Tag: slow living

Life Lately..!

Time seems to slipping away from me as we approach the end of the year. We are so lucky to have such distinct seasons here in Scotland, early November was unusually mild but the last couple of weeks brought a cold snap full of frosts and subzero temperatures, and we’re all looking forward to the merriment and cheer of Christmas.

Our oldest daughter started school in August, and she has settled in so well, making a little group of friends, building on her number and counting skills, writing and learning to read. I couldn’t be more proud of her as she works her way through the phonics books we borrowed from the library. She’s moved up two classes in gymnastics since May and we’re thinking about looking for a competitive club because she shows such aptitude and skill, and she enjoys it so much.

Our youngest is enjoying extra one to one time with me, something she hasn’t really had since she was a baby, and she’s coped better than I expected with going to nursery without her sister. We celebrated her third birthday with a little party at the start of November, and she’s moved up to pre-school at nursery. This season of parenting is bringing a lot of new challenges but I’m leaning into it as much as I can.

I’ve also made a big change, resigning from my role in council social services to move into the charity sector. Giving up a profession and taking a paycut feels like a step backwards, but I’m hoping it will be less stressful and a better balance for our family. Our daughters will only be little for such a short time and I don’t want to miss it. My husband’s been self employed full time since February and his business has been more successful than we expected so it feels like a good time for me to try something new.

I’ve also returned to my old yoga studio after a five year gap, it’s a lovely restorative and relaxing class that’s just what my mind and body need at the moment. 

Yesterday was the first anniversary of our cat Mara’s, death. I’ve been struggling with a lot of grief through autumn, as I loved snuggling up with Mara in the evenings as she snoozed on my lap while I read, or when she would sleep between my ankles, or crawl under the duvet to snooze pressed into my side on the coldest nights. The girls had been asking if/when we’d get another cat, so we started making enquiries to see if it would be possible to adopt a house cat with small children. At the end of October, I visited a little black and white cat being fostered on a Saturday morning and we adopted her on the Monday morning. I’ll write more about our little Pixie soon, but she’s settling in well.

Life still feels fairly hectic at the moment, and our calendar is already filling up with Christmas events but I’m trying to find quiet moments amidst the hustle and bustle, and to embrace all the changes. Have a lovely week. X

An Enchanted Tradition

We recently returned from our annual trip to the Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry, which has been our tradition for over a decade.

The theme changes every year, and this year was called Luminara, which tried to capture the interconnection, balance and harmony between nature and technology. We have been to a lot of light shows around Scotland over the years but the Enchanted Forest is easily the most ambitious and technologically impressive. There were a few parts that were stunning, but overall this wasn’t our favourite theme as it felt less cohesive and a bit more spread out than previous years.

We stayed at a lodge just a few miles outside of Pitlochry and it was ideal, cosy with slightly more space than a caravan. We took a trip into Pitlochry again the next day to visit the Christmas Emporium to let our daughters choose ornaments for their Christmas tree and a lollypop from the sweetshop, before we ate a simple but tasty lunch at Hettie’s Tea Shop.

It’s always interesting to chat to the locals while we’re in the area, who have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with the Enchanted Forest as it brings a huge amount of tourism and money to the local economy, but locals always complain about a month of parking restrictions and none of the locals we spoke to had been to the show themselves.

We stopped at Active Kids Adventure play with the kids on the way home, our girls had a hoot climbing up and sliding down the indoor tree house, then we went outside for trampolines, go karts and crazy golf. I think this might become part of our annual tradition too while the kids are young.

This was our last trip for the year, we’ve been so lucky to have had some lovely holidays from our visit to Northumbria in Spring, our Summer holiday in St Andrews, our glamping trip in September and finally The Enchanted Forest. Every time I’ve loved seeing the kids’ excitement about staying in a caravan or lodge, exploring somewhere new or returning to a favourite place together.

Have a lovely week. X

Embers and Ambers

We woke yesterday to a thin layer of Frost on the car windscreen, the first of the season. We’re in the middle of autumn here in Scotland, always a season of contrasts: beginnings and endings, the last of the sun’s warmth and the first frosts, the glorious colour and texture of the leaves, and of course death and decay as leaves, flowers and insects all die back before winter.

There are still a few hardy geraniums (Rozanne just doesn’t stop), roses, nasturtiums and calendula all stubbornly blooming in our garden, though Storm Amy battered the sunflowers. There are also pots of cabbage, kale, chard and pak choi seedlings in the greenhouse that may or may not come to anything. I’m planting Meteor peas in the raised beds which are apparently hardy enough to overwinter. There are still daffodil bulbs to plant, as well as finding space in the long border for anenomes and michaelmas daisies, but I’m starting to feel the pressure now as winter is on its way.

