireland about four years ago it was very strange to be back there without visiting them.  We had hoped to visit a wonderful antique shop and a lovely yarn shop but were very disappointed that they were both gone.  We had a lovely walk instead.

We arrived home late from our second camp and had arranged to have tea at our house with some other friends who moved away from the area and were up visiting, they were due to go home the following day. We had a lovely fish and chip tea from the takeaway in our village.  I ignored the car full of stuff until the following morning.

Unpacking and putting away got mixed up in preparing for an all day fundraiser.  In my head I was ready for this event but in actuality I was far from that.  I spent three long days finishing off the many bits I had mostly finished but not quite.  I ended up with thirteen knitted cloths, eight needle cases with embroidery on the front and fifty one beeswax wraps that were made into bundles of threes for selling, along with the felted hearts we had made for a previous event, ten aloe vera plants, thirty cup cakes baked by Alice and a box of prizes for a tombola, at about midnight the night before we were ready.  It was a lot of work, a very long day but completely worth it, after taking out expenses of about £40 we made just over £800 so a worthwhile effort, we have now raised nearly three quarters of the money and have another year to raise a little more than the final quarter so I think we are highly likely to do that!

I still could not put my feet up as the following day I had headed out early with Alice in tow to the first day of a two day first aid course, she stayed with a friend for duration of my course. It was great fun and the best one I have been on in all the years I have held a first aid certificate.  I was tired by the end of it and looking forward to finally being able to have some more restful days.  Life has now slowed completely.  There is no more having to focus entirely on the next event which I am glad of.  I used to be good at looking at the bigger picture and being able to factor in preparation time for things, it would seem I have become a little rusty during the past couple of years of life being a little different.  The coming weeks include extended family time which we are all looking forward to, I know that in the blink of an eye Cameron will be back at college and Alice back at all her groups but for now we are all enjoying each others company at home.