The Joys of Summer

I’d almost forgotten the thrill of seeing an ‘Etsy Transactions’ mail land in my inbox! I think that the little break from running my own business was just what I needed to ignite the spark once again. I’m beginning to see that I need to schedule in time annually to take a break from my yarn dying and knitting. I seem to naturally have stages of being very involved in these activities and then really needing a break. 

I suppose that must be one of the keys to running a successful business at home. It is so easy to just go full-tilt 356 days a year. In the outside working world, people make sure that they have time off for holidays and weekends are reserved for home/family/hobbies – not seen as the time to get more work done. That’s a sure-fire way to burn out which is exactly what I did!

I am slowly building up my yarn stock again so hopefully, my shop will be well stocked with favourites and new colours soon. I feel very blessed to be able to have this little business and the way my customers have welcomed my dying efforts back has been touching. Every Skein I dye will end up going to someone who will invest time and effort into transforming it into something lovely. Isn’t that a nice thought?

Gosh! Let me tell you…it has been super warm this summer so far. Ugh! I definitely don’t function to my full potential in this heat. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying it because I am. I’m just noticing that I’m not running at optimum levels 😁. I’m not generally a weather-whinger because I always try to appreciate each season and what it has to offer to the fullest. And look what it has to offer us in our very own garden… the raspberries are doing so well. We are harvesting at least a handful a day and they are delicious. I will never buy shop-bought again. They are incomparable to homegrown. So where ever we are I will make sure I have a raspberry bed.

My pergola is heavy with climbing roses intertwining with sweet peas and clematis. The scent is just heavenly, especially late in the evening as the sun is setting and things are finally cooling down. I lie in bed with the windows flung wide open and the mixed floral scents drift in on the cool breeze. What a little summer joy!

The apples are coming along rather nicely too. I wasn’t sure we would have many apples this season because the tree wasn’t exactly laden with blossom in the spring. It’s an old tree riddled with canker and is living on borrowed time to be fair. So any fruit would have been appreciated. I do love an apple tree in the garden, there’s something about it. I think it might be since reading the most delightful book called The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill. It has nothing to do with magic, rather the apple tree in her country garden forms the anchor in a year-long narrative of the country year. It’s one of my favourite books to read. I’m busy reading it for the 2nd time, it’s just lovely!

Another summer joy is being able to sit out until 9pm and watch the garden still buzzing with life. The birds and insects seem to make the most of these long summer days. I wonder if this rather warm summer will mean a cold winter for us this year. I love country-lore, you know, that wisdom that country folk used to have that came from observing nature and the patterns of the seasons. 

I hardly see my cats at the moment. They like to stay out all night and then mew at my window in the early hours to be let in so they can catch a few hours of sleep in comfort before heading outdoors again. One can hardly blame them, there must be so many interesting things to silently observe whilst hiding in the hedgerows and meadows.

I love to have flowers in my home and late spring and summer provide me with an abundance of cut flowers. It’s only from late autumn through to early spring that I have to buy flowers from my supermarket, although I do try to plan spring bulbs in the autumn to force and enjoy during the Christmas period and into the dark days of January. My favourite has to be hyacinths. 

This week we are enjoying bouquets of lavender, sweet peas and delicate heads of cow parsley. I have some daylilies about to bloom so they will make their way into a vase indoors next week sometime.

I know I missed my Frugal Friday post but that was by design. I’m thinking of rather making it a monthly post, I love living a frugal life and looking for ways to better utilise what God has blessed us with so I want to keep this little series going. I don’t want to run out of ideas 😉. If you have any frugal questions or topics you would like to hear my thoughts on then please do leave them in my comments.

Have a lovely weekend all. I’ll be back here next week.