We had lots of Red Admirals visiting the garden and feasting on our plums all through September, but this month we’ve found lots of Caterpillars in the garden much to the children’s fascination.

While most people are looking up at the trees, there’s lots to see at ground level too. Our little street is hidden beneath a carpet of beech tree leaves at the moment, and I’ve spotted a few Aminita Muscaria (or fly agaric toadstools) at the base of the trees. It seems like the world is full of reds, ambers, golds at the moment, all the fiery shades for the “ember” months.

As we move through the autumn months, life still feels hectic with no signs of slowing down and there are some big changes ahead, but I’m trying to ground myself in nature, enjoying pottering around our little garden and taking time to notice all the little wonders of nature at this time of year. Have a lovely week. X

Finding Hope in the Garden

Despite being the most urban-dwelling of our families, we are still a very outdoorsy family and the garden has always felt like an extension of our home.  The kids love their slide, swings and the little mud kitchen we set up under the pergola on the patio, but our little garden offers so many other opportunities for play, learning and discovery too.

As a child, I remember the delight of picking fresh strawberries from my mum’s garden every June, and I started my own strawberry patch to share that simple joy with my own daughters. I find peas will grow almost anywhere so I plant them everywhere, and the girls love picking them fresh from the pod as a snack. We grow cherry tomatoes in the green house, which our girls also love picking as soon as they turn red. We’ll never be self-sufficient but growing some of our own fruit and vegetables is a great way of teaching our children about food production.

I’ve tried to make our garden as child and wildlife friendly as possible, and we’re always delighted to see bees bumbling and butterflies fluttering around the garden, as well as worms wriggling, caterpillars crawling and so many other insects just going about their daily business. At time when there is increasing alarm about the decline of insects, I like to feel we are doing our bit to help the insect population, offering them food, water and shelter, and my kids already understand that we need pollinators if we want to keep eating so many of their favourite foods like strawberries, raspberries and apples. My kids often help filling up the little trays of water we leave out for insects and birds in hot weather, as well as the bird feeders, combining their scooping and pouring skills with another lesson in taking care of nature. We’ve had lots of butterflies in the garden this year from small whites nibbling my kale and red admirals feasting on our plums.

Over the years, we’ve had a few hedgehogs visiting the garden much to everyone’s delight. Last year we helped fatten up a little hoglet that found his way in over the summer before he moved on elsewhere for the winter. We haven’t seen any hedgehogs this year, but I hope they’ll find their way in again.

I know that one small garden can’t save the world, but when so many young people are struggling with climate anxiety, our garden reminds us that it’s not as hopeless as the headlines make out, that nature is abundant and generous, and that humans can live in harmony with nature. Our garden is a little sanctuary in the city where we can escape from the hustle and bustle to play, learn and grow in every sense, a place where we can enjoy the sweetness of strawberries, chase butterflies, count bees and marvel at how tiny seeds grow into tall sunflowers. 

Have a lovely week. X

Spring Things

A whole season seems to have passed since I last found time to update my old blog. Spring has been exceptionally sunny and warm this year, and we’ve spent so much time outside.

I’ve been delighted to see the first bumble bees in the garden, the first peacock butterfly, hoverflies, blossom on the apple and plum trees, and daffodils bringing the first colour to our garden after winter months of dreary grey skies and brown earth.

I sowed the first tomato seeds at the start of March, and the seedlings have now been planted in a raised bed my husband built inside our new polycarbonate greenhouse. We said farewell to our old glass greenhouse after Storm Eowyn smashed several panes of glass, putting it back on Gumtree where we found it a few years back and gave it free to a couple who will hopefully appreciate it as much as we did.

Tomato and courgette plants in the greenhouse

In the raised beds outside, we have peas, spinach, radish, lettuce, beetroot and carrots sprouting. My husband is also growing potatoes in sacks. Inside our home, the windowsills are full of sunflower, nasturtium and courgette seedlings not quite ready to go out yet.

The kids have been out on the swings and slide or making pine cone soup or washing shells at their mud kitchen, or riding scooters and bikes around our quiet cul-de-sac almost every day. I’ve loved spending so much time in the outside, especially in our own wee garden as it is such a restorative place and I always feel better for an hour or two pottering around or just watching the wildlife. Our little garden is such an antidote to all the gloomy headlines in the news.

Last weekend, the rain brought an end to the prolonged stretch of sunny weather, bringing much needed water to all the plants in our garden, and to our rivers and reservoirs further afield.

