Pre jump

You should have seen the "I've got a grasshopper in my hands!" face.
Very funny.

Tess has been trying to catch grasshoppers for days (so has Dylan the dog). Today it was cooler and they weren't so quick. Tess is one of those hands-on nature lovers. I'm more of a hands-off one, but Tess has to pick everything up. I'm happy to look, observe, photograph and move on, but Tess: she has to hold them.

We were going to plant winter potatoes today but I got started on clearing the old broccoli bed too late.
(Hey - what a great way of writing a journal on uneventful days: list everything you didn't do!)

What I did do is write this: Learning is not a straight line. I wanted to write about the confusing feeling of being a mother to an 18-year-old at an important stage in her life - especially as she is the oldest and so this is the first time we've gone through this so far.

I'm not writing my blog much any more and it seems that not updating regularly means hardly anyone is reading it. I'm sad because it was my way of communicating with a tiny portion of the world and knowing some of my written words were being read. It's hard to explain the feeling of not craving attention but craving to write to be read.

I've got out of the habit of writing creatively since finishing studying. I've also got out the habit of participating in weekly flash fiction. But I've had an idea this week about how to find a way to write a little every day.