1. With each cough, his tongue pokes out further. It is almost impossibly cute.
2. A long walk at lunchtime. We bat some ideas around and enjoy the sun streaming into the empty woods.
3. The one person paying attention, the one person amongst the chaos who wants to listen and learn.
1. I sneak back into bed and facing each other, we hold hands inbetween our chests. The dog snuggles her nose into the inverted v-shaped space between our arms.
2. I half open my eyes when I feel the cat step off me. I see her use the sleeping dog as a stepping stone to get to her dad. After she’s settled down on the other side of the bed, Lily finally reacts, looking first at the cat then at me. “Yes, I saw it,” I whisper.
3. I finally meet one of our neighbours for the first time. We chat chickens and growing things. A dog bark in the distance calls me away but just before I go, I think to introduce myself. As I walk away, I hear him repeating my name to himself as a memory aid.
4. We – Lily, John & I – take an evening walk in Thackley Woods. The world is still, the only sounds bird call & distant whinnying and over Baildon’s hills, the sunset is a hazy red.
5. The cat has been sleeping in the washing again. When she jumps on my knee, she smells line-fresh.
1. To walk further into the woods than we’d gone before and find exciting things.
2. The newly exposed seeds glisten as I walk down the garden. Russet heads peck at the garish pink flesh.
3. The rhythm of combing sends us both into a meditative state. The Simpsons run unwatched in the background.
1. I am alone in the meadow. Except for the dog sniffing the grass. And the cat slowly baking in the sunshine. And the crickets chirping their alarm at our presence. And the dragonflies – the largest I’ve ever seen here – racing about over head. And the butterflies dancing over the thistles. And the bugs the baking cat is watching. And the woodpigeons softly cooing their five notes riff. I am not alone in the meadow.
2. I had forgotten how much the suit suits him.
3. I pick up my crochet hook for the first time in months – I can’t stand the feel of woolly yarn in my hands in the summer months – and begin a new project. I can’t believe how much I’ve missed it.
1. At the last second, I remember we do have some bread products in the freezer – bagels. We rush to defrost and toast them before the lovingly scrambled eggs go cold and boy, are we glad we did.
2. It starts off in a less than promising way – two dank tunnels under the bridges – but then opens up into a hidden field. Sandwiched between the train station and the river (with a tower blocks on the other side), it’s not exactly a picturesque meadow but it’s green and safe enough that I let Lily off her lead to run around. Amongst the nettles and bindweed, I spot my first fully ripe blackberries of the season.
3. The enchiladas are fantastic – not perfect but not far off – and I can’t wait until we can eat the leftovers.
© 2024 Louisa Parry