Have a lovely week. X

Gardening through the bleak midwinter…

January is often a quiet time for us, settling back into our routines and slowing down after all the excitement and excess of Christmas.

There isn’t much growing in the garden at this time of year, but there are still lots of little jobs and tidying up to do. There’s a silver birch and Concorde pear tree waiting to be planted where the bamboo used to be. While the bamboo was a bit of a deadzone for wildlife, I’m hoping the birds and insects will appreciate more native trees and shrubs.

One of the other big changes is the double swing my husband built for our daughters, which they absolutely love and has proven to be reassuringly sturdy so far. In the winter months, we often feel cooped up so swings and the slide give us something to do in the garden when it’s too cold or wet to go the park.

My husband also built a compost box out of pallets and wood leftover from other projects, and we’ve already starting putting our tree clippings, cardboard, fruit and vegetable peel in there to rot down and turn back into nutritious soil.

We spent a couple of hours pottering around in the garden last week, and it was so peaceful without any of the pressure I often feel during summer. Then at the weekend, everything shut down when Storm Eowyn arrived, and we spent a whole day inside watching the storm rage outside and trying to keep two small kids entertained without any of our usual activities. The wind smashed a few panes of glass in our green house, but we were extremely lucky that we didn’t lose any tiles from our roof or fence panels.

As always, very grateful for our little patch, and so looking forward to spring. Have a lovely week. X

New Year, Same Old Me

The crossover from one year into another was gentle in our house, the kids slept right through while my husband and I started rewatching the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings (and we drew the trilogy out over the next few evenings). 2024 left me feeling a bit bruised and tender, and I wasn’t feeling celebratory on New Year’s Eve, so we saved our champagne for the evening of New Year’s Day instead.

While others are making resolutions, setting fitness goals and planning holidays, I find myself craving peace and rest after a turbulent year.

I returned to work last January after a year off on maternity leave and immediately regretted it because so many people had moved on that it was like joining a different team. I started a new job in June but it’s felt like jumping out of frying pan into the fire as it’s much busier and less specialised than I’d hoped, and certainly not the change of career I’m seeking. I was diagnosed with ADHD in the spring, and while it explained so many struggles I’ve had through life, it also brought a wave of fresh self doubt and regrets as well. Finally, in November, we lost our lovely cat Mara, after nine years of her companionship, and I have been struggling with grief and guilt ever since. It’s by no means the worst year I’ve endured, but it’s taken a toll on me nevertheless.

The highlights of 2024 were mostly moments with our family such as our summer holiday, visiting the Enchanted Forest and other daytrips, and just the joy and wonder of seeing our daughters grow. Our oldest turned four in February, she is so bright and confident, and she’s all set to start school in August 2025, which is as exciting as it is nerve-wracking, and will be a big adjustment for us all. Our youngest turned two in November and has become such a little chatterbox, already full of opinions, and ever eager to keep up with her big sister.

It rained all morning on New Year’s Day, but cleared up in the afternoon so we braved a wrapped up trip to Lunderston Bay for our traditional beach walk. I’ve been feeling a bit maudlin lately, and a walk on the beach was such a balm for my weary heart.

I waded into the water in my wellies, which is as close to a dash and a dook as I’ve ever gotten, but there were some other braver folk who went for a dip. As we were beach combing for shells, the sun broke through the clouds and cast a golden glow over snowy mountains in the distance, the shimmering water and the sandy shore, reminding me how grateful I am to live in such a beautiful country, and how lovely winter here can be.

We’ve filled the first few days of 2025 with play dates with our daughters’ cousins and nursery friends, swimming at the local pool and a final visit to the Winterfest to ride the carousel and Santa’s train (the helter skelter was closed due to ice!). It’s been a bit of a blur, but I’m grateful for so many of these moments of joy, laughter and connection, and hope 2025 will be full of more. It’s back to work and nursery tomorrow, but wishing everyone a belated happy New Year. X

More Autumn Adventures 🍂

It feels like time is slipping through my fingers, this has been such a hectic year and we’re well into autumn and the ember months. The weather has cooled and the evenings are growing darker, the leaves have turned into a gorgeous array of gold, amber and scarlet, and every breeze causes a flutter of them to fall.

We had a really fun day trip to Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian where the kids enjoyed exploring the adventure playpark and Fort Douglas with its all it’s climbing frames, bridges and slides, as well as the bouncy pillows and flying foxes. It’s a bit of a jaunt for us, but always lots of fun and great value.

We’ve been out foraging for chestnuts or conkers at our local parks, and collecting seeds, flowers and leaves for sticky pictures. We also enjoyed the loveliest walk through the woods at Rouken Glen with the kids filling their baskets with the most colourful leaves, pine cones, moss covered bark and branches covered in lichen that they could find for a little show and tell nature project at nursery.

