I planned to write this post last weekend but had internet problems. So I'm doing it this weekend instead. :)
We're now more than halfway through the year, so it's time for my 2nd quarterly update of 2024! I write them in April, July, October and January (covering the previous 3 months), so technically they're not all in the same year, but never mind! lol. Anyway, here is my spring-summer update. :)
You can see my winter-spring (2024) update here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/04/winter-spring-update-2024.html
I wasn't really up to a lot during April, apart from a Happy Café (Action for Happiness) meetup and walking in the park.
At the end of the month I went to Lancing Beach as part of my Beltane celebrations and then had my main celebration on 1st May. You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/05/beltane-2024.html
Here are a couple of pictures I took during April and May:
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| Churchill Square, Brighton- April. |
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| Brighton street- May. |
In June I met up with my belly dance friends at a pub again (like in March). It's been good to get back into that. I did a bit of shopping afterwards and went to Caffe Nero.
In late June, it was Litha/the Summer Solstice. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/06/litha-2024.html
I haven't been doing regular park walks lately due to various circumstances. But I was able to get to Hove Park for Litha (see post above). I hadn't been since late last year, so it was nice to go. Here's another photo I took when I was in Hove for Litha:
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| View of Goldstone Retail Park, Hove. |
Apart from that, I went to Starbucks a couple of times and tried some drinks from places I hadn't been to before, Popeyes and Slim Chickens.
I did a bit of baking during spring into summer, some chocolate zucchini (courgette) cupcakes again (Extra Petite recipe). They've become one of my favourite things to bake. You can see what they look like in this post (scroll down): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/01/christmas-ginger-poke-cake.html
I also made a couple of Vietnamese style iced coffees at home.
Weather wise, we didn't have a very good start to summer! It was a fairly average spring and went warmer in May. But during June it wasn't feeling much like almost summer, lol. It warmed up this month though. The hottest it's been in Sussex so far is about 25C (77F). It's been quite a wet July, but a mini heatwave is forecast for this upcoming week, so let's see how the rest of the summer is.
So that's it for now! :) This update hasn't been that long but never mind. I've been up and down throughout the first half of the year. I also write a mid-year update over on my self-help/spiritual blog Falling Petals. You can see 2024's here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2024/06/mid-2024-reflections.html
Read: The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden, The House of Whispers by Anna Mazzola (I couldn't get into her popular book The Clockwork Girl for some reason, but I liked this one), Miss Austen by Gill Hornby and a couple of others that I didn't note down.
Saw: The Little Mermaid (2023)
Links I found useful during spring and summer:
I enjoy reading the lifestyle site Mix and Match Mama and also got some good recipes from there, including these taco stuffed potatoes: https://mixandmatchmama.com/2019/02/taco-stuffed-potatoes/
I discovered the YouTube channel KristiDoingThings and especially liked this video about how you don't have to get everything done in your 20s and 30s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Yaetd4yOY
Having turned 40 in March, I found it inspiring. I also shared it in my Mid-2024 Reflections post on Falling Petals.
P.S. It's Lammas on Thursday 1st August (or Wednesday 31st July depending on when you start celebrating), one of my favourite sabbats along with Samhain. I thought I'd share a few links with some inspiration and celebration ideas. :)
Lammas Round-up (my round-up post from 2021): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/07/lammas-round-up.html
Happy Lammas! (my most recent celebration ideas post): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/07/happy-lammas.html
Lughnasadh/Lammas: The First Harvest Festival Of The Year (Electic Witchcraft): https://eclecticwitchcraft.com/lughnasadh-lammas/
If you'd like to bake bread (a fitting activity for Lamma since it's a harvest festival) here's a post from Moody Moons sharing 6 classic Lammas bread recipes: https://www.moodymoons.com/2024/07/13/6-classic-lammas-bread-recipes/
I also have a post with baking ideas:
Baking for Lammas + Extra Ideas!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/07/baking-for-lammas-extra-ideas.html
Or if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, here are my most recent Imbolg/Imbolc posts:
Imbolg Round-up: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/01/imbolg-round-up.html
Happy Imbolg!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/01/happy-imbolg.html
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