Magical May

There is something magical about May, it's the time when I am drawn back to my childhood, to when I was a child whose only responsibilty was having fun. I fall back in love with the books I would have read seated in the dappled shade beneath the plum tree or pear tree in our back garden, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Famous Five, Anne of Green Gables, the Diddakoi and good old Nancy Drew. I can almost taste the homemade chocolate cake, homemade strawberry jam smothered on crusty bread and sugary orange squash.
It is this, I think, that encourages me to recreate those memories for my children, picnics at the beach, or the Secret Garden, barbecues, walks by the river and through bluebell and wild garlic woods.

This year is very different for us, child 1 has made her way through India, Vietnam, Cambodia and is now exploring Thailand, child 2 is working and studying, spending time with his friends. Leaving the two youngest to be entertained.

So we head for a walk to the Secret Garden, no 4 has just found his imagination, sometimes he is a pirate other times an astronaut. Today he found a stick which became a gun to shoot zombies, then a sword to kill them again when they came back to life. Yes I did check all the parent controls on Amazon, You Tube and Netflix when I got home, phew all parenting controls are in place!!! We hunted fairies, monsters and magical creatures in the woods, we studied the tiny still curled up leaves on the vivid fronds of the ferns that grow beneath the trees, we collected pine cones and picked pretty blossoms that had spiralled in the wind. Child 4 climbed trees, slid down muddy slopes and played hide and seek amongst the trees. We stood silently listening to the cacophony of bird song, chatter and calling. I had never noticed so many different sounds, then we chased bright blue dragon flies that dipped and dived above where we picnicked.

We have played cricket, football, piggy in the middle. We have laid down in the cool grass looking for shapes in the downy clouds that dawdle across the bright blue sky. We have chased our shadows and jumped from sunny spot to sunny spot where the sun finds gaps between the dense branches to highlight magical steps for us to follow.

We pick pungent wild garlic to add to our pasta for dinner and find tiny green wild strawberries clustering in brightly lit corners a taste of summer to come.

We have explored rock pools and skimmed stones. We have collected shells and fossils. We have journeyed across rocky beaches and cliff tops. Oh the picnics we have gorged. The ice creams we tried.

On a wet day we baked strawberry jam tray bakes and built a den under the table where we picnicked until the sun broke through the dense rain laden clouds letting us search for rainbows.

These are the moments where life slows right down, where we live not cursing the past or worrying about the future, this is where we live and love right now.

Perfick