Oh, Susie. How deeply I understand your plight. We have 6 more weeks of the semester left to plod through. This week, it’s suddenly 37 degrees and swealtering. I don’t know how we’ll get through this… I am SO happy that the little black cap had a happy ending. We all need more happy endings, don’t we? Sending love and hope from this side of our tiny planet. xx
As I send love and hope back to you Louise, we will both make it I’m sure, temperatures as high as these though make it a slow and arduous slog and the days seem relentless too - hang in there lovely, I will be cheering you along from the sidelines just as soon as I’ve finished!
More beautiful moments with happy endings would be hugely welcomed, maybe we need to create some once the holiday begins and bottle them for moments such as these… xxx
I think I may have beaten them this yearEmily, albeit temporarily but long enough to enjoy fresh strawberries for the first time in years! I carried them away to my little patch of woodland where it is still damp and there is plenty to eat too, they are welcome to gorge themselves there! xx
I am spellbound by garden anarchy and stunned blackcaps nurtured back to consciousness by your careful hands Susie. Thank you for sharing your escapes, as I escape with you from drudgery of a mountain of admin tasks that I know must be done soon, but not yet, not yet. Wandering your hill in stollen moments with you is such a joy and release. Only four more weeks… May they pass as quickly as smoothly as is possible 💛✨
This week it is rather less anarchic after super hot temperatures and blazing sun have dried everything to a wilted tangle… oh but Emily, despite the lack of vegetables, despite the fact that I have had to destroy all but four tomato plants and something large and hungry flew down from the sky and uprooted all my tiny lettuces, it looked so wild and beautiful, I found it hard to care about the rest… that is what French markets are for after all!
I do hope your admin tasks don’t take up your whole weekend, I completely understand the leaving them until the moment when they are no longer just a job but an urgent one - I am guilty every time, and regret it every time too! Wishing you speedy completion and time for wandering and writing - much love 💛xx
Thank you sweetie, I’m holding on tight, three weeks to go now - I can do this! I hope your weekend is cooler than ours, we have blistering temperatures here all of a sudden! xx
Susie, it sounds like you are doing far too much! Reading about all of that work on the video made me feel sad for you. That really is above and beyond. I definitely went above and beyond when I was teaching, but I drew the line at staying up into the wee hours. Please take care of yourself, as you pointed out there are quite a few weeks left!
Betty thank you for your kind and generous thoughts, I do way too much that steps beyond my role, I have never minded but I have to admit this video was absolutely my limit, I have been tweaking and editing all week, thought it finished only to find a spelling mistake on the very last scene…
Susie, sad and so grateful that you have to steal moments to share your lovely words with us. I am looking forward to your words from a place where you can rest for more than a few moments at a time. As for the insects, I am sure my neighbors wonder what I am about when they see me flicking off and into a bowl, those tiny red beetles that are eating up my lillies, then gently taping the snail's hard coat so she can let go and fall into my waiting hand and then rushing out our back gate into the park to deposit them farther away from my garden! Only to start over again the next day!
Dearest Jeannine, I am counting the days, there are 21 to go before you will undoubtedly hear my sigh of relief on the warm summer breezes floating around your garden... It feels like a long way to go, especially in this sudden arrival of summer heat but it will pass. A little more patience and a few less clothes...
I have the tiny red beetles too, and this evening found wood ants have eaten a hole so large in the trunk of my favourite plum tree I fear for its life. But, this evening, for the first time this week, my delight at not finding either slug or snail feasting on my strawberries was huge. I seem to have won a small battle this year, probably helped by the heat but I am feeling heroic! Now if only I can keep the birds from my mulberries... I hope you too are winning?
