Who knows where the time goes?

Every year the time speeds up.

A silent and invisible foot is stepping heavily on life's accelerator.

Here we are again further than half way through the year.

Where did it go?

What have I done?

Even my eldest child has started to ask those questions.

I remember in the early years of childhood that time had no real significance & I love for my little kids it seems the same.

They are busy just living life.

Happy in the moment.

When is it that we start living life differently to that?

So busy that we lose the moment.

It is something I try very hard to grab at.   Aware that sometimes the best moments get missed if we stop noticing them.

But as a stay at home parent that is a dilemma non?

The seeming minutiae of the day to day of being a parent of small children can be so trying that it is easy to miss the little bits of magnificence that are right there before us.

The last month or so has been pretty hard going here.

I feel like I have done a lot of looking down.

Looking down at my feet, making sure one foot steps in front of the other.

And then things got a bit easier & I had a moment to look up at the sky.

There was a flock of birds flying in circles through pillowy clouds.

Such a simple thing really.

But my oh my.

So very very beautiful.

The battle to get through the day can be exactly what stops us seeing the beauty, the simplicity.

And then we find ourselves getting older and questioning the significance of what we have 'done with our lives'.

Have we made our lives so complicated that our expectations of what makes a successful life are beyond reach?

What sort of success is it that we are trying to reach for anyway?

For me I feel relieved that I don't measure the success of my life based on monetary assets,  or career (that bit is fortuitous seeing as I haven't had one!!!).

I try really really hard to measure my success on just being me.

And to be me doesn't really require me to look at a clock or a calendar.

Time is irrelevant.

I need to learn to let it go.

To stop looking at them.

And to look more at me.

GOURMETGIRLFRIEND'S QUINOA, TUSCAN KALE & POTATO SOUP:
I have said it MANY times before but I will keep banging the drum that really good food is often the very simplest.  
Have you caught onto the Quinoa craze?
It's everywhere.
We have and we are hooked!
I love the revival of grains in foods. All these wonderful and some ancient grains that are seeing a renaissance in food.
So good for you but SOOOO tasty! 
I made this soup really quickly last week on the weekend for lunch.
All of us loved it. The kids too.


WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 cup of Quinoa 
• 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into even dice.
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 litres of good quality Chicken (or Vegetable stock for a vego version)
• 3 rashers of bacon (you can omit these if you want a Vego version)
•  a splosh of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• 6 leaves of Tuscan Kale, chopped
• S & P

METHOD:

In a large saucepan heat the EVOO over a medium heat and fry the onion and garlic gently till the onion is translucent.

Add the bacon. Fry for a couple of minutes. 

Add the potatoes, quinoa and kale. Stir through for a minute or so.

Add stock and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat & simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Season well and serve.

Can't get this song outta my head today...... I LOVE Cat Power. The song seems perfect non?