Three Beautiful Things

1. We come to the spot in the forest which I think of as Instagram Corner because it features in so many shots of wholesome family activities. There is already a man sitting on the bench breathing deeply. We keep our distance and stand watching rain clouds coming in from Sussex.   2. Alec says that when they came here on a school trip, everyone spread out and ran down this hill. 3. I'd told everybody that we were going on a proper walk with no stopping but somehow we end up standing around watching the children poking clots of dead leaves out of a stream. 

1. Bettany earnestly tells us about a Frozen  fan theory she has discovered today.  2. Alec lowers his lanky limbs into the bath until nothing is showing among the bubbles except his head. 3. A long refreshing phone call with a friend.

1. I hit send on an email to my goddaughter and see that while I was writing her mother had sent me a message. 2. 'No, Mummy, cuddling you is more important.' 3. Our neighbour calls me because she is upset about the trees behind our house being taken down. Talking it over helps us put our feelings  into words that we can -- perhaps -- use to help repair this situation.

1. On a crisp morning to leave the house alone and just walk. 1b. Alec comes up to tell me about a time-management disaster -- PE, assembly, a picture of a Mayan temple and all this English, and I've only got ten minutes. (I find out later that he's been sending gifs to his friend on messenger instead of getting on with his school work.) To tell him to take the easiest task first and let the rest follow. I'm hoping that perhaps these low-stakes experiences will help him avoid rougher times in future.  2. There is an Australian playing the Star War March on bagpipes in Bettany's Beavers meeting -- because of course there is. 3. To settle on the sofa with Nick and watch BBC Scotland's Burns Night concert. Eddi Reader's wild  Charlie is My Darling has always been a bit of a favourite on my playlist, but I can't bear to listen to her achingly sad John Anderson  except on this one night. 

1. It snows a tiny bit -- hard white pellets that are nearly hail and just enough to turn the ground white, but not for very long. The children run outside to the carpark and play in it before it vanishes. 2. Alec is almost too grown to sit on my lap, but he still finds a way to arrange himself. 3. I open an origami book on a project that calls for paper we don't have. But somehow, because Bettany wants to do it, we end up experimenting, and tweaking until we've made it.

1. The wind is still high but I can hear birdsong behind it, despite everything. 2. To half-listen to Bettany on a Zoom call chatting with one of her friends. 3. To go to bed early and just read.

1. Alec checks the meal plan to make sure I've included the pasties he wants to cook for us. 2. To put a new edge on a kitchen knife and then use it to slice a tomato. 3. 'I feel like a playboy,' says Nick as he replaces the white sheet on our bed with a dark blue one. But playboys miss out on brushed cotton duvet sets, so we're one up on them. And it's possible that bedmaking is not part of the playboy lifestyle.