My husband and I even managed a day out by ourselves on a bank holiday Monday at the end of September. After dropping the girls off at nursery, we drove out to Callendar for lunch, a wee browse around the Nutcracker Christmas shop and a walk up to Bracklinn Falls. The waterfall itself is actually quite hard to see from the path, and best viewed from the rocks in front of it, which are sturdy but can be a bit slippery when wet. It’s been about a decade since we last visited the falls, and was really lovely to rediscover it again after so long.

I really love living in a part of the world with such distinct seasons, and autumn is particularly lovely in Scotland. Have a lovely week. X

Autumn Equinox in the Garden

After a week of warmth and sunshine, there’s a nip in the air and the garden has definitely gone over. As today is the autumn Equinox, it seems like a good time to share a long overdue update on our garden.

It’s been a patchy summer here in the West of Scotland, seems like we never had more than a couple of days of sunshine and warmth before being soaked by another deluge of rain. Most of the veg I sowed struggled in the cool, wet weather, though the kids have enjoyed eating peas fresh from the pod, and I’m still hopeful the tomatoes will ripen before the first frost.

Growing fruit has been much more successful. We picked bowlfuls of strawberries all through June, a handful of cherries from a dwarf tree, we got about twelve sweet and juicy plums from the Victoria plum tree, and we had enough rhubarb and apples to bake a pie (with lots of apples still to pick).

This year, we’ve let the ground along the fence grow wild, while the climbing roses, clematis and apple trees establish themselves. The long border pretty much takes care of itself, though I want to divide the geraniums and move some to the front garden. It’s been my best year for sunflowers, they grew tall and flowered despite the weather.

It’s not all been good in the garden as we’ve only seen sparrow and starling fledglings, and after noticing that we hadn’t seen the Robin or Blue Tits around for a while, we checked their nests and found both abandoned. I fear one of the neighbourhood cats either got one of the parents or scared them off as all the Tits and Robins stopped visiting the garden for a while. This loss was counterbalanced somewhat by the arrival of a hoglet that has moved in and built a nest inside the little brick house we put together for it, and appears every evening for his supper of wet cat food and hedgehog food. Watching our resident hedgehog scurry around in the evenings is more entertaining than TV.

The biggest change was removing the bamboo, which provided an excellent screen but was an environmental deadzone with nothing but a few spiders inhabiting it, and I’m planning to plant a couple of trees there instead.

Our garden is such a wild clash of ideas, but it is also the best antidote I know to the almost constant climate doomism that pervades the news. I really love seeing how excited the kids are when picking fresh food from the garden, and it’s an easy way of helping them to connect with nature and learn about so many environmental issues. It is our little haven, surprisingly calm and private, in the bustling city. Have a lovely week. X

Summer of Sand and Sea

There’s been a slight crisp coldness sneaking into our mornings foreshadowing autumn, and after a very overcast and rainy summer, I’m ready for the change of season. Despite the weather, the highlight of my summer was our family holiday, when we returned to East Lothian again though a different caravan park this time around, right beside the seaside.

There’s something so wholesome and nostalgic about the simplicity of spending days at the beach paddling in the sea and filling our pockets full of shells then returning to a cosy caravan in the evening.

The weather was patchy with the best days on the days we arrived and departed, and mostly overcast with showers in between but it didn’t stop us from doing everything we had planned. We are none of us very good at relaxing and usually squeeze a lot of activities and sightseeing into our holidays, and this trip was no exception.

We enjoyed a morning in Edinburgh visiting the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, which exceeded all expectations and was really fun with so many interactive displays that the kids loved. Our favourite parts were feeling (and bumping) our way through the mirror maze and the Vortex, which is an optical illusion with a bridge through a revolving tunnel that had us all clinging to the barrier convinced we were going to be tilted and turned upside down.

We also returned to one of the beautiful beaches we’d discovered on our holiday last year. Coldingham Bay is a beautiful beach with colourful beach huts and crashing waves favoured by surfers and bodyboarders. My husband and our oldest daughter went splashing in the waves while I built sandcastles for our youngest to smash. We all took a wander along the hill and found a rocky little shingle where the kids entertained themselves stacking pebbles, before returning to the main sandy beach for one last splash in the sea before heading home. It was definitely one of my favourite parts of our holiday.

As much as I love our little family holidays and look forward to so many more as our girls grow, after a few days living in close quarters in a caravan, it’s always good to return home to be reunited with our cat Mara who stayed home with my dad pet-sitting while we were away. Now we’re looking forward to autumn and another wee break away. X