Pause for Thought

When I write these weekly ‘Pause for Thought’ posts, sitting at the kitchen table, I ask myself what good things happened this week, what caught my eye, what made me stop in my tracks to admire it,  what made me smile? It’s so easy for the weeks to fly by and then conclude that nothing much really happened, when on closer reflection, maybe some things did happen. When I first started blogging, that was the purpose of my blog – to  celebrate ‘the little things’ and if blogging and photography has taught me anything , it’s that slowing down to observe and appreciate the everyday is  a very worthwhile exercise.

This week I’m celebrating …

1. A clean space – regular readers will probably have noticed that I’ve been downsizing my stuff, so much so that last Monday, a precious day off, was spent cleaning and clearing out more belongings that I simply no longer need or want.  At first I resented having to spend time doing this but I kept going. Then, late afternoon, the sun streamed through the kitchen window, illuminating a lovely clean space and I felt like a weight had been lifted.

2. Sunday morning sunlight…so welcome I was out of the house and on my walk by 8:30 am, heading out the back road along the hill, the road to myself ( only to realise it was a tad chillier than I’d prepared for !).

3. The golden tones of a flower that was…

4. Light through the hedgerow…

5. A Celtic cross…

6. Baking a cake that turned out well – a rare ‘domestic goddess’ moment :-). You can find the recipe for this walnut, date and honey cake here.  Simple to make and tastes so good.

6. Discovering a new quote…by Sigmund Freud.

‘Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts’ , discovered while reading ‘Gardening for Mindfulness’ , a book, as the name suggests, about how to practice moments of mindfulness while gardening.  Full of beautiful photography and inspiring quotes, it’s a lovely read for this time year while we, (or is it just me) wait patiently for the gardening year to start again. You can find the book here.

Well, that’s my round up for this week. What’s caught your eye or made you smile this past week? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Have a lovely Wednesday x