Flying By

We've reached that time of year again, that time when everything speeds up and becomes frantic as we race towards a deadline. Calendars, and diaries, days and evenings, all are full and claimed. The days by work and housework, the evenings by fun and socialising (rarely), or all-consuming tiredness (usually). It's end of term next Tuesday and my last day at work on Wednesday. Like Christmas, it's a happy and festive time in the school calendar but there is so much to do, to remember to do, in these last few days. It's safe to say we're counting down to the holidays.

This of course is the reason why I've not blogged much lately, and hardly visited any of your blogs, and I'm already looking forward to a few mammoth blogging sessions next week when we break up. My laptop is very slow and takes so long to power up (like, fifteen minutes) and then works so slowly that I almost dread turning it on, and my laptop is what I use to edit photos and blog. And this is when I enjoy using Instagram the most, when I still want to share and chat with my friends and feel connected to my online community, but I don't have any spare time. (You can find me here if you like.) It takes me a couple of hours to write a blog post as I am as slow as my computer, it would seem, especially when I have a lot of photos, but Instagram takes moments. Seconds, even. 

So, in lieu of a proper blog post and any photos from my big camera, here is what I've been doing over the last week:

Angus and tiger enjoying lunch last Sunday in Guildford. He won that tiger at the school fair and he's called Chill Tiger. He reminds me of the tiger from the book The Tiger Who Came to Tea. 

A corner of our bedroom on a dismal, gloomy, wet Monday morning.

Our living room. I was sitting drinking a cup of tea in an after-work slump thinking how much I hate 5pm and all that needs to be done around that time.

Reading with Angus on Tuesday night. It was a really sweet bed time; he used to love (love) this book when he was smaller, pointing and squealing at certain pages. He still likes it now and even thought he's quite capable of reading it himself he likes me to read it to him. And I like to read it to him, and it makes me a bit nostalgic for previous bed time routines and a bit breathless at how fast he's growing up.

Walking to the pub with John on Thursday night for our first night out together in about a year, I think. Something about the heat, the trees and the sky reminded me of holidays spent in the Vendee in France.

A humid, pre-rain sky.

Bedtime faffing in Bella's room on Friday.

In the woods with my nieces on Saturday.

Looking for Mr Fox.

Crocheting teacher gifts in the garden. 

Today, baking more teacher gifts.

Apricot and nut biscotti, very nice.

And finally a quick trip to the beach this afternoon where the sky really was that blue.

Seeing my Instagram photos here so big reminds me that the camera on my phone isn't nearly as good as the DSLR I use for my blog photos, and that I will continue to lug about the big camera because it is worth it.

Have a great week lovelies.