Habits of Summer

The summer holidays are here, although living in Scotland the weather has been a bit of a hit or miss.  I think so far, we've had two sunny days in succession with the rest either being overcast or raining with high winds.  Each day I wake up, peek through the blinds in the hope that it's at least dry, so  I can sit outside and admire my garden. It's all very green out there, and there are buds just waiting to burst open with colour.  On the days the sun makes an appearance I sit outside, I crochet, I embroider, have lunch and listen to the birds singing their song...total bliss!  To date I have finished making Jenny's Mandala (crochet piece) and started a new piece; Sophie's Universe.  I was going to buy the cotton yarn pack for this piece but then had a brainwave and decided to be thrifty; using up all the leftover cotton yarn from my Scheepjes Hygge Cal (rainbow and pastel colour wave).

Since starting to write this post my garden has decided to bloom, it appears to have happened very much overnight.  I always start the year thinking, have I sown enough seeds, have I bought enough plug plants only to be surprised by the abundance of colour as July and August come around.  This year I have only planted lettuce, there's no strawberries, carrots, peas or potatoes this year, like previous years.  For one, I couldn't find my grow bags, we looked in the shed, we checked cupboards, under the stairs and even the attic, nothing. Then secondly I was too late off the mark, I saw the seeded potatoes at my local garden centre and didn't think to buy them at the time.  I went back a week later, and they were gone...sigh! The grow bags did eventually turn up after the season had well and truly started, they were tucked behind the sun loungers; I didn't think to look behind them. Silly me.

Illness struck 11 days before the end of term, and I was in a pretty bad way. A month beforehand I had suffered from Strep Throat (which was treated with antibiotics). I initially thought it was the Mumps as the left side of my neck swelled up so much that I couldn't turn my head or tilt it forward or back; it felt as though I had a grapefruit sprouting from it...very alarming. The antibiotics seemed at first to take the Strep infection away, but by the end of the course I still had some symptoms at the back of my throat, and I foolishly didn't return to the doctor. So,  I go to work near the end of term, even though I'm as white as a sheet and taking dizzy spells and after lunch, I nearly keel over. I've only ever fainted once in my life (in my own bedroom), and I couldn't believe it was going to happen a second time, surrounded by little ones. I was walked off the premises by my manager to Paul's car, where he proceeded to give me a lecture about being ill and taking time off.  For five days I drifted in and out of sleep, no energy, no life about me at all and not to sound too dramatic, I remember telling Paul I thought I was going to die.  I later found out that the Strep Throat had gone dormant (never knew this could happen) and the infection had started attacking other areas of my body (kidneys) hence the dizzy spells and feeling of doom.  I returned to work 7 days later, glad to be on the mend. My work colleagues and manager later told me that I hadn't been myself for over a month, that I had been extremely quiet and withdrawn. On my return, one of my work colleagues even commented on how well I looked and how bright the whites of my eyes were!?!?!  Yes, I know! I must have looked truly awful, a walking zombie springs to mind. Lol!

Anyway, end of term left me feeling truly humbled. I love my job, and I do it so I can give little ones a good start in life (something that I was denied as a youngster). I do it in the hope that I'm making a little bit of a difference and adding that little spark of magic that extra adult in their life should bring. I teach and care for them as though they were my own. I want the little ones to know I feel truly privileged to teach them and wish them all the success in the world.

Good Luck little ones, go show the world what you're made of!

xoxo xoxo