The North Wind and the Sun

At the risk of being a blogging cliche and an English cliche, I am going to talk about the weather.  Well, what else do you start a chat with, particularly after being AWOL for 8 months?! 

Summer is almost upon us and we have finally had our taste of the warmer days to come.  Tarpaulin has been removed from our outdoor furniture and the flannel bed linen has been relegated to the airing cupboard in the bathroom, hopefully not to be shaken out until at least October.

This evening as we were walking the dog through the village I noticed how warm the sun still was when the wind died down.  The wind, however, was especially chilly and made the evening feel cold.  

Whenever we have very warm sun and cold wind I am always reminded of my lovely old headmaster at junior school and the stories that he would sometimes read in assembly for a special treat.  One of my favourites was an Aesop's fable, "The North Wind and the Sun".  

You will have heard the story, basically with the moral that force is less effective than gentler methods of persuasion.  I always think of the sun and the wind arguing, and the traveller whose coat they were trying to remove.  Of course, the sun has a smiling, serene, face and the wind has puffed out cheeks and angry eyebrows.  Then my mind wanders to Mr McNulty at the front of the school hall and the yellow papers containing the collection of short stories that he would unfold at the end of an assembly.  I never tired of hearing those stories.  I don't think any of us did.  We children would cheer when he brought out those yellow papers.  I daydream about sitting cross-legged on the highly polished parquet flooring in the main hall and the dust motes that could be seen as the sun streamed in through the tall, narrow, windows.  I would pick at the scabs on my knees, prod the bruises on my legs, smooth my cotton skirt and fiddle with the lace trimming my ankle socks.  All whilst blissfully listening to my beloved headteacher read from those exciting yellow papers.

I am a sentimental girl, it's true, but summer evenings make me especially nostalgic about my childhood and those gorgeously long summer days.  

I love living in the countryside at this time of year - baby birds, cow parsley and early morning farm traffic all make me feel so joyful and peaceful.  And that's all I really need at the moment; joy and peace.

Thanks for popping by.  Have a lovely week.

Nicki 

x

PS I am sorry for the lack of photos.  I have put off blogging for the last few months due to lack of suitable photographs.  I don't carry a camera around with me and I'm often too caught up in what I'm doing to actually take a photo of it anyway, especially one good enough for a page on the actual world wide web. So I just decided to go for it and waffle a bit.  Sans photos.  Figured you'll forgive me, because you're a nice bunch.  I do, after all, blog mostly for myself and I can cope with mental imagery when I read back through my posts.  I have made a little pact with myself, though, to make my  DSLR more accessible and I will pop it in my bag more often to capture some of the lovely moments I am blessed with in my life.  

Wish I'd had my camera when Drew accidentally skidded across the caravan's wet verandah in the rain last week.  Nearly wee'd myself laughing.