Wonderful Wednesday #222

{Those dear sweet Donut peaches....}

 I feel funny this week.  A bit like there's been no middle-ground on anything:  I'm either not hungry at all or all of a sudden could eat my own arm if i could and might cry if i don't eat quick-march.  I'm either freezing cold and can't get warm {not normal for this time of year!} or so hot that i just can't sit still  and even less of an attention span than usual.  I'm either ridiculously chipper that i could give the birdsong at silly o'clock in the morning a run for it's money in the 'happy stakes' or i forget to do something silly and immaterial and okay to forget and i could actually cry.  I mean i'm fine.  I'm fiiiine.  I'm even Fine.  But did i tell you that i'm fine yet?!  But i think i'll take it easy tomorrow on my day off:  Less rocket power and more crumpets and tea and few slow laps of the park on two wheels if the weather plays along.  Because if it's one thing i've learnt as i get a little bit older, it's to listen to my body and the little voice in my head more.  It's there for a reason afterall.   


So right now i'm going to count some really lovely things, because these kinds of posts - both reading and writing - are a great big shot of happiness and a great way to put things into perspective.   Let's go, go, GO!  




1.  Grass cut.  Yes we're going right in and jolly well head-first with just about the most simple thing ever:  A jolly good grass cut.  Apart from the solid-gold 'summer is here'- shaped joy of the sweet scent of cut grass {best sweetly inhaled after a long balmy summer day and on the evening of such, whilst you stand and marvel at the neatness and maybe swing a little watering can here and there....or is that just me?!?} - another one of those 'if i'd bottle it i surely could' type scents - then there's also the tidiness too.  I'm going to admit right here and now that this week is the first time our grass has been cut since.....Maybe last October....?!? Overgrown is the biggest understatement of the whole year {and let's face it we're only halfway through!} but now that it has been cut and trimmed i just want to be in the garden even more than usual.  Which FYI is already all of the time....

2.  Elderflowers.  The 'what comes next' of seasonal wild forgaging {or at least my knowledge of it!} after i've finished putting wild garlic pesto on anything and everything!  We've got a baby Elderflower bush at the very bottom of the garden {which i can now see - hurrah!} and i'm debating picking some flowery stems.  I'm just not quite sure what to do with them...?  I'm not really someone who drinks a lot of sugary drinks to make it worth making cordial.  I wondered if i should wait for the berries...?  Or infuse it into gin for a gift...?  What do you reckon...?!?  Either way the sight and smell of Elderflowers is just 'summer' to me!

3.  A jolly great thunder storm.  I say 'jolly great' and at the time it was neither really! The thunder woke me up with such a jump that i tossed and turned for a good few hours after and couldn't really settle back to sleep at all.  What was a little bit lovely was the sound of the kind of rain that only a heavy, thick and hot sky can bring.  And the smell - the smell of thundery rain is just - delicious, don't you think...?!?  Murky, humid, heavy and damp....but weirdly comforting.  It just does something to my heart and soul.  I'd never usually leave the windows wide open if it poured rain any other time of year; but summer rain and an angry rock and roll of thunder too?!  I had ours as wide as it would go and even though i was a bit annoyed at being awake; i lay still as a mouse watching the the crumpled cotton curtains light up and waiting for each roll of thunder to follow.  

4.  Ice cold cucumber.  A savoury watermelon if you will since the smell and taste of the both of them remind me of each other in equal measure and i've often been known to snack on wedges of the both of them at the same time.  Maybe it was the two or three heavy-headed and humid days that came before The Storm of the other night, but this week already i've eaten two huge cucumbers.  Is that excessive?!  They were totally worth the five or ten minute round of hiccups i got after a few too many slices.  When i'm not eating cucumber wedges, i'm slicing them into iced water with torn up mint leaves.  I got a funny look at work the other day because i was eating slices of cucumber with mint leaves squished in between!  I'd like to add this was an accompaniment and not my actual lunch....I just can't get enough!

