The last week of September - I will remember

The start of the heat wave..I've been determined to leave the shed more this week. On Tuesday dh and I set of for a short walk as soon as the children left for school, it took longer than usual because I kept seeing things and views that I just had to take a picture of with my mobile phone. Not quite the right "in the moment" attitude but I am glad I had it with me.

These dried seed heads caught my eye high up above my head as we walked deep into a heavily shaded single track road before we climbed up onto a field to walk back into North Walsham

 

I don't remember the skies being this blue throughout the summer.

On Thursday evening after school we gathered swimsuits and supplies to drive the 10 minutes to Bacton beach for a family BBQ. We forgot plates and cups but it didn't matter. A special week.

 My daughter and son making the most of the warm pools the tide had left behind

 I love the shape of my shadow now that I look at it here: it reminds me of my wooden angels!

I made an effort to plan my workload properly this week so that I could begin to change my  "I must work at all times" default position. It's been an eventful week in many ways. The trauma of being asked a very difficult question about the Tooth Fairy by my newly 7 yr old daughter, our escaped rabbit (who later came back to be caught!!) mixed with the uplifting effects of a walk, two beach visits and my yoga class this morning and the heat has made it a memorable week. How can it be October tomorrow!?

This is a small proportion of the commissions I had to finish this week. Even though like everyone else I dislike seeing Christmas products in the shops from August I am really happy to have these orders now. With the way I work...asking my superman Les to cut out my shapes, send them to me,  paint them with gesso, sand, then up to 4 layers of painted wood sanding in between coats :- it's inevitable that I will have to "go out of stock" of some items the nearer we get to the end of November.

How are you coping with Christmas orders?

I am thinking ahead more this year and aiming to prepare far more in advance. It's so tempting to have evenings off though... My excuse is that the bulb has blown in the kitchen and no one has remembered to buy a new one. It does seem to get dark almost instantly at 7pm which is rather odd with the giant sun this week. A strange mixture of Autumn and Summer. Memorable :)