How We Rocked the Launch of TEND

My babes are my biggest fans, my cheer leading squad, my rock. They are the ones who cheered me on and took an interest in this magazine long before anybody else; they take an interest now and delight every time anyone says anything nice about it. They hope for the best with it, they ask about it, they understand when mama's got to work on it. In fact, they've been absolute rock stars about the whole deal. And in the last few frantic weeks when they've hardly seen me, they've understood and never complained.

So how else to celebrate the launch of the magazine, than by unplugging and getting out of Dodge and giving myself to my children in the very place we love the most - the forest. And that's just what we did.






The car door opened and I didn't really see them for a few hours as they bounced from one corner and hidey hole to the next; old haunts revisited - yes! the bivouac is still standing - let's add a little bit more! New things were found, treasures brought back before bounding off to the horizon again ("this twig would look good in 'Tend', mummy").







It was just what we needed, it was just what we always need and what we look forward to the most - space to roam, fresh air and sunshine, things to investigate and treasures to find. And for me, those trees always manage to weave some magic of their own. The further off track we went, the more content I felt.

We need these spaces and these moments more than anything else. When the human-made noises and worries are left far behind it is then that we find a way back to ourselves, we hear those small, quiet voices often drowned out by worries and demands, we find our centre and manage to anchor ourselves again in a world that pulls us this way and that. It worries me that as we rush headlong into a world ever more virtual and sedentary that those small voices will be lost forever and we will forget what it means to be human at all. I hope, if nothing else, my children will always remember these moments and have the sense to forge similar for themselves when they are older.











And I hope that you too find a place in nature that calls to that quiet within and show your babes how to find it too. I've found nothing else that comes close to replacing it.


{P.S. please do visit Heather today at Beauty That Moves for a chance to win a copy of the magazine!}

Off Track to Get on Track

It never fails to works its magic. I am at my most content in these woods, away from manmade noise and artificial constraints, right in the centre, off the track. It is here I feel most at home.

It doesn't matter what is going on in the world, what craziness and sadness and busyness there is - a few steps off the track and it's all good, there is zen-like peace to be found out here. The trees stretch heavenward like columns of mighty cathedrals and everything is mindful, aware.

"Mummy, I LOVE this forest... I feel so calm here". I know what you mean, little man. I know exactly what you mean.

Sometimes you have to get off the beaten track to find the right path.

A Way Through the Wood

** I am going to be sharing a silly amount of pictures today. I make no apology for it, but, well, just so you know... **























































I know. Right? I just couldn't help myself. This post is like a walk through the woods for when I can't get out of dodge - I can almost taste the oxygen through the screen.

Last week the babes and I headed out. I had been feeling twitchy and tetchy all week, spiralling into something like a waking-state coma, catatonic, is that what they call it? The babes were looking stressed, I was feeling stressed, we were all like coiled springs and it wasn't going to end well.

Then the epiphany - why had it taken me so long to realise - we needed to get out of the city and recharge. We needed to have space to breathe. We needed a whole lot of nature to get back to. We headed out to the forest.

Parking up and opening the doors my children exploded out of the car and into the forest like a damn breaking. And the first sound from them were two contented, real, sighs and deep breaths. They spread their arms and ran. They knew where their old haunts were and made straight for them, off track of course, and I followed on behind, finding the path through the wood. Finding the path back to myself.

It is true that I am at my happiest in a forest, anywhere with trees. I crave solitude and the need is increasing as I get older. I need to get away from human-made noise, just beat a way through the wood and reconnect with something older, quieter, subtler, and more authentic than the crazy, mindless, forgetfulness that we call 'civilization'.

The babes played, discovered, sought and found. I walked, aiming my camera at everything pretty (everything). And before I realised it, without me knowing, there it was - the stress was gone. I was calm, content, happy, grateful. There was the real breathing I had come to expect from this place - pain had been replaced with joy.

We stayed out til we were out of breath, all stretched out, oxygen-rich. Then we headed home. Together. Content.