Irene, 11, is growing up. We had a perfectly lovely evening with friends. I was about to say that I had so enjoyed my conversations when Irene, who was already in the car, her Ipod (which has the Anne of Green Gables series) in her ears, announced with extreme disgust, “Well, THAT was a WASTE of an evening.” I laughed, wanted to scold her, then remembered making v. similar observations at her age, and laughed again.
Hopefully, she’ll get her teenagerishness out of her system early, and be a wonderful 13 year old. I do believe it!!

I have thoroughly enjoyed the 5 years we have lived in the English countryside, in Garsington. One of my favourite novels (if it can be called a novel) Naipaul’s “The Enigma of Arrival” deals with a similar idyll.

 Jesus, I just want to hang out with you.
I don’t want to say anything
I don’t want to ask anything
I just want you.

Want to hear what you say,
Curl up like a cat against you
And just relax with you,
In your presence.

Jesus.

Sundays! Oh the immense relief of a day in which one doesn’t have to do anything, achieve anything, write a book, make a fortune, bake a cake!

A day to do nothing but rest and be! To remember that incredibly God enjoys us just as we are. The relief of that!

Sabbaths, well-observed, (or even “mediocrely” observed, since we are no longer under the law, but under grace!) are a sheer gift!

Our family owns a publishing company. I write books, and have monetized blogs. So the boundaries between life and work are flexible, always interruptible with an email.

So Sundays are particularly blessed. A time to sit back, relax and trust God to bless the labours of the last week, and the week to come.

Taking one day off out of seven to rest is an act of trust in God to bless and multiply your efforts on the other six.

 Glory be for self-seeding nasturtium


Irene’s little nasturtium patch, planted last year, is now blooming orange. And her sunflowers have also self-seeded. Beauty persistent in the universe against all odds!

Well, here was a magical moment. I looked into the hutch and said, “There’s a baby rabbit there!” Roy and Zoe denied it, but at last saw a little sweet black rabbit. We looked into the nest, and there were three more. So that was why fat little Empress became so thin. We thought she was dying, so have been giving her lots of treats for the last 2-3 days, thankfully. The rabbits must be 2-3 weeks old.

One is black, with a little white; one white with a little black, and two brown and white. Empress is black and white, and Bandit is brown and white.

Now to find out what to feed baby rabbits!!

Yay, Zoe and Irene have grown up!! We overheard them argue this morning, “Zoe, you can have the bigger bit of the sweetie.” “No, Irene, you can have the bigger bit of the sweetie.” Irene scolds us when we go to Zoe’s favourite restaurants when she’s out playing with her friends. I guess they’ve become allies against parents who give them money for cafe dinners while they dash off to parties etc. Summer busyness!