Simple pleasures

Sometimes it is the little things in life that mean the most ...

Met up with a dear friend yesterday as we'd planned a walk with our sketch books and pencils. We'd both lost our creative mojo and felt a bit lost without it and on a whim I'd invited him to bring his pens, something to sketch in and his walking boots, then spent a few days worrying (unnecessarily) over the finer details of our jolly out. I found I was trying to mentally micromanage the day.

So - I stepped back and let go and the only thing I sorted out was a surprise picnic lunch which 'magically' appeared when we arrived at the local nature reserve.

It was a gentle and cathartic walk - we pottered up lanes, through farms and fields. The view was a soft grey mist which swirled around tree tops, teasing us with brief snapshots of the village below then whispering the view away.

Above us the sun occasionally managed a weak smile through the drifts of cloud and for a moment or two the air actually felt warm on our skin.

The usual paths were too muddy to be pleasant so we stayed on the lanes, eventually arriving down at the river walk that Moss and I both love. Usually you can hear sparrows chirruping, chaffinch whistling and crows chatting but today in the grey all was quiet except the distant monotonous drone of traffic, our foot steps and chat.

Along the river, Moss transformed into part otter and part fish, swimming and splashing to her heart's content - her enjoyment just radiating from her face. 

When we stopped for lunch I produced the secret picnic and he bought us two large take-away teas from the nature reserve's cafe. We talked and sketched and ate.

Eventually sitting and drawing began to chill us so we packed up and worked our way back. Our views were even more muted as the cloud had descended and had eaten the hills.

It was wonderful.

We will be doing it again :)