thankful...

I've been deep in thought these last few days. Getting a sense of perspective. I've also been quite busy... doing a lot of the small jobs that were on my mind over the last few weeks. Not being well for quite some years meant being skilled in the art of doing a little each day in order to achieve or complete a bigger task. So, potting on some sunflowers was just a small part of making the garden a little more colourful this year. Filling one bag of old clothes for charity was just a small part of getting our bedroom ready for decorating, and so on.

The job that was most satisfying was finally getting round to filling a large empty multi-frame with family photographs. The photo above is of my ultra cool brother and his equally cool girlfriend walking back from an incredibly long walk through fields and woodlands on a holiday in Kent a few years ago. In fact the children look about 9 and 6, so roughly 6 years ago. It was one of those lovely warm evenings (probably afternoon when we set off) and the only thing we took with us was an ordnance survey map. Naturally some of the paths had been untrodden for years and were vague. Naturally we had to find sticks just the right size and straightness to walk with, and naturally it felt just great to be out in the kind of countryside I grew up in (in neighbouring Sussex), doing just what we used to do as kids. Simple pleasures.

This photo captures the carefree atmosphere perfectly, when I look at it I can almost smell that air.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust