At the Moment #1
I have not blogged for such a long time. And the longer I left it, the more daunting it felt to get back in front of the computer and start typing. But I've been reading lots recently about making more time for wha you love and the truth is I fell out of love with blogging. I think it's because it became more like a job and less like a hobby. So I've decided to pick up my pen again (i.e. return to the keyboard) and start writing. About things that I am passionate about. About things that inspire me. And most probably about books!
It also feels a bit remiss to sit here and restart blogging and not to mention the current climate of lockdown, quarantine and world pandemic. But I don't want not knowing what to say about the subject to prevent me from getting back to what I enjoy doing. I have put too many other barriers in place that made me shy away from writing and I'll be damned if I make another excuse. Maybe I'll feel more collected to share my thoughts on this at some point. Maybe not. But I think that's ok.
So I thought I would start by sharing five things that we are loving at the moment!
Ladybirds
BookBairn is truly fascinated by ladybirds at the moment. It started when we had a ladybird themed week to our daily activities and we made a What the Ladybird Heard map, and then watched a drawing tutorial with Lydia Monks and BookBairn is now thrilled with her ability to draw a ladybird that she seems to be drawing them at every opportunity she gets. We also have spotted several ladybirds in the garden and the road that we live on seems to have an abundance - we counted 45 on our daily walk yesterday. We alos read up about ladybirds in two fascinating books - Bug Hotel by Libby Walden and illustrated by Clover Robin which has the most incredible cut paper illustrations and also in Slow Down by Rachel Williams and illustrated by Freya Hartas which features 50 two-page spread natures stories, one of which is all about how a ladybird takes flight and BookBairn loved it and both her and her (nearly) three year old brother can now tell you all about a ladybird's elytra. Also an American blogger friend pointed out that they call ladybirds 'ladybugs' (which I knew) but it made me wonder why they are called 'ladybirds'. So I googled it! They were originally named "our lady's bird" or "our lady's beetle" after The Virgin Mary who is often depicted in artwork wearing a red cloak in early paintings and the seven spots on a ladybird (common ladybird's have seven spots - as The Wee Page Turner can tell you) were connected to her seven joys and seven sorrows. The things you learn. Every day's a school day!
Little Brian Paint Sticks
Like a lot of people we have been decorating our window with rainbows to show our solidarity and brings a smile to passerbys faces. We actually did this before the lockdown began (and before it was trendy - not often I'm ahead of the fashion!) as BookBairn's nursery walk past our window regularly on their weekly trip to the forest and as BookBairn was on holiday (even though we had to postpone our trip for now) we wanted to leave a little artwork in the window. We always use our Little Brian Paint Sticks in the window as they are such vibrant colours but also wash off really easily. Both kids love using them and they are way less messy than actual paint. They do wash off really easily with hot soapy water or window spray but I would recommend using an old towel or cloth (or kitchen roll) to wipe it clean as the paint can stain fabric. But as the kids also quite like cleaning the windows afterwards I don't mind at all giving them an old cut up baby towel so they can clean their slate and start drawing again. It's also lovely to see people admiring our artwork.
Eating Together
One of the benefits of my husband having to work from home is that we can all eat dinner together early in the evening. Normally (and doesn't that word feel like it has new meaning!?!), I cooked and fed the kids their dinner around 5pm and then my husband would return home from work about 6.45pm, just int time for bedtime but it was often 8pm by the time we cooked and ate our grown up dinner. But now we can all eat together! At about 5.30pm. Sitting round the dining table together and it's so lovely. We talk about our favourite bits of the day, spend time together and everybody seems to eat better too. It also means that my husband and I can now sit down and relax much earlier in the evening so have more time for ourselves and to pursue our own hobbies, like reading and blogging!
Deliveries and Post
Thank goodness for continue deliveries and post. I would caveat this by saying how much I miss my daily chat with our lovely postman. He is such a nice bloke and always has a kind word to say. But now he has to stand on the drive and drop things off and it feels very strange to have an invisble barrier. However, I'm so glad he still comes to our house daily and we are still getting lots of lovely books to review as well as some other goodies like a wardrobe treat for each of us (since I never got my big American Outlet mall shopping experience!) and also It's The Wee Page Turner (and my) birthday this month so I'm glad his presents are still winging their way to us in plenty of time for his birthday!
Encyclopaedias & Anthologies
BookBairn is just fascinated by encyclopaedias and anthologies at the moment. She loves flicking through them and identifying the images as well as letting us read aloud some of the facts for her to absorb. I remember loving looking at my DK encyclopaedias as a child so I understand how much she enjoys just exploring the images by herself without actually being able to read the words. Her favourites include: Slow Down by Rachel Williams and illustrated by Freya Hartas, An Anthology of Intriguing Animals by Ben Hoare, The Wonders of Nature by Ben Hoare and Encyclopedia of Animals by Jules Howard & Jarom Vogel. Interestingly I've also had a few requests on social media for a list of encyclopaedias and I have been keeping some for BookBairn to 'grow into' in my book archive (storage boxes in our shed!) as couldn't justify the shelf space until she got a little older so think I will dig those out and get working on a blog post/list on that topic!
So that's the things we have been loving at the moment! I'm hoping to be able to get back to writing. And finding my passion and enjoyment for blogging again so it's been great to highlight our favourites of the moment. I've popped a few links below to things I've mentioned in case you want to find them yourselves. And would love to hear of any little favourites below which have brought you a twinkling of joy!
So that's the things we have been loving at the moment! I'm hoping to be able to get back to writing. And finding my passion and enjoyment for blogging again so it's been great to highlight our favourites of the moment. I've popped a few links below to things I've mentioned in case you want to find them yourselves. And would love to hear of any little favourites below which have brought you a twinkling of joy!
Hope you're all staying safe and well,
And looking forward to writing again soon!
Kim x
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Glad you’re back blogging. We are in terribly difficult times and the bit for me is not to have regular direct contact with BookBairn and the Wee Page Turner. However, the contact through all the video calls, photographs and videos really, really helps and the blog will add to all that. It’s great to see the interest that they both have in nature. I loved nature and birds in particular as a child. In fact my interest in birds has been rekindled with my daily walks. It’s Spring and there is so much activity in the garden, hedgerows and woods. I’ve resurrected my Collins book of Scottish Birds by Valerie Thom and I’m ticking off the birds as I spot them. The book is 20 years old and maybe I should update it. Any suggestions? Take care and stay safe.
ReplyDeleteWe have a bloomsbury one that is almost identical - I bought it because I thought it was the one you had! Got some new more kid friendly sticker ones coming for BookBairn today!
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