Oh Susie! I hope those days don't feel too long until you can relax...I will be listening for your sigh of relief! I thought I was winning the insect battle, until I saw the culprit who has been doing way more damage than those beetles and snails ! As I gazed out my bedroom window to look at the garden from a different height, I saw the cutest gopher…chewing up my flower bed!! I had to take a photo first, then rushed out to scare it away, and follow it to see where it was going! Lost it in the cedar hedge! So it lives somewhere between my garden and the neighbour’s house! It seems to love ‘campanules’, the tall ones, which are now flowerless stubs ! So sad! I totally understand about the birds and your mulberries ! I have to put up a net on my cherry trees, if I want to have some this summer! LoL!
That’s exactly how I feel, Susie! A few years ago we set up a trap to then bring the gopher farther away….we were lucky because we caught the mom and baby at the same time! I don’t want to imagine what would have happened had they not both walked into the cage at the same time! So this year my husband asked if we ought to set up the cage…I said no, not this year! I can’t even think of taking a chance of separating a mom and her babe! So I may try just spray some essential oils around the perimeter of my yard and hope that the strong smell keeps them away!
Oh Jeannine, thank goodness you caught them both… It’s such a huge battle of the conscience isn’t it. We caught a baby hedgehog last year, when we let it free it just sat and waited, I felt so bad I sat and waited on a chair without moving to ensure the mother came back… which she did quite quickly, so I cried again… awe only set traps now when someone is here to check them every hour… I simply couldn’t go through that again!
A gopher! How adorable Jeannine, although we don't have them here in France so I am saying that from a purely unaffected point of view and I have no feasible suggestions except perhaps human traps... I fear they may just return though.
I used to have the same battle with rabbits, they literally annihilated my garden two years on the trot! Eventually I put up rabbit proof fencing but then felt terribly sad because I so loved to watch them... I guess in the end there really is no beating nature without beating ourselves too.. xx
Susie, Your lovely stolen moments make music in my exhausted mind this afternoon. My darling daughter is finishing her last couple of weeks of teaching 5th grade humanities. This is her first year in the position and she is waiting patiently for it to end, while also feeling the crush of the students not finishing the needed curriculum. May you both breathe easier soon! I look forward to your summer missives! xoxo
Dearest Pamela, I was thinking of you earlier in the week as I was feeling crumpled and worn out from the heat and a constant barrage of complaints from overheated little ones; my thoughts were simply this, ‘imagine having to move homes from somewhere you loved, leave a garden you have nurtured… this is nothing by comparison, get a grip!’ And I did, right then and there…
I do hope your settling into your new surroundings, that the walls are beginning to hug you rather than hold fear for the future?
I know exactly how your daughter is feeling, please give her a hug from me. xx
Ahh Jo, you know something, I think I prefer the anarchy to the orderliness of rows of veggies! As much as I love to eat them when they’re ready, that wilderness of poppies and white campion seemed to belong just so much more beautifully. I am not sure I will even bother planting anything next year…I will just let nature take over and dance to the music it sings!
I am sure the paintbrush trick worked Jo, that and playing the songs of her friends too. It was a huge relief to see her fly away, not two hours earlier I found I tiny blue-tit dead in the lane, I couldn’t have borne two winged hearts leaving this mortal coil in one evening.
Thank you fro much for or those words, I have found the quote and pinned it to my screen… a necessary reminder! ♥️xx
🥰 By the way, and not least of importance Susie, Happy Birthday! 💛💃🌻
I recall that we are both Geminis. xx
I hope you managed to dance in the magical wildness and disorder of Life, in the beauty and abundance of your garden and your home. With love from New Zealand. xx
Thank you Jo, right back at you too… sadly no dancing will happen here (along with no writing is seems - although I keep trying) until summer holidays begin… I am buried in end of year papers and sheepy necessities, and damn its way too hot for any of it!
I hope your days are less crowded and birthday celebrations prevail! xxx
Dear Laura, thank you so much for reading and your kind comment, the gap between now and then lessens by the day, I cling only to the hope of arriving intact! three weeks to go… 🙏🏼
Beautifully written and photographed Susie - your closing tale of the blackcap is one of those reminders that I think mother nature brings us when life's pressures are dragging us down. What a wonderful way to end the day.
