Solving the quiet, gentle and simple problems

Before I start my post, I just have to say this to the world: Sunny and Jamie will be home again next week! I have missed them so much, I can't even begin to tell you. So there, it's on the page, I am breathing easier now................and waiting.  :- )

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I turned an invisible corner on the weekend and yesterday got back to my "normal" routine. My season of hectic work schedules and deadlines is behind me now and I'm settled in my home again, not just physically but emotionally as well. When I was so busy, even though I was here at home, my mind constantly wandered to the work I was doing and rarely to what I needed to do in my home. Consequently I cut corners, stopped doing some things, became a bit of a sad sack and yearned for the day when I could get back into my true rhythm. I wanted that daily familiarity again.

So yesterday I changed the bed linen, opened the bedroom windows to let in the light and fresh air, put a few whites on to soak, tidied the laundry and washed the hallway floors.  Hanno did some renovations last week and the floor has been quite dusty since then. The weather is warm and sunny so I wandered around the garden looking at what needs to be harvested or tended to. When I came back inside Hanno was performing one of his winter rituals - washing and sorting a bucket of kale ready for his big annual pork and kale pot. It's one of winter's high points for him. And yes, it is winter here, and still 25C/77F. Sigh. I am hoping that as we move further into June, the weather will be colder, I'll need a shawl and we'll warm up with hot chocolate and tea instead of cool down with cold water and cordial.

Mid-morning I cleaned my desk and put aside the fabric I'll be using for my quilt. I still haven't started it but yesterday afternoon, I sorted through the pieces and have come up with a random non-pattern that I'll be working on today. I'm no patchwork expert by any means. I tend to focus less on the pattern and more on the practicality of piecing together some scraps to make a beautiful and warming quilt. I might hand stitch some of it, simply because I enjoy hand sewing a lot and I fancy the idea of sitting with needle and thread with the quilt over my legs.

Lunch for Hanno was his pork and kale dish and for me, ham and eggs. We both had a glass of homemade orange and passionfruit cordial made with sparkling mineral water. Morning tea was pikelets with black cherry jam and tea, and dinner for both of us was just a little snack. Easy.

The only thing I didn't do that I had planned on was to make bread. Now that we have our main meal at lunchtime, we eat less bread, so I'm still not sure when I'll make the bread, whether I'll make it every day like I used to or what form it will take - bread rolls, small loaves or free-form no knead bread. That, my friends, is what I'll be working out today and I have to say that it is good to be back home solving such quiet, gentle and simple problems.

Have you too discovered that daily routines and rhythms help you get through your work?  I hope you have a lovely day and that it's not too hot or cold where you are. xx