5.  White cotton tops.  I daren't admit how many i own.  But they're my spring summer fail-safe and if i only buy on thing each spring or summer it's usually a variation on a white cotton top.  If it's Broderie Anglaise or seersucker to boot or indeed has any kind of ruffle detail then i'm there.  They go with every single thing some this time of year:  Slouchy soft pale blue denim jeans, wide-leg and floaty cotton trousers, tucked casually into a midi skirt and sometimes even worn with a pair of pyjama trousers for sitting in the garden on a lazy Sunday morning.  I'm wearing one as we speak i type.....

6.  Growing things.  I think i mention a variation on this every single week or have done since i planted some bits and bobs in our garden but there is honestly nothing nicer than planting something and seeing it grow and chit-chatting to it each day; watering it and nurturing it.  I feel so proud that i have expanded the three ceramic pots i had last year and this year have NINE POTS with things growing in them!  I have neither killed or destroyed anything!  I don't want to wish away 'Lately' since this summer is proving so flipping lovely BUT i can't wait until it all flowers and i can pick my very own blooms!  I'm most excited for Hydrangeas and Sweetpeas.  They're both just the epitome of my childhood.  Maybe next year i'll branch out {see what i did there?!?} into some fruit or vegetables....

7.  Less of everything. Well this could apply to a hundred and one things couldn't it?!   But if there's one jolly great thing about warmer, brighter and more sunny weather it's the fact that you can care less about hair, make-up and the like.  Everyone's skin is better with a little bit of vitamin D:  a sweet scattering of freckles and a little bit of sun-kissed colour.  All i've been wearing lately is SPF and a few dots of concealer and a little blusher.  And i'm finding i need to bother even less with my hair:  I can leave it to dry and only really have to rough dry my fringe and rub a little coconut oil through the ends and i'm good to go.  Hurrah for sun and blue skies!  And embracing natural 'Everythings.'  **makes mental note to embrace more often**

8.  First Donut peaches.  Picked up excitedly at the weekend from our local Sunday farmers market and left to excitedly ripen on our kitchen window-sill.  There's nothing better than thick coconut yoghurt, chunks of juicy Donut peach, a zig-zag of runny honey and a scattering of chopped walnuts.  Or!  Thick and as creamy as you can get cottage cheese spread on dark toasted rye bread with wedges of Donut peaches and torn up mint leaves.  Or!  Griddled 'dribble down your chin' -ripe peaches with a scoop of coconut milk ice-cream, a drizzle of tahini, one of honey and lots of black sesame seeds.  I'm actually considering making this flavour combo into an ice lolly.  What do you reckon?!?  DONUT PEACHES FOREVER!!!!! 

9.  Commuting sing-songs.  I always sneak a lift to work in the morning with the Mr as he drives past the city centre on his way to work most days.  This week we discovered an old David Bowie CD that we'd both forgotten about and have been enjoying singing 'Star Man' at the very top of our lungs together each day on our drive to work.  It's rare that we both agree on music but David Bowie has always been an exception - a 'meet in the middle' if you will -  and a little sing-song morning karaoke has been the perfect antidote to bleary-eyed sleepy morning drives.

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And i'm all done and dusted and loved and listed for another whole week!  These posts are rocketting around each week {infact it sometimes feels like the weeks get faster and faster lately, do you feel it too?!} and you'll join me this time next week almost at the end of eight days in a row at work!!  So brace yourself for some seriously long and under-punctuated sentences and far too many brackets!  

Don't forget, since you're already here and sitting comfortably; to pop right on over to my favourite  ladies Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's and Ellie's  #wonderfulwednesday posts and catch up with their weeks and what's been making their little hearts happy!  I'm excited to spend this afternoon curled up with bottom-less Lady Grey and a little blog catch up myself since as it's my day off on Wednesday.  

Find me me here same time next week....