the summer we never had

I’ve been talking about our rainy rainy summer a lot, but it seems nature has granted our wishes for a beautiful indian summer. Though the trees are turning golden and the streets are already covered in leaves we have been having more sunshine this week than the whole summer.

Not willing to lose a minute of the last warm days of the year I spent the whole saturday at the river with some girlfriends.

You can’t really swim in the Rhine in our parts (well, you can, but you’re likely to drown because of the strong currents), but we soaked up sunshine and warmth for the colder days to come.

(reading this book)

A perfect day and so needed.
(We also did about five loads of laundry, including bedding and blankets, jumping at the chance to get a load or two dry each day. Just keeping it real here.)

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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.

glimpses of indian summer

The weather forecast promises some nice and sunny days and I hope that after a rainy summer we’ll get some beautiful fall days.

I do need a nice weekend to do some much needed gardening (all those rainy days have made me neglect my balcony so it’s in a pretty sorry state right now).

I’ve also wanted to do a little photo shoot with a friend for weeks and the weather never cooperated.

It’s been a pretty exciting week at work but after coming home exhausted a couple of nights in a row (“more dead than alive” as my boyfriend calls it) I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend with gardening, sewing, reading and taking photos.

pie weather

First time this year eating outside in sunshine with friends.

And enjoying homemade apple pie on Sunday.

We’re having lovely sunshiny spring weather with warm days and cold nights. Shame I’m doing a 5-day course in labour law this week. Sitting still inside all day without sunlight, for hours, until you’re about ready to scream…but then being able to drive out to the barn and stretch your muscles and have a riding lesson outside in the fresh air and the fading light of a beautiful spring day. Bliss.

sunshine days at the barn

Goofing around and soaking up sun.

by the lake

A day could not possibly go wrong waking up to light like this



For all our technology, the difference a sunny day makes…

spring

We are soaking up the spring sunshine around here on a long weekend and watching the first green poke its head through layers of muddy brown and grey.

A miracle, every year again.


The woods are working their magic.


To another day full of sunshine before it’s back to the office tomorrow.

horses and sunshine

The beautiful sunny but icy weather continues. It was so good to be out in sunshine two days in a row! The horses had gotten their shots the other day, so we just took them for a stroll through the woods.
I can’t describe just how much I love this photo:

It was late afternoon and the sun was already deep in the sky.

Our woods at the barn are so beautiful and though the route is always the same, they look different every sunday.

I can so read his thoughts here (“Wonder how that branch over there tastes and if I’ll manage to distract her so I can sneak a bite”):

Lots of trees have come down during the long snowy weeks so even our usual paths are a bit of an adventure these days.

I live for these days.

winter walk

Winter has returned but this time with lots of sun and minus the snow.




After enjoying the crisp air and sunshine, tea and cake seemed a good idea. I think I’ll do a food post soon.


I’ve been feeling a bit tired lately, so there’s not a whole lot going on during the week except working and sleeping and eating. I think it’s a mixed result of days with little light and still coming to terms with last year and all the changes that happened. Though it is all good now I find it does take quite some time to work through all of that both mentally and physically. And my preferred way to rest has always been sleeping, so that is what I’ve been doing 🙂

patches of blue sky

The first in what feels like months.


The horses are feeling the change in the air too. We hadn’t been outside for weeks and the pony went eagerly. He was put out that I wouldn’t allow him just a tiny bit of galloping, but we were all a little too high on sunshine and fresh wind for that today.