Category: Summer

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · general stuff · Summer · wildlife

Late Summer

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)15 Comments

Our summer days have merged into a flow of lazy, mostly at home days and I’m at that point in the school summer hols where I can no longer remember which day of the week it is.

We’ve been spending lots of time outside; swinging gently in the shade or lazing on a picnic blanket in the garden; walking in the woods and over hills; riding on the little steam train near here and eating lots of ice-cream. It’s been mostly relaxing and Toby is coping. He’s also beginning to adapt to the lack of pudding that I mentioned in the previous post and though it’s still a work in progress it looks like petit filous yoghurts are becoming his new pudding of choice, which is a great relief!

Out in the garden things have been really productive this year. I’m still picking french beans, raspberries, rocket and kale and the cylindrical beetroot that I planted from seed has done really well and is deliciously fresh – seems I’m not the only one to think that either. Everything is still flowering too, the little oregano flowers are attracting lots of bees, hoverflies and butterflies and we’ve been watching the rapid growth of a surprise self-seeded sunflower.

There’s even been a little knitting going on: I’ve finally finished and blocked a shawl that has been languishing in a bag for a year or more (Dream Stripes by Berangere Cailliau, details here); have quite a few pairs of socks on the go, as I’m clearly still under the spell of the sock knitting fairy (above are Wildflower and Honeycomb socks by Olivia Villarreal, details here) and there have even been a few animals emerging from my knitting basket too (more on that another time).

We’ve got exactly a week left until school starts again so we’re just going to keep things simple here and try to savour the last summer break days, because days of warmth and sunshine are now numbered for this year. Mornings are becoming hazier and cooler, the evenings are shortening noticeably and the leaves in the woods are taking on that late summer dusty green. Autumn is waiting in the wings.

 

PS: I knew there was something I’d forget and that’s the pictures of the tiny cucamelons that a kind friend gave to me as seedlings. Incredibly and despite unwanted attention from slugs, snails and squirrels they actually have tiny fruits!

autism · food and Drink · Summer

The great pudding crisis

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)19 Comments


Being autistic, Toby’s life is governed by a requirement for routine, especially when it comes to food. In his mind certain foods go together and can never be eaten alone, for instance crisps must always come in a bowl with a chaser bowl of marshmallows and petit filous yogurts must be eaten in pairs, first a raspberry one and then a strawberry one. He likes the same tea every day after school (or for lunch at weekends and school hols); first a crispy baked potato with the potato flesh scooped out and mashed with tuna and mayo to a consistency that is crumbly and not too wet. The mash is always eaten first and then before he eats the skins his plate must be cleared from the table. Next comes a slice of chocolate fudge cake on a pink plate and after a drink comes pudding eaten with a well worn blue spoon.

Now when I say pudding you’ve probably guessed that it has to be a particular kind and you’d be absolutely right. Pudding to Toby has always been Hipp Organic apple and blueberry baby food and he has eaten a jar of it every single day since he was around 5 months old. Now to my reckoning that means he will have consumed around 5,475 jars of this baby food over the last 15 years and that will be a conservative estimate as some days he has one after his evening meal too! Though not any longer it seems. In fact Hipp organic are about to wonder why sales of their apple and blueberry puds have fallen off a cliff because unfortunately for Toby they have changed not just the packaging (which has always caused him temporary consternation in the past) but also the fundamental taste with a brand new recipe. Poor Toby is bewildered to say the least and mealtimes look like being difficult for him until I can find a replacement pudding that fits the bill. Still it is an opportunity to introduce something a little more age-appropriate and I won’t miss the funny looks I get in the supermarket when I have a basket full of baby food!

Anyway, apart from pudding catastrophes (and a distinct lack of summery weather) we’ve been having a good summer so far, busy with the usual summer activities of plum jam making, garden time, wood walks and visits to the local garden centre for rides on the miniature steam train and then an ice-cream. All in all Toby is coping with the change in routine, hopefully that will continue for the other half of the school hols and hopefully there is a perfect pud for him out there somewhere, please keep your fingers crossed 🙂

 

garden stuff · Summer · wildlife

thunder moon

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments


July’s full moon is known to some as the ‘thunder moon’ and that has been most appropriate this week.

Overall this year has been really dry and when rain has been forecast it’s either completely evaporated before reaching us or we’ve just had a short shower. This last week has had a different story though and we’ve had several summer storms that have swept in quickly with dark, ominous clouds bearing torrential rain. Roads have been dramatically turned into rivers and the windows shaken by the loud thunder before the storm has headed off over the horizon leaving a wonderful sunset and the sound of dripping leaves.

It’s been good frog weather, which has pleased Toby who finds a hopping frog to be the funniest thing on the planet, though if they hop in his direction and get too close he is liable to panic and run away squealing. The rain has been great for the garden too, everything is green and growing fast with flowers attracting lots of visitors.

This week has also seen a welcome slowing to the pace of life here. The last month has been really busy as we’ve been taking Amy up and down the country to visit various University open days. She has a year left of A levels before she leaves school and hopes to go on and study English and creative writing, which would be perfect for her as she’s always written the most wonderful stories and has a flair with words. Hopefully everything will come together for her during this next year and she’ll be starting a new chapter in her own personal story. The departure of a grown child is a strange time for a family though and is contrasting the very different needs of our two children even more than before; one ready to fly the nest and begin a new independent existence and one becoming even more dependent with the ending of the school years. It is what it is though and we are excited for Amy as she starts to make plans and preparations for her future, whilst trying not to dwell too much on how quickly the years fly by.