Hello you...

Home! We had a really interesting time away; different places, time with good friends, time as a family, travel and moments to reflect. A lot of book-reading. A lot of hot, sunny weather. Some breath-taking Atlantic views, beach bars, surf shacks and bike rides. A life lesson or two...more of that in due time.

via patterson maker

I have been writing blog posts in my head for weeks and now I am back I am wondering why I haven't been able to actually get anything down. This post has sat as a draft since Saturday. It's Thursday. I am decompressing and up until this morning had my happy camper children with me. School is back and can I just say: what a summer!? This year I will remember always as it had i) proper real hot weather, ii) lots of beach time, iii) I stopped work and I note that iv) there are so many things brewing on the horizon I am beside myself! That makes it sound like I have big news and I am afraid to say I don't, not really. It's just a feeling I have of good stuff coming down the line. Some cool domestic developments - we have builders here this week making new doorways breaking in to the cottage we own next door. Did you ever see the film 'The Seven Year Itch'?? You know that bit where Marilyn Monroe descends the stairs from the upstairs apartment having made two homes into one? It's not been quite that simple (as ever with this old farmhouse; the moment you scratch beneath the surface...there is something unexpected) but similar.

Today is the first day I have sat alone for what feels like a long time - two months! I am wearing one of these - my new obsession. I got unfit over the summer, so I am planning a return to running and some more yoga and my usual circuit training habit with the mothers. I am tanned from Portugal - we had the best time. You know when you think you know a country and then you step away from your normal route and learn that there is so much else? That is how it was.

But most of all in my current jumble of thoughts is the recurring knowledge that I don't have to work anymore. I honestly can't tell you how many times a day it crosses my mind and how each time, the sheer relief and beauty of it surprises me. No regrets...

So I just wanted to say 'hello' - I'll check in again tomorrow or maybe the day after... :-)

via patterson maker