I completely agree Lin, too often we need a little nudge in the direction of natures humbleness, it is too easy to become wrapped up in unnecessary worries which really are simply just life stitches in need of a tiny knot to stop the fraying… the oh so tiny Blackcap made the perfect repair.
Thank you so much for being here, I hope your weekend is filled with little moments that bring a smile such as this.
Small birds are part of the Big Ask. 'Dirigiste' fails. Your garden/the hill is habitat. The children in your class are small I think? Their habitat is less than nourishing; perhaps your Kermesse contribution will add a nutrient here or there, like a paintbrush? (McGilchrist the other day said he regards hope as a duty.)
“Diriger et apprendre ne sont pas dissociables.” je suis toujours à leurs écoute Philip. And, indeed, my students are of the fledgling type too, they need often to exercise their wings in places not limited to learning. The Kermesse and hopefully ( I pray ) the video too will be nourishment and inspiration for future rebelliousness.
I also agree hope to be duty, today during disturbing events especially. Goodnight my friend, may your dreams be peaceful ones.
Thank you for birthday wishes Jonathan, yes, three weeks now and perhaps courage enough to count days too!
My belief just lost more threads… I feel so uncomfortable in my skin, so disgusted that a perpetrator of such horror to so many thousands doesn't even have the courage to stay in his country to support his people I feel we don't deserve this beautiful planet filled with beautiful humans... and I daren't even mention a certain birthday party costing millions for a person so devoid of sense and so vain he thinks the world should join in despite a war that he has backed.
I actually cried today... I am only surprised that I stopped. 😞
Thank all the gods of nature for dusky distances and tiny birds.
I won’t write one of my way too long comments, leaving you some extra precious minutes to use however you deem fit.( Do not worry, I’ll make up for it next time🤭). For now, I stand in solidarity and salute with my middle finger ,upper level management . Again, use it however you deem fit. Wipe your tears my friend, you are just too kind. I think you need to take my online course ; How to say no with a squeeze of a shoulder and a smile. And How to say no to a Fox. Final exam requirements ; practicum/field experience including keeping a weekly journal with live video presentations displaying a working knowledge of course material. Sweet dreams of tiny black velvet heads and chickadee tunes …
Thank you Lor, I have used your middle finger, combined with my own several times over last hallucinatory days... what the fuckety fuck ? Excuse my foulness... 🤭I know, I'll get the soap as soon as I've had my say...
I am still staggering in disbelief from the week past, a long story, too long for time allotted before eyes demand sleep attention but briefly; a message on my phone, a proposition from the hierarchy, a change for the sake of change, never worry about the children they tell me, they will adapt - perhaps, I say, but why should they go through inevitable regression whilst doing so when there is no necessity? I am emphatic in my reply... yet they demand reflection of a few days. No is No I say... still they want me to confirm.
I do so in hours, verify in writing they say... No is No I write back.
You're following I'm sure... I'm learning! Its taken 61 years but damn it felt good !
I haven't forgotten your garden, I'll be there when the smoke has died back with love xxx
Looks like this situation calls for reinforcements; sending my other hand with a middle finger salute. Once again, use it as you deem fit. Or, as my grandmother would say in Yiddish; "trog gezunterheit"_use it in good health. (Though I am fairly certain she would not have approved my use of her phrase in this particular instance 🤫).
You built a modern “galette de rois” Susie! I’m sure some kid would be delighted to find an ear bud (preferably two) baked into a cake.:)
My sincerest gratitude to you and all the tireless teachers of the world. The work you do is beyond any Silicon Valley endeavor, yet still so grossly unrecognized and under-rewarded. In my utopia teachers would be the highest paid positions in the world and each would have their own personal assistant and masseuse. 💛
"A modern “galette de rois”" you make me smile Kimberly... but yes, definitely two, with charging case of course!
I wish all teachers lived in your utopia!
