sun’s back

After weeks and weeks of heavy cloud and persistent rain, the sun has returned.

My washing line is heaving and I’m finding much pleasure in the fact that all those toddler stains are being sun-bleached. All the windows are open, the wardrobes are finally getting some attention and I’m slowly preparing for the school holiday downtime.

I dropped Poet at her classroom this morning and the weariness of end-of-term was evident on every child’s face. As I stood in the doorway for a few moments I watched her teacher as she answered questions, disciplined students, received notes and gave orders. My goodness, kindergarten teachers really do work hard as they gently guide the little ones through the school day.

We all need a break from the school run and a good few weeks of easy, slow days. And while Term 1 has flown by I have noticed, especially in the past fortnight, that patience is low and tempers are flaring. I’m not sure if turning the clocks back during the term was such a good idea considering we’ve had some very early mornings and hence by 6:30pm we’re all very ready for bed (even if some of us don’t think so!).

Alas, this morning it was worth getting up early as that distinctive autumn light made its way around the side of the house and bathed us all in warmth as we ate porridge.

Tomorrow marks the end of school which means we’ll head to the library in the afternoon to stock up on holiday reads and then we’ll spend the weekend and the first part of next week doing…not much at all. The best part is that Daniel will be home for eleven days straight! There’s been far too much solo-parenting around here and I’m very much looking forward to sharing the load for a while.

I imagine that the next fortnight will involve the washing of woollens and flannelette to welcome cooler nights, many apple and pumpkin-inspired treats and a lot of time spent reading.

I love this time of year.