Maybe the last look at the bluebells for the season.
Goodbye bluebells
Bluebells
A particularly muddy walk through the local wood, but in the end worth it. Bluebells are always wonderful to see. Perfect timing for Hawklad, we had the wood to ourselves. And unbelievably, it wasn’t raining.
searching for
The weather isn’t playing ball but the flowers have had enough, they are starting to bloom.
Just need the sun now….
It might be a bit of a wait for that ….
Excessive handwashing,
Excessive clothes changing,
Excessive need for reassurance,
Excessive need to order and arrange things,
Excessive need to check and recheck things,
Excessive hoarding.
I was told by a Paediatrician that OCD was one of the potential anxieties that we should look out for with Hawklad. As a toddler he was obsessed with lining toy animals and cars in increasingly long straight lines. Apparently that can be a forewarning of later life OCD and an early flag of Autism. The Paediatrician said for unknown reasons there is a link. I think he said that 2% of the population can experience severe OCD, for Autism the percentage jumps to 20%.
Whatever the reasons, whatever the numbers, OCD has a huge impact on daily life, it ramps up anxiety and stress levels. It does with Hawklad. If anything the OCD grows. Sadly up to now the advice and support with OCD can be best described by the phrase
Best of luck with that….
It’s often down to individuals and families to try to chart a path through these never ending storms. Trying to find ideas, anything to try.
The search is ongoing here.
Sigh
That’s as bright as it’s been really….
But at least there are the first signs of this year’s flowers.
I recently bumped into someone we got to know at Hawklad’s first school and she asked after him with the following words…..
“Is he now over his Autism….”
Deep sigh…. Where do you start with that….
What’s really worrying is those words came from a Teacher.
July Flowers
The end of July brings the start of the six week school holiday. Wow was that welcome. School had worn pupil and parent down. I’m sure the teachers would say a similar thing. Why does it have to be such a grind for everyone.
This year school kinda just fizzled out, hardly the stuff of an Alice Cooper epic single.
The work and contact with teachers just ebbed away over the last few weeks. Hours and Days would pass where school made no contact with Hawklad. Occasionally work would come appear on the online system. One subject teacher would send an email before some of the lessons providing a two line guide on the upcoming lesson. Nothing from the other teachers. Work dutifully submitted was never marked. Eventually it all just dwindled away into nothing. Finally the last day came and went with complete radio silence. Around midday Hawklad kinda shrugged his shoulders and whispered
“I guess that’s it then, might as well blast out SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER then”
And with that the school year ended. No goodbyes. No enjoy the summer. No date to return. No plan for September. Is the school signalling that Hawklad is on his own. NO IDEA. But at least Alice Cooper cranked up to 11 never fails to deliver.
SCHOOLS OUT but for how long.
Out to get me
I was just a few steps away from this sea of purple. It’s was warm, yes Yorkshire can do that sometimes. Deep Blue Skies, rare but yes it can happen even here. So I decided to