I wish the efforts in unpaid long hours and responsibility to future generations were recognised as an importance beyond all others. I wish the curriculum we are forced to follow could be adapted to modern standards and the inevitable future that awaits. I wish the people we are governed by would spend even a few days in the environment we work to understand better our plea's and the crushing need for a massive reform, a necessity in todays continual and terrifying augmentation of children in difficulty...
And, while I wish, and wait, an assistant would be a godsend, a massage too... 🙏🏼♥️xx
Dearest Susie. I wish with all my heart and pray you would learn to say "NO" to anything that does not capture your heart and soul. I realize we have obligations that must be fulfilled. I believe the sweet birdie was a gift, a reminder to take a moment, quiet the stressful heart to reset, restore and renew your energy, mind and soul. Sending you love and light my Sweet Soul.
Darling I am so sorry to have missed your comment, between the not saying No, the lack time because of not saying No and the heat you are not the only one I have neglected to reply to… but this afternoon is so hot and sultry I am remedying all, or as much as I can that has been forgotten or put to one side, friends, and comments here Substack to begin with, then some quiet time reading in the dappled shade of my tiny woodland… a few moments of calm and peace in bird song will be perfect, from here and there I send you love and light and a huge Sunday hug… ♥️xxx
Oh, Susie. How deeply I understand your plight. We have 6 more weeks of the semester left to plod through. This week, it’s suddenly 37 degrees and swealtering. I don’t know how we’ll get through this… I am SO happy that the little black cap had a happy ending. We all need more happy endings, don’t we? Sending love and hope from this side of our tiny planet. xx
As I send love and hope back to you Louise, we will both make it I’m sure, temperatures as high as these though make it a slow and arduous slog and the days seem relentless too - hang in there lovely, I will be cheering you along from the sidelines just as soon as I’ve finished!
More beautiful moments with happy endings would be hugely welcomed, maybe we need to create some once the holiday begins and bottle them for moments such as these… xxx
Twenty seven slugs and fourteen snails is too many to share strawberries with. Relocation is a must for so many! 💛
I think I may have beaten them this yearEmily, albeit temporarily but long enough to enjoy fresh strawberries for the first time in years! I carried them away to my little patch of woodland where it is still damp and there is plenty to eat too, they are welcome to gorge themselves there! xx
I am spellbound by garden anarchy and stunned blackcaps nurtured back to consciousness by your careful hands Susie. Thank you for sharing your escapes, as I escape with you from drudgery of a mountain of admin tasks that I know must be done soon, but not yet, not yet. Wandering your hill in stollen moments with you is such a joy and release. Only four more weeks… May they pass as quickly as smoothly as is possible 💛✨
PS ‘stollen moments’ sound utterly blissful! 😂x
This week it is rather less anarchic after super hot temperatures and blazing sun have dried everything to a wilted tangle… oh but Emily, despite the lack of vegetables, despite the fact that I have had to destroy all but four tomato plants and something large and hungry flew down from the sky and uprooted all my tiny lettuces, it looked so wild and beautiful, I found it hard to care about the rest… that is what French markets are for after all!
I do hope your admin tasks don’t take up your whole weekend, I completely understand the leaving them until the moment when they are no longer just a job but an urgent one - I am guilty every time, and regret it every time too! Wishing you speedy completion and time for wandering and writing - much love 💛xx
Beautifully written and illustrated - your stolen moments are an absolute joy to read and watch! Hold on lovely xx
Thank you sweetie, I’m holding on tight, three weeks to go now - I can do this! I hope your weekend is cooler than ours, we have blistering temperatures here all of a sudden! xx
Sure you can! 💪🏼 Today is a bit cooler but we had 3 days of 30+ 😝
Have a wonderful Sunday! xx
You too lovely, its stormy and humid here today, most unpleasant for being anything but very still! I will try to make the most of it! xx
Susie, it sounds like you are doing far too much! Reading about all of that work on the video made me feel sad for you. That really is above and beyond. I definitely went above and beyond when I was teaching, but I drew the line at staying up into the wee hours. Please take care of yourself, as you pointed out there are quite a few weeks left!
