rare bits of sunshine

I hastened to capture these last week, sensing I had only minutes left before the sun would be gone.

How the days seem to rush by…at work between meetings and deadlines and a new baby (my co-worker’s) and at home between resting and planning and preparing.
All sewing and making has only been going on inside my head since we found a new place (which shows how behind I am with posting). At the weekends we are too busy decluttering our home. It’s unbelievable just how much stuff accumulates when you live in the same place for 5.5 years. And a small space at that! We’re ruthlessly getting rid of everything we don’t use any more or have multiples of or simply don’t like the look of any more. It’s liberating but exhausting. Just one more weekend should do it though. My dream home would be having just as much stuff as we actually need and use and not one item more.
Liberating, and exhausting, but fun, too.

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random weekend shots

It’s a gray and quiet sunday morning with rain hammering against the windows (again), perfect for recapping a quite eventful saturday.
My friend Dana and I had made plans to go thrifting and met up at her mom’s place about an hour’s drive away from us. At least it would have been an hour’s drive if I hadn’t gotten stuck in a traffic jam on a blocked autobahn. But I made it there at last and settled down for a cup of tea in her mom’s cozy kitchen.

I love her apartment, it’s simple and so comfy with all the handmade and thrifted items in it.

We usually get to the thrift store with fuller cars than when we leave, because we always donate stuff. I’m a big fan of decluttering and getting rid of useless or unused stuff (I’m actually planning a post on that) and since our family and friends know that we make these thrifting trips regularly they often ask us to take some of their stuff to donate as well.
I’m always planning to take pictures of our full trunks or of the thrift store itself, but once I get there I forget. I’m just too eager to get started treasure hunting! We were quite successful again this saturday and when the endless rain lets off I hope to get some pictures of the stuff we bought.
Dana’s mum has a sweet (and newly pregnant!) icelandic horse, which she keeps at a nearby farm so we stopped by there and met some very cuddly goats.

That farm also has my dream veggie garden. They even planted a few of my tomato seedlings (not pictured) under rain cover and I was amazed to see how huge they had grown. They were as tall as me and laden with fruit. Especially the green zebra and yellow ones looked just so healthy and different that I realized that these really weren’t types that would thrive in a container.

We then drove on to another barn and watched Dana’s mum have a riding lesson, which was quite different to the lessons we’re used to, since icelandic horses are ridden so differently.

We met sweet horses and dogs and then went on to yet another barn in the neighbourhood where a speed rodeo was being held. Some of the people and horses from our barn back home were participating and we went to see them ride and cheer them on.

Just about as perfect a day as it gets for me. Filled with simple pleasures like having a cup of tea in a cozy kitchen, spending the day with wonderful, warmhearted and uncomplicated people, being around a variety of friendly animals to cuddle and play with and just taking the time to enjoy the rare bits of warm sunshine.
After a week in a dynamic and exciting but also challenging and at times hectic work environment a day like this is what grounds me and what makes me realize again and again what it is that makes me happy (it’s easy to forget sometimes isn’t it, getting caught up in day-to-day routines.)