the second half of winter

Edie asks me every few days if it's 'still winter' and counting the weeks until spring has made me realise how short the seasons actually are, how they fly by and how in just six weeks it will be March the 1st. This winter's been a mild one and spring will soon be upon us, so with this in mind I'm trying to embrace this second half of winter. Even if I have an actual chilblain on my toe. Even if I hate getting up in he dark every day. Even if last week everything felt a bit rubbish.

Perhaps last week was a bit like that for most of us?

I've been thinking of ways we can enjoy the coming weeks more. Thinking of things we can do when it's darker and wetter and colder and you feel half human half slug. And not a healthy slug, a slug with a nasty cold.

I'm hoping for some dry evenings as the dark nights mean that you can see the stars before tea time. Edie's got the star gazing bug from some Cbeebies' show she's mad about so I'm going to wrap us up warm and take a flask of hot chocolate out to the garden on a clear night to look up at the twinkling stars. She wants a telescope for her birthday but it's hard to tell what's a passing fad and what could be a real interest with a four year old. Although the same can be said for me I guess, perhaps she's just like her mum.

I've always loved looking up at the night sky. That feeling is nuts, isn't it, when you've been staring upwards for a while, amazed by the beauty of our solar system, and then... boom, it hits you, how colossal the skies are and how minuscule we are and the ground kind of shifts beneath your feet and you have to go inside for a sit down and a cup of tea.

These few weeks will pass quickly as all weeks do these days and I want to snap out of this little funk I'm in. Perhaps the stars can help me to do this a little. Here's hoping for a twinkly, cosy, happy, second half of winter. X