Harvest Festival time so it must be autumn.
Awesome Kaffe Fassett exhibition at Mottisfont, St Mary’s Church in Amport before the school’s Harvest Festival service (and I’m still singing the songs in my head!!), finding the Littlest half way up the tree outside school, taking a walk with Jemima after school, our crazy pumpkin ‘tree’, slug time, another lovely dog walk in another beautiful wood.
Looks like summer is definitely over – no Indian summer this year! But we’re making the most of the last few weeks of light evenings.
GD at Andover Lawn Tennis Club’s 2017 Championships, our incredibly impressive pumpkin patch!, back on the road to Sparsholt for netball (at least the countryside is glorious), another year with FoTT (not the best year, but we’re all still here), walking back from tennis with the Eldest, another dog walk with my buddy 😊, the Littlest before school.
The last few days of the summer holidays and it already feels as if autumn is here. And another school year begins; a better one we hope.
Our first day home and the fields behind us are being harvested, succulent blackberries, Littlest being taken to school by one of her big sisters, the harvest, a last dragonfly of the year, all the Tribe back to school (the Eldest missed 6 months of year 10) – a really special day and yes, I did have a big lump in my throat, but a smile in my heart, ‘look what I found!’ the Littlest with huge mushroom!
The end of the holiday – good to be together; not all plain sailing, but moving in the right direction I hope.
Outside our final stop at the fabulous Le Manoir de Bonningues, swallowtail butterfly, fun at the nearby beach & lake, Littlest with her daddy, our stunning pool, another holiday ‘pet’, another family lunch.
Beginning to relax …
Condom is a beautiful town that has an unfortunate name, but it obviously makes us laugh every time so we are just another silly family that’s stopped to take a photo, happy days at Domaine de Lassalle, coffee at our favourite bar in Gimont.
Time to escape the return of the British summer as we head south for a much needed family holiday.
On our own ‘pilgrimage’ to Lourdes, we did drive a very, very long way!, the Littlest with friend on the south coast before heading to France, returning to the blissfully beautiful Domaine de Lassalle, lunch, the Littlest, my Tribe.
I definately found more joy in this week. The weather must have helped, but there was certainly more laughter despite the Eldest still being in hospital.
Lots of fun in the pool including swimming before school (definately a great way to start the day!), the Boy getting his Tennis’s leader’s certificate, the Littlest showing the same determination as her siblings at sports day and representing her house in the school’s annual Poetry & Prose Competition, taking Barnaby Bear to the village shop.
A tough week – taking photos was not on top of my priority list. So this was what I did take.
The sun going down over the water meadows, a rainbow (a little bit of hope perhaps?), Mill Lane sign surrounded by elder still in bloom, Holly hiding, seasoned logs, blowing bubbles, Jemima off hunting.
Looking at these photos you’d have thought we didn’t have a care in the world – just goes to show you how pictures don’t really give you the whole picture. Thank god for the resilience of children.
Hanging out with Ella the unicorn, finding Hiro curled up in a bowl, our neighbouring sheep, big brother collecting the Littlest from school, missing the Eldest at Broughton Water Buffalo farm, finding toads and frogs.
