Friday August 6th 2021

This week: English summer, birthdays, coffee and love letters.

Of course, at number 1, it has to be The English Summer. It's anyones guess what the weather will be doing. Rainy days, for me anyway, are part of the delight and charm of the British seasons.

2 - When I started the Friday 5 I wanted this to be a celebration of the small things. The little details that make up each day, I didn't want to list 5-incredible-life-changing-massive-achievements. So, for that reason, one of this weeks highlights is simply my first cup of coffee in a coffee shop this year. It was welcoming and the chatter of voices around was wonderful.

3 - My 3rd highlight of this week is life in Hampshire. This week I've experienced nature walks, city walks, river side walks, walks where the landscape is endless and walks full of wildlife.

4 - My precious mum clocked up another birthday. We thought we'd lost her last year and, here we are, eating her home made cake and making actual plans for Christmas.

5 - The weekend was spent sorting out my memory box of photo's and letters, including some love letters. It's the first time I've re-read my old love letters since they were boxed up years ago, made me laugh, so sweet. Also in the box were letters from my grandma (she was great at writing) and my Auntie who's birthday was today, 6th August. Re-reading the letters from them both made me feel incredibly strong, particularly as one of the letters from my Aunt referenced one of those boys who'd written love letters. Highlight no. 5 of this week was, through their letters, being able to hear their voices once again.

Well, that was my melancholy, rainy highlights of the week here in Hampshire.

I'm now off for the forthcoming week, am taking few days off to do something creative that isn't drawing and I'll be back week commencing 15th August. I'll post my next Friday 5 at some point, have a great week all and thanks for reading.