Things you do when you are not in the city

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The lead up to the Summer holidays were a little bit angst ridden round these parts. There was rather a lot of breath holding, a lot of thinking, a lot of worrying and maybe a few tense words pushed about. When things aren’t particularly in your control, but effecting your loved ones in different ways, well, things can be a little stressful.

Then the storm finally passes, and you exhale just a little. A long, slow exhalation, that hadn’t been there for what feels like a very, very long time.

And then, you exhale a little more.

So what does one do with loved ones after a lengthy period of worrying breath holding?

You get out of the city, that’s what you do.

pizza making || cityhippyfarmgirl

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While you are out, you might also….

Make pizza, lots of it. Enough for a small clan anyway.

Start to build a veggie patch just because you can.

Play board games with family members that don’t often come together. (Also get introduced to the eye water laughing of Cards Against Humanity.)

Afternoon siestas are compulsory. Especially after Christmas pneumonia for a small one.

cityhippyfarmgirl.com

The beach finds it’s way inside with tramping sandy feet.

Food tastes better as it’s lingered over, and chewed rather than gulped…ahh, the novelty of it all.

Gardens are visited. Big ones with cars on the edges.

books to read || cityhippyfarmgirl

sourdough || cityhippyfarmgirl

Books are contemplated and thought over. Instead of trapped under “stuff” that needs tending to first. There isn’t hours of lingering book reading, but there are consecutive minutes and that’s a good thing. (Nikki Gemmell your writing is the bees knees.)

Of course some bread gets made. Double Spelt sourdough, (wholemeal spelt flour and cooked wholegrain spelt in these.)

Thinking also comes in much needed extended periods instead of five second snippits. As a mother of three, and woman of many, many thoughts. This is also a good thing. Actually it’s a marvellous thing.

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Tell me, what have you been up to?

 

30 thoughts on “Things you do when you are not in the city”

  1. Ahhh, that all sounds beautiful to me Brydie. The pattern on your sourdough is ace – a little like a paper lantern, or a spider, or perhaps an eye? And YES to Cards against humanity… the mirth!!
    Happy new year.

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  4. Oh yes. Much needed. The build up to Christmas was also a bit fraught in these parts – but the period in between Christmas was like the longest, softest exhale. Reading, writing, family, friends, yoga, dreaming, swimming, and yes, naps 🙂 Happy New Year Brydie xo

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  6. This looks like a perfect break in routine Brydie. Your bread looks gorgeous as always, I love that pattern. I hope the breath holding has eased a little!

    I have been baking biscuits, checking farm tanks on a regular basis, wrangling children in extreme heat and drinking iced coffee with lots of ice x

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  8. I did a lot of catching up on sleep after a busy year, a few walks in the countryside and some baking with my dad. It was glorious

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  10. Nothing quite like a holiday where not much needs to get done but spend time with family and breathe. The laughter is quite sustaining and those memories keep me going in the gaps between visits. Time for reflection is indeed a marvelous thing! Wishing you and yours a very happy new year, Brydie!

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    • Laughter really is so sustaining. (Did you know you can do laughter yoga?)
      There is nothing better than watching loved ones belly laugh. That good deep down chuckle or giggle that totally rocks your body. So good.

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      • Never heard of laughter yoga but it totally makes sense. Belly laughs work your stomach muscles and relax you! Must look into that.

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  11. It sounds like you’ve really needed that break and that the break has been very therapeutic. Pneumonia in small people is quite serious – my Archie was 15 months when he had it and he nearly died from it. I do hope your little one has made a full recovery xx

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  12. I’m glad you can breath now and your precious little one is on the mend. The little one had croup just before Christmas and it was scarey for one night even though we went through it for a few years with our first. But pneumonia is the worst! A little get-a-away after a hard time is refreshing and lifts the spirits for sure. Brydie, you must start a little sourdough baking class business. I will come and bring a friend. Teach me! Just divine!

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  13. I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with…”Cthulhu!” ;). Awesome on the pizza and the veggie patch. Board games are the new black and I just got told to check out “Cards Against Humanity” by another blogger…must be good! Afternoon siestas are more like a given when you get up at 3am ;). Oh NO on the Christmas pneumonia! 😦 What a time for a little one to have something that serious…gorgeous, glorious books and bread and time to really think…to let your thoughts meander and take you where they will rather than grabbed in the midst of the mayhem that is daily life, is truly liberating and renewing. Glad you had a really good break Ms Cityhippyfarmgirl 🙂

    We have been building more vegetable gardens and populating them with sweet potatoes, tomatillos and other exotic things. We have also been going mental with crafts and Stevie-boy made me a drop spindle to spin some gorgeous alpaca fleece that my son and his partner gifted me as well as a naelbinding needle that I need so that I can explore this ancient Nordic craft that preceded knitting and crochet. I also hammered out beer bottle caps to make “bunting” for Steve’s music room and drilled holes in more to make a matching lamp shade. You can never have enough beer bottle cap embellishment methinks! Aside from that we have just been happily buzzing along in 2015. What a glorious year we are having! 🙂

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  15. I hope your little one is back to normal soon Brydie. Nothing scarier than having a seriously sick child… Glad you got to get out of the city and take some deep breaths. xx

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  16. I have spent the last 3 weeks eating my way through, across and around Asia. So many back to back food comas, but such a wonderful way to finish and start my years. 🙂 Waiting a few hours in the lounge in Singapore before we begin the epic 20 hours journey home. Hope the Christmas pneumonia for a small one is better, that sucks, and that you are breathing easier too.

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  17. First – I am happy to read that your lungs are bigger and that your breaths are deeper – that there’s a calm trailing your summer holiday. Everything you’re describing sounds delightful. I can hear it and smell it. It also sounds very foreign to me right now. We have strong winds, frosty nights, cold noses and lots and lots of rain – keeping outdoor activities to a minimum, so there’s a touch of cabin fever and unstimulated babas. Ah, I yearn for spring.

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