Thinking Out Loud

Inspired by the thought provoking and inspiring blog post onhttp://anabundanceofrainbows.blogspot.it/

::Moments of Gratitude - I'm feeling very thankful for the sun shining through the windows creating patches of golden light on the stone floor.  The warm sleepy dog, gently nodding in the sunlight.  The views across the tiled rooftops to the ancient Roman church.  Lines of Cypress trees dotted across the hilltops.  Knowing my family are healthy and their lives are full of potential.  The spring bulbs peeking through the earth.  The overflowing folder of vegetables seeds ready to be unveiled.  My bookshelves which inspire me everyday.  A fridge with food for a week or two.  My now tidy and well stocked kitchen dresser ready to provide, should the snow finally arrive.  The chance to keep pushing boundaries and learning from old mistakes

::Thinking out loud – I feel fairly rough today, too much admin work to catch up on and a snuffley cold and general malaise. No energy, dog tired, grotty and irritable. Even bright colours seem lost on me today. To shift my energy I may dig out the old camera and take a small stroll around the village.  Not far though as the dogs hate being left alone and I can’t cope with both on the leads as they are totally wild. – Also one has just been sick at my feet…Lovely.

::Positive Thoughts – Thinking of my Grandmas, both of which are getting frailer in each change of seasons, may their health and minds stay strong.  I wish I had known them better as they have always been distant to me as have most of my family.

For my man who is exhausted from manual work and general family demands.  He coaches Rugby several times a week voluntarily and travels large areas for work and I am not always the most welcoming when he comes home, often I am stressed and stroppy so I will try and recognise when to stay quiet and just give a little more. 

Acceptance and Guidance – we are trying to accept our children’s individuality and gently encourage positive behaviour and healthy interests rather than judge them and try and change them.  We are also trying to accept and understand ourselves as parents with very different ideas about the world.

::Cooking – Well my cooking mojo is sometimes hard to find and with so many different dietary requirements it is often tricky and exhausting to conjure up healthy good tasting meals.  I am gluten free and vegetarian, the girl is vegetarian, the boys both love meat and the man-child hates veg.  The girl dislikes pastry, cream and many other things and the boy would eat biscuits all day if he could.  So the general plan for the week is:

Pasta and artichoke sauce, vegetable shepherds pie, chickpea casserole, mushroom risotto, veg curry with onion bhajis (chickpea flour is wonderful stuff), pasta and homemade pesto (already in freezer).  Lunches that work for us are homemade bread and toppings such as pea and pecorino dip, mushroom pate, chicken liver pate for the boys, chopped tomato and olive oil, hummus or mozzarella and tomato (caprese). Or Toasted bread with oil and garlic.  Salads that may appear this week are orange and fennel or chickpea, grated carrot, grated courgette lemon juice and oil (my favourite).  Then the backups include homemade pizza, polenta and roast veg, fishcakes or kedgeree as we all eat fish though the man is not so keen.

::Wearing – Whatever is clean.  We are working through mounds of washing and sandy smelly Rugby kit, I am trying to get as much on the line as possible as the sun is shining and we’ve had days of heavy rain.  I am wearing today though red argyle knitted leggings, a red corduroy skirt from monsoon but found in charity shop 10 years ago, green polo neck sweater, chunky boots and a tired expression on my face.

::Creating – I don’t create I procrastinate.  But on my little desk beside my bed I have knitting, French knitting and a box of craft books for ideas.  I do want to make a loose chair cover for a lovely old club chair but don’t have the nerve to sew it alone.  I would also love to make the kids oversized beanbags but think they’ll have left home before this happens.

I have a small and very threatening pile of mending to do on snagged torn clothes and buttons to sew on coats etc.

In the Garden – My passion other than my family.  We have planted the first row of peas, started a new pair of compost bins, planted in pots, chives, chillies, lettuce, chicory, onions, leeks, rose cuttings, passionflower cuttings, iris, lilies, borage, marjoram, mint, creeping thyme, lemon thyme, winter savoury, rosemary, bitter leaves for salad, snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, jasmine, wisteria, valerian, purple basin, pumpkin, melons and the list goes on.  But this new garden is experimental and needs to evolve.  Next urgent issue is buying a polytunnel and shelving.

::Out and About – well the ice-skating has finished and the rugby season begun, the boy has a match at the weekend and the girl is continuing her gymnastics with horses, yes it’s true acrobatics and gymnastics on horseback.  Also learning trapeze and climbing with silks.  The farm where she does this has a wonderful calming energy and I love taking her there, just to see the old retired horses makes be stop and breathe in the smell of the stables and I get a wonderful warm fix of horse nuzzling.

::Reading – An Italian Education, Many, many gardening books, Re-reading Pure Bliss by Gill Edwards, Italy based travel books and language books, cookery books and more.  The Midnight Kittens by Dodie Smith is the book TT and I are reading at bedtime.

::Around the House – Need shelving in the long corridor of doom for gardening gear and outdoor stuff, TT would benefit from a bunk-bed to improve space but its somewhere down the list. We would love a new sofa as ours has been partly mauled by our savage hounds but we will continue with the ‘lots of throws’ theory for now.  Most urgent on my mind is to create and outdoor kitchen as we have a big terrace and I want to shift the food preparation outside as soon as we possibly can as I could grow veg, clean it and cook it all within our garden, then best of all we can dine together beside the bbq / pizza oven.  This is a project to push to the man along with a well timed cool beer I think!

::Plans – oh how I miss the coast, Italy is so different and its taken quiet a bit of adapting to how regimented beach visits can be but the warm sea, the salty air and stretches of endless sand and pebble are worth it.  I yearn to set the kids free in their swimming gear and layback under the sun with a book or sneak a little cultural people watching.  I miss the smell of the sun-cream, the sound of the shouting melon and coconut sellers and I miss the seafood, the gelati and the prosseco on the beachfront terrace.  So we must plan a winter trip to the coast, see the luxury yachts and stare in awe, take in the emptiness of the beachfront and bring a freezer bag of ‘today’s’ catch back like we do in the summer then light the BBQ and enjoy the taste of the sea back home in our muddy garden, most likely in gloves and hats.  Roll on mosquito nets, sun burn, salads, endlessly watering the garden and long balmy evenings in our new home in Tuscany.