Betty thank you for your kind and generous thoughts, I do way too much that steps beyond my role, I have never minded but I have to admit this video was absolutely my limit, I have been tweaking and editing all week, thought it finished only to find a spelling mistake on the very last scene…
Never again!
Enjoy you weekend, I’ve three weeks to go! xx
Susie, sad and so grateful that you have to steal moments to share your lovely words with us. I am looking forward to your words from a place where you can rest for more than a few moments at a time. As for the insects, I am sure my neighbors wonder what I am about when they see me flicking off and into a bowl, those tiny red beetles that are eating up my lillies, then gently taping the snail's hard coat so she can let go and fall into my waiting hand and then rushing out our back gate into the park to deposit them farther away from my garden! Only to start over again the next day!
Dearest Jeannine, I am counting the days, there are 21 to go before you will undoubtedly hear my sigh of relief on the warm summer breezes floating around your garden... It feels like a long way to go, especially in this sudden arrival of summer heat but it will pass. A little more patience and a few less clothes...
I have the tiny red beetles too, and this evening found wood ants have eaten a hole so large in the trunk of my favourite plum tree I fear for its life. But, this evening, for the first time this week, my delight at not finding either slug or snail feasting on my strawberries was huge. I seem to have won a small battle this year, probably helped by the heat but I am feeling heroic! Now if only I can keep the birds from my mulberries... I hope you too are winning?
I wish you a gentle weekend with love xx
Oh Susie! I hope those days don't feel too long until you can relax...I will be listening for your sigh of relief! I thought I was winning the insect battle, until I saw the culprit who has been doing way more damage than those beetles and snails ! As I gazed out my bedroom window to look at the garden from a different height, I saw the cutest gopher…chewing up my flower bed!! I had to take a photo first, then rushed out to scare it away, and follow it to see where it was going! Lost it in the cedar hedge! So it lives somewhere between my garden and the neighbour’s house! It seems to love ‘campanules’, the tall ones, which are now flowerless stubs ! So sad! I totally understand about the birds and your mulberries ! I have to put up a net on my cherry trees, if I want to have some this summer! LoL!
That’s exactly how I feel, Susie! A few years ago we set up a trap to then bring the gopher farther away….we were lucky because we caught the mom and baby at the same time! I don’t want to imagine what would have happened had they not both walked into the cage at the same time! So this year my husband asked if we ought to set up the cage…I said no, not this year! I can’t even think of taking a chance of separating a mom and her babe! So I may try just spray some essential oils around the perimeter of my yard and hope that the strong smell keeps them away!
Oh Jeannine, thank goodness you caught them both… It’s such a huge battle of the conscience isn’t it. We caught a baby hedgehog last year, when we let it free it just sat and waited, I felt so bad I sat and waited on a chair without moving to ensure the mother came back… which she did quite quickly, so I cried again… awe only set traps now when someone is here to check them every hour… I simply couldn’t go through that again!
Glad to read that I’m not the only one!! Have wonderful week!
You too 💚
A gopher! How adorable Jeannine, although we don't have them here in France so I am saying that from a purely unaffected point of view and I have no feasible suggestions except perhaps human traps... I fear they may just return though.
I used to have the same battle with rabbits, they literally annihilated my garden two years on the trot! Eventually I put up rabbit proof fencing but then felt terribly sad because I so loved to watch them... I guess in the end there really is no beating nature without beating ourselves too.. xx
Susie, Your lovely stolen moments make music in my exhausted mind this afternoon. My darling daughter is finishing her last couple of weeks of teaching 5th grade humanities. This is her first year in the position and she is waiting patiently for it to end, while also feeling the crush of the students not finishing the needed curriculum. May you both breathe easier soon! I look forward to your summer missives! xoxo
Dearest Pamela, I was thinking of you earlier in the week as I was feeling crumpled and worn out from the heat and a constant barrage of complaints from overheated little ones; my thoughts were simply this, ‘imagine having to move homes from somewhere you loved, leave a garden you have nurtured… this is nothing by comparison, get a grip!’ And I did, right then and there…
I do hope your settling into your new surroundings, that the walls are beginning to hug you rather than hold fear for the future?
