it's been a half-term here, a week of no school & no routine whatsoever....and boy, how we needed it!
the planning with regard to the house is exhausting & endless.....i might have watched & committed to memory every episode of "Grand Designs" over the last 10 years, but i still (clearly) did not quite appreciate just how stressful & all-eonsuming it all is.the problem is - of course - that once you begin, you can't think about anything else....i've tried but can confirm that i am failing miserably!i guess that one of the issues is that with even with a medium-sized project such as our home, so much of it is out of your hands.
i have one hope only for the coming month : that construction will begin.watch this space.
in the meantime, my children have had pyjama days & hours of doing completely nothing, just what they needed. a lot of rain at the start of the week put a stop to any activities we might have thought of....but what i love about the holidays is the fact that life is simplified, you get your children "back", to some extent anyway.
my son has been digging in the garden & climbing trees, even in the rain....my daughter & i have talked, quite a lot....mostly the good, productive type of talks.there's a lot to be said, not a week seems to pass without one challenging issue or another in her new teenage world.
what we've talked about is a whole other post in itself to be honest....recent events at school & amongst people she knows although isn't really friendly with, have brought up some questions & some much needed discussion about some fairly heavy stuff.totally new ground for both of us, it's a learning curve to be sure.
it seems unbelievable that we are going into the last half-term of the year....it's going to be a full one, that much i do know.
today however the sun is finally out & i'm off to sit in my sunny garden with a large coffee.....happy weekend wherever you are!
cinque terre, italy
lemon ricotta almond cake
