Slow down; live day by day

This week has been a stagnant, cold week: but very typical for this time of year. We've had a lovely mackerel dish this week and I made a horseradish cauliflower cream. Yum. Squid tonight as I raided the deli counter the other day for the special offers.

This time of year when we can't escape outside as easily, the girls test my patience and pull my heartstrings more than anything. They have very small attention spans so staying inside for a whole morning or a whole afternoon can be testing, especially when it gets dark so early. We've been out for frosty dark walks to get us all out and ready for a nice warm bath. It feels like the ground is constantly hard and frozen. It's strikingly beautiful. More so than the summer, I reckon. It feels like we've been put on hold and the weather is telling us to retreat back into the warmth and hide away. But we have toddlers, so they need to get outside and thrive off that fresh air to banish all their ailments away.

Everyone has a cough that is lingering. Everyone is waiting for Christmas. And we're going away for the winter break tomorrow. We've spent this morning packing up the house and getting prepared for leaving. It's a mammoth task but necessary to escape the cold freeze and find our lovely cottage to explore a new place from. The presents are wrapped, the cards have been written and sent. The world seems balanced.

Unfortunately, the new road I wrote about last week has ended up being a dead end. But these abrupt stops in a pathway means that I'll have to go through a few brambles to find my way through to a new path instead. I'll bounce back after feeling a tad flat because opportunities always come our way when we are least expecting it. I can carry on enjoying the volunteering work I am doing now, and see what comes up next year. Now I can switch off.

I can totally slow down now. No more Mum groups to organise, no more lacrosse coaching sessions to plan, no more Christmas parties to organise. Just me and my little family and the open countryside.

A special thanks to my sister for inspiring my title this week.

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