I know exactly how your daughter is feeling, please give her a hug from me. xx
I love "dancing in the anarchy of your garden Susie." Stunning photo with pops of red.
Yay for the little bird. Did the paintbrush trick work? I also read Chloe's post.
Yay for your daughter coming home again at the end of the month.
Whether you love or hate him I find these wise words from Jordan Peterson:
"Saying no is not rejection - its preservation." ❤️
Ahh Jo, you know something, I think I prefer the anarchy to the orderliness of rows of veggies! As much as I love to eat them when they’re ready, that wilderness of poppies and white campion seemed to belong just so much more beautifully. I am not sure I will even bother planting anything next year…I will just let nature take over and dance to the music it sings!
I am sure the paintbrush trick worked Jo, that and playing the songs of her friends too. It was a huge relief to see her fly away, not two hours earlier I found I tiny blue-tit dead in the lane, I couldn’t have borne two winged hearts leaving this mortal coil in one evening.
Thank you fro much for or those words, I have found the quote and pinned it to my screen… a necessary reminder! ♥️xx
🥰 By the way, and not least of importance Susie, Happy Birthday! 💛💃🌻
I recall that we are both Geminis. xx
I hope you managed to dance in the magical wildness and disorder of Life, in the beauty and abundance of your garden and your home. With love from New Zealand. xx
Thank you Jo, right back at you too… sadly no dancing will happen here (along with no writing is seems - although I keep trying) until summer holidays begin… I am buried in end of year papers and sheepy necessities, and damn its way too hot for any of it!
I hope your days are less crowded and birthday celebrations prevail! xxx
I too am looking forward to your writing in the great wide open space of time! These dispatches you patch together in the in-between are so lovely.
Dear Laura, thank you so much for reading and your kind comment, the gap between now and then lessens by the day, I cling only to the hope of arriving intact! three weeks to go… 🙏🏼
Beautifully written and photographed Susie - your closing tale of the blackcap is one of those reminders that I think mother nature brings us when life's pressures are dragging us down. What a wonderful way to end the day.
I completely agree Lin, too often we need a little nudge in the direction of natures humbleness, it is too easy to become wrapped up in unnecessary worries which really are simply just life stitches in need of a tiny knot to stop the fraying… the oh so tiny Blackcap made the perfect repair.
Thank you so much for being here, I hope your weekend is filled with little moments that bring a smile such as this.
Small birds are part of the Big Ask. 'Dirigiste' fails. Your garden/the hill is habitat. The children in your class are small I think? Their habitat is less than nourishing; perhaps your Kermesse contribution will add a nutrient here or there, like a paintbrush? (McGilchrist the other day said he regards hope as a duty.)
“Diriger et apprendre ne sont pas dissociables.” je suis toujours à leurs écoute Philip. And, indeed, my students are of the fledgling type too, they need often to exercise their wings in places not limited to learning. The Kermesse and hopefully ( I pray ) the video too will be nourishment and inspiration for future rebelliousness.
I also agree hope to be duty, today during disturbing events especially. Goodnight my friend, may your dreams be peaceful ones.
Happy birthday!
Hold on now, loosely only will do, only four (three now perhaps) Mondays to go, then, ahhhhh, then…
Gossamer thin belief in the system got me smiling, but the “dusky violet dimness of distance,” pleased my writerly heart.
Thank you for birthday wishes Jonathan, yes, three weeks now and perhaps courage enough to count days too!
My belief just lost more threads… I feel so uncomfortable in my skin, so disgusted that a perpetrator of such horror to so many thousands doesn't even have the courage to stay in his country to support his people I feel we don't deserve this beautiful planet filled with beautiful humans... and I daren't even mention a certain birthday party costing millions for a person so devoid of sense and so vain he thinks the world should join in despite a war that he has backed.
I actually cried today... I am only surprised that I stopped. 😞
Thank all the gods of nature for dusky distances and tiny birds.
Crying is a beautiful release and a powerful acceptance. You’re a fine person Susie
I am so grateful to you for saying so Jonathan a huge heart thank you for much needed encouragement and understanding. 💛
I won’t write one of my way too long comments, leaving you some extra precious minutes to use however you deem fit.( Do not worry, I’ll make up for it next time🤭). For now, I stand in solidarity and salute with my middle finger ,upper level management . Again, use it however you deem fit. Wipe your tears my friend, you are just too kind. I think you need to take my online course ; How to say no with a squeeze of a shoulder and a smile. And How to say no to a Fox. Final exam requirements ; practicum/field experience including keeping a weekly journal with live video presentations displaying a working knowledge of course material. Sweet dreams of tiny black velvet heads and chickadee tunes …
Thank you Lor, I have used your middle finger, combined with my own several times over last hallucinatory days... what the fuckety fuck ? Excuse my foulness... 🤭I know, I'll get the soap as soon as I've had my say...
I am still staggering in disbelief from the week past, a long story, too long for time allotted before eyes demand sleep attention but briefly; a message on my phone, a proposition from the hierarchy, a change for the sake of change, never worry about the children they tell me, they will adapt - perhaps, I say, but why should they go through inevitable regression whilst doing so when there is no necessity? I am emphatic in my reply... yet they demand reflection of a few days. No is No I say... still they want me to confirm.
I do so in hours, verify in writing they say... No is No I write back.
You're following I'm sure... I'm learning! Its taken 61 years but damn it felt good !
I haven't forgotten your garden, I'll be there when the smoke has died back with love xxx
Looks like this situation calls for reinforcements; sending my other hand with a middle finger salute. Once again, use it as you deem fit. Or, as my grandmother would say in Yiddish; "trog gezunterheit"_use it in good health. (Though I am fairly certain she would not have approved my use of her phrase in this particular instance 🤫).
You built a modern “galette de rois” Susie! I’m sure some kid would be delighted to find an ear bud (preferably two) baked into a cake.:)
My sincerest gratitude to you and all the tireless teachers of the world. The work you do is beyond any Silicon Valley endeavor, yet still so grossly unrecognized and under-rewarded. In my utopia teachers would be the highest paid positions in the world and each would have their own personal assistant and masseuse. 💛
"A modern “galette de rois”" you make me smile Kimberly... but yes, definitely two, with charging case of course!
I wish all teachers lived in your utopia!
I wish the efforts in unpaid long hours and responsibility to future generations were recognised as an importance beyond all others. I wish the curriculum we are forced to follow could be adapted to modern standards and the inevitable future that awaits. I wish the people we are governed by would spend even a few days in the environment we work to understand better our plea's and the crushing need for a massive reform, a necessity in todays continual and terrifying augmentation of children in difficulty...
And, while I wish, and wait, an assistant would be a godsend, a massage too... 🙏🏼♥️xx
Your stolen minutes are my joy.
I must steal a few more to catch up on your last episode dear Mary… thank you always and with love xx
Dearest Susie. I wish with all my heart and pray you would learn to say "NO" to anything that does not capture your heart and soul. I realize we have obligations that must be fulfilled. I believe the sweet birdie was a gift, a reminder to take a moment, quiet the stressful heart to reset, restore and renew your energy, mind and soul. Sending you love and light my Sweet Soul.
Darling I am so sorry to have missed your comment, between the not saying No, the lack time because of not saying No and the heat you are not the only one I have neglected to reply to… but this afternoon is so hot and sultry I am remedying all, or as much as I can that has been forgotten or put to one side, friends, and comments here Substack to begin with, then some quiet time reading in the dappled shade of my tiny woodland… a few moments of calm and peace in bird song will be perfect, from here and there I send you love and light and a huge Sunday hug… ♥️xxx