Nautical storms.

It was a dark and stormy night.  We chose to go camping.  It was a small and very British adventure. 

The following morning, after a sleepless and slightly daunting night (70mph winds trying to steal our tent) I was saddened by the sight of devastation and carnage that met our eyes as we sleepily piled over the sand dunes. As we traipsed the shore it appeared that half of the ocean had been washed onto land following a storm out at sea. Then a miracle occured, a single, small starfish wiggled! As we looked closer, we realised that most of them were alive! Cue us girls rescuing hundreds of cold starfish from the hungry eyes of the seagulls and returning them to the ocean.  I had never seen a starfish before, they are such heavy, strange animals.

It really was something quite magical.

The Jubilee.

Whilst I am not a royalist in any shape or form, I will accept any excuse to make scones.  These were light and crumbly and ever so slightly salty and we ate them with the first pick of strawberries from the Farmer's Market and disgusting amounts of cream, washed down with strong tea.  Despite the gale force winds and rain outside our window, it still felt a little like summer.

Overall our Jubilee was fairly unpatriotic but we were finally able to have a day off together.  We revelled in doing nothing; we did a jigsaw puzzle and James tried patiently, but unsuccessfully, to teach me chess, we ate scones and I even knitted a little whilst watching The Mentalist snugged up on the sofa.  It simply felt blissful, I could live like that for an eternity.

Disposable joy

Every year towards the end of exams I reward myself with a disposable camera.  Not only is there the general joy and excitement of getting the film developed but over the end of exams there is an additional magic to be found in the change observable over the 26 photos!  From endless revision notes and cups of tea (and the minor breakdown observable in the third photo) the photos document anexponential improvement ending with barbeques in the sun and nights dancing with friends.  Oh, an immeasureable improvement!

The novelty of finishing exams takes a long while to wear off.  Today I am enjoying making summer plans still in my pyjamas and planning my next baking session.

Magic.

 

I don't know its name, so I call it Magic.  Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing.  Everything is made out of Magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people.  So it must be all around us.

The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett

I finished re-reading this book again.  Every time I finish it, I feel like I have been stolen from a magical world and have forgotten my way back in.  Perhaps I need a robin to help me find the key?  I keep trying to find more magic in my world since I cannot share the garden of Mary, Collin and Dickon.  Pretentious?  A little.  A good drive in life?  Undoubtedly.

The Burning House

If you haven't already seen this you really should stop reading here, quickly, and go and visit The Burning House blog.  The concept of the site is simple; what would you rescue if your house was on fire?  Okay, in practical terms, we all know you cannot really save your piano/antique furniture/best saucepans from the blaze.  Years of school fire drills mean upon hearing a fire alarm I have an overwhelming desire to queue quietly near an exit, not even dreaming of picking up the pencilcase readily available in front of me in order to avoid the lecture on how irresponsible it is to save material possessions.  But imagine you could, imagine you had time to dig out those old photos and grab the pets from their cages, what would you take?  I would love to know what you would save.

(If you're interested you can see my full submission here)