 |
| marbled white |
 |
| chalkhill blue |
 |
| six spot burnet moths |
 |
| small skipper or Essex skipper - not sure which |
Everything rolls around in the end doesn't it. We got to the end of term on Friday, with a giant exhale. The biggest boy walked out of the school gates for the last time, it'll be secondary school for him in September. The last couple of weeks were filled with trips, a play, an Oscars night, a Year 6 assembly and last but not least the leavers' service in church. And then it was all done, and he walked home from school, while I stayed in the playground for a while with the other two. I watched him go, all alone, and something tore inside me a little. There's a lot he'll do on his own now. And of course that is how it should be.
Friday evening there was cricket for the bigs and a beavers end-of-term shindig for the little. Afterwards we had chips, just to top off the sweets and chocolate and fizzy drinks and heady emotion from earlier. On Saturday we detoxed with a walk up Painswick Beacon. The open grassland has drifts of wildflowers in places and it's good for butterflies. There were lots of marbled whites, as well as the other ones pictured. I hope I've labelled them correctly.
Today we hung around close to home, settling into holiday mode. We saw a friend, signed up for the summer reading challenge at the library and dodged the showers in the garden. I read a couple of pages of the tidying-up book at the weekend, and I've pretty much cleared the room that will be the middle boy's bedroom, in a wild fit of decluttering.
The kitchen is full of berries and cherries. The cherries were partly purloined from my neighbour's tree. I filched a load that were hanging over our side, and then confessed. He told me to help myself to some more as well. I'll need the stepladder I think. There are masses of blueberries, two bowlfuls today alone. I made muffins with some of them. The blackbird family are doing their best to help out as well.
Wishing you all a wonderful summer. CJ xx
Butterfly and moth names edited, thank you Countryside Tales!
Glorious! Wonderful fruit and lovely views. Your common blue is actually a Chalkhill- far rarer and you've beaten me to seeing one this year so that was a really great spot - well done (and your large skip is a small skip or an essex skip, depending on whether it has black under tips to the antennae which I couldn't quite make out :o) ). Lovely photos of them both.
ReplyDeleteWe're hanging on for the hols to start on Weds, end of a small era here too- L goes in to year 10 next Sept and the start of GCSEs... xxx
Thank you CT, I'm thrilled with the chalkhill blue. I didn't get very close, and when I saw the photo I convinced myself it was just a common blue. Thanks for identifying that, and also the skipper. Good luck to L for Year 10, it all comes round before we're quite ready doesn't it. CJ xx
DeleteThis is a lovely post, CJ. I can feel the emotions of having your oldest finish at his school. I am sure he will do beautifully in secondary school. I wish you all the easiest of transitions. Your butterfly photos are beautiful. I can never seem to take a good photo of a butterfly myself. Enjoy those muffins, they look delicious.
ReplyDeleteSomething tore inside me, as well, reading about your boy walking on alone. It's so bittersweet. My Big Boy will start kindergarten in September which means the bus picking him up here at home and a ride to the country school where I attended K-12. I know it's time, he needs it, but it is a milestone that makes me realize how quickly this all passes by. You are right though, it is how it was meant to be. You take your boys on such interesting walks and adventures. Enjoy the summer!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! Thanks for sharing the beautiful shots of the butterflies, CJ. I'm glad you are documenting some of the milestones in your life and sharing them with us...bringing to mind our common reluctance, before embracing the next step...even if it is as it should be :) Wishing you happy summer reading. Coincidentally, in trying to cull out some of my treasures last weekend, I came across a reading certificate my mother saved after I completed a summer reading program in elementary school. I am nearly 65 years old now. WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious set of photos (as always) - I especially like the butterflies, the lovely rolling patchwork fields, and the satiny-frosted blueberries. (Just finished eating a handful myself as a matter of fact.)
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful summer. I hope that biggest will still let you walk with him sometimes. :)
blueberry muffins. oh my. now I really need to get myself some breakfast, I just realised I'm starving.............
ReplyDeletehappy summering x
Hope you have a happy summer too!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos, I've never seen most of those butterflies, they're very pretty. It looks like you're having grand weather, it's so wet here :(, still, I can appreciate summer through your photos at least...
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your summer holidays, we're halfway through ours already though we still have lots of plans and things to do, which is nice!
I so understand the bittersweet emotions you describe concerning your oldest finishing primary school. These end-of-school milestones are tricky things. I work in a secondary school and my youngest is about to start year 11, but I still experience a sense of melancholy as term ends and there are goodbyes. However, I find that after a day or so I begin to enjoy the summer which lies ahead, and the new beginnings that inevitably accompany endings. Your butterfly photos are beautiful - how do you persuade them to stay still long enough to take their photo?
ReplyDeleteCathy x
Wonderful photographs, the landscape is so beautiful in your area. And you captured those butterflies so well, they really speak of summer. I'm a bit envious of your cherries and berries, our blueberries are still quite green... but there is promise of what's to come I suppose.
ReplyDeleteChanging to secondary school is always a big step. I have only one more year of primary for the youngest, and I'm dreading him leaving all that behind already...
Another milestone eh?
ReplyDeleteTake cate up that ladder.
More beautiful photos and a wistful post CJ. My youngest is about to leave primary school. It's these life milestones that mark the passing of time that mothers especially feel, I think. My eldest will be doing his GCSEs next academic year. That's ridiculous to me as it doesn't seem five minutes that he was starting school. Hey ho. It's all good and wonderful to witness their growing-up. Have a good week – my lot are still at school for a few more days... Cannot wait for the holidays to start. Sam x
ReplyDeleteBless, I was privately devastated when my youngest finished junior school two years back, the same school I went to & my eldest boy too. I may have to wangle a visit for the Christmas play to see my godson just so I can have another whiff of the old parquet floor in the hall! Gorgeous photos of the butterfly's & am very envious of your blueberries mine are dire this year. think I need to buy some new plants x
ReplyDeleteI do feel for all you mums with children leaving junior school and heading off to secondary school, it's such a bittersweet moment realising that another milestone is passing by. I think it's harder with the first one somehow, I don't know why. My blueberries are nowhere near ripe yet, the muffins look delicious. I've got some of those silicone cups in the cupboard but I've never tries them out, are they better than old fashioned paper cases?
ReplyDeleteAs always a most enjoyable post, and I really like the butterfly and moth pictures.
ReplyDeleteThanks, and you too. Flighty xx
That looks like a wonderful place to walk, CJ. I love that each of your butterflies is on a different wildflower - I'd have been in heaven! My blueberries don't do well - do you have yours in pots or in the ground? I'm tempted to plant mine to see if the extra root room will encourage a heavier harvest. Well done on the cherries - I expect your neighbour was glad for the fruit not to be wasted. It feels odd that the school holidays have just started, the garden feels like it's started to head into autumn already. Enjoy your summer with the family around! Caro x
ReplyDeleteAhhh gimme some of those muffins!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWonderful words and images to mark the changes and the start of the school holidays. Those are wonderful images of the butterflys and moths. We have been walking in meadows full of butterflies to wait me! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteChange is hard isn't it? They grow up so fast, much faster that we are ready for as parents. Love your muffins, have fun with all your berries.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Meredith
Wonderful photos CJ, epecially those butterflies! I remember the transition from primary to secondary, it's a strange mix of emotions isn't it, exciting new times to look forward to tinged with the sadness of leaving good times behind. Those blueberry muffins look as though they could lift the spirits. Wishing you and yours a wonderful summer too CJ. Jane xx
ReplyDeleteAh, CJ, these times of change are daunting I know. Hugs to you. Your boys sound awesome. Whenever you write about them I mainly think how lucky you are to have them and also how lucky they are to have a mum as cool, funny and interesting as you. Xx
ReplyDeleteIt is bittersweet this new level of independence. I see it with mine. But they will need us and reach out to us in new wonderful ways. It is definitely a new era in my relationship with my son and I can't say it's bad.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful summer as well, CJ. Wish I was eating blueberries with you or walking around your lovely world, though you'd have to egg me on. I'm slow.
Oh how I loved your butterfly and moth photos! We are in Pryor OK and meeting Dayle's brother for dinner in a bit. Then on to see my daughter and GDs! Congrats on your kids doing well in school. Enjoy your berries. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteIt' a bittersweet moment when your child moves from one school to the next. On one hand, you want to keep them your baby. On the other, it is so interesting watching them mature into their own personality and talents.
ReplyDeleteI love your butterfly photos. I'm sure your biggest boy will do wonderfully well at secondary school ...but I know how you feel! x
ReplyDeleteWith a 21 year old and a 17 year old, we're quite used to bittersweet endings. The only consolation I can give is that everyone involved does adapt to the new routine very quickly. However old they get, they are still our babies though. Love the butterfly/moth photos and, as today is one of my 'fast days', the blueberry muffins and mention of chips had me salivating! Here's to new beginnings. xx
ReplyDeleteI hope that you have a great summer with lots of bowls of cherries - real and metaphorical! xx
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful summer as well CJ! Parenting is so bitter and sweet I am finding. Congratuataions to you and your biggest boy on the promotion to secondary school.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm new here to your blog and it's just lovely! I love butterflies and your pictures are wonderful! I have blueberry muffins on my plan to make tomorrow morning, but there's nothing like freshly picked ones :-) Great pictures! Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Jill
Wow, I have serious moth/butterfly envy. We don't get those round these parts. Lovely photos too, CJ. xx
ReplyDeletexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx everything you said resonated, I was there with my 11 year old walking out of Primary school life a few weeks back, bitter sweet indeed. Being in Church always makes the emotions rise somehow, so many of the children were bawling it was quite the ordeal. I love this gentle slide into the holidays, we are mooching beautifully here. Lots of love to you, I visit you often but don't always have time to comment, will try harder to make time, I love your blog xxxx
ReplyDelete