Jolly June

And after her came jolly June, arrayd,
All in green leaves, as he a player were;
Yet in his time he wrought as well as playd,
That by his plough-yrans mote right well appeare;
Upon a crab he rode, that did him beare
With crooked, crawling steps an uncouthe pase,
And backwards yode, as bargemen wont to fare
Bending their force contrary to their face;
Spencer

Well, so far it has been a jolly June. The weather has improved and we've been able to take the children for country walks in the evening after tea. For me, this is a real treat, I love to walk but not in too much heat and it was good to see the woods deserted and quiet but the fields around the wood full of contrasting busy-ness with all the farmers "making hay whilst the sun shines". The little one has had a busy time of it too, it seems that we are full-on preparation for her starting school in September. We went to a teddy bears' picnic yesterday (see her bear and the cakes she made *nearly* all by herself in the picture above) and whilst the children were enjoying puppet show and bouncy castles and face painting the talk amongst the mothers was all about previous night's meeting regarding induction to primary school. And, whilst I watched her bouncing with gleeful abandon and listened to the chat about which class teacher the children will have, and how the head teacher seemed nice, I felt as though it was the end of something rather than the beginning. I'm not glum, just a little wan.

But like Spencer's personification of June we have "wrought as well as playd". The garden needs a fair amount of tending as the combination of wet and sun has made both the flowers, veg and the weeds grow with a lushness you only really find in June. We are eating strawberries (sharing them with the huge cheeky pigeons which seem to like them too...I really must net my strawberries) and soon I will be in full-on jam making mode. I have wine racked up too, but I shan't wax lyrical on the pleasures of home-made wine until I've actually tasted it!lol! Also (more fun for the kids, but a little work for mum and dad) we have our church open day coming up this weekend. The little one likes to call it "big fun day"...barbeques, bouncy castles, fair trade stall, cake stall, tombolas...well you know the kind of thing I mean. I'm manning the fair trade stall, but I am also in the middle of baking for England (or at least Warwickshire) for the cake stall and refreshments, but you lot know how much I love to bake so it is hardly like work at all!
Lastly, I would like to thank you all for the interesting comments you gave on the previous post about technology. I wasn't really expecting too many as I couldn't quite express what I wanted to say! Anyway, some of you may be interested in this post I found whilst googling the book Zillah recommended in her comment. It's about internet use and the idea of community and friendship. I find the older I get the more community minded I become (is it because my children are getting older ?). I came to the internet myself simply because I found the idea of an online community very comforting (and interesting!!!) but as the years have gone by I have found myself becoming judgmental and cynical about the internet community...and I hate these traits in myself. It is probably easier for me to be judgmental when I am not face to face with a person, but the point is this: the people I communicate with over the internet are people, with a little bit of God's goodness in them, people loved by their Creator. We can change the world through love, so although I may speak out on some subjects (the rights of the child and green issues are always going to be part and parcel of my make-up) I pray that I will no longer judge the people who don't agree with me, but recognise their value and innate capabilities, differences and talents.