I doubt if anybody noticed but I skipped the Weekly Check-in last week. The truth is that we went on holiday last Friday and I just forgot! I had every intention of writing a blog but I woke up on Saturday and realised I hadn’t done it. Oh well!

So here I am, with two weeks worth of stuff to catch you up on!

Now, I can’t remember too much about the first of those two weeks.

I know I took the service on Sunday. I like to do something different the Sundays after Christmas and Easter because numbers tend to be low and most people have done a lot of church over the past couple of weeks. So I did an informal cafe style service which some seemd to like more than others. The old guard didn’t seem too sure, but the newbies looked like they enjoyed themselves.

I also attended a planning meeting for the play scheme over the summer, did funeral prep and had a very busy Foodbank session, feeding 40 people. Then Friday came and it was time to have a rest. The car was packed and off to Ashbourne we went!

It’s now one week later and, after spending some really great quality time with Nathan and Sophia, I’m sad to be back. By the time I’d started to unwind it was almost time to be coming home again! But we did have a lovely time and that’s what matters.

We went to Manchester for Nathan’s best man’s engagement party, we nipped down to Retford for Charter Day and on the way back we called in to see Polly and Martin on their boat which is moored at a new, and very beautiful, marina.

In between a those things we have eaten very well, we’ve spent lots of time in the park and wandering round cute little local shops. We went to the market, visited playgroup in the local church and made friends with lots of people who were keen to smile and say hello to Sophia. We bought Nathan a new suit, I’ve got some Frenchic paint and Sophia has a new and very lovely rainbow snake which her Daddy won for her on the hook-a-duck at Charter Day. We’ve read books, knitted and talked more deeply than we have in ages. We’ve even both had hair cuts!

When we are away, especially when we’re staying in a cottage like we did this week, Nathan and I dream of our ‘forever house’. This is the house we will hopefully buy and move into when we retire. Where will it be? What will it look like? How many books will we need to give away in order to downsize? Will we have a fire? What about a nice big bath? I like being away and having the space to think about the bigger picture stuff. I’m often so focused on the day to day that I forget to take the time to dream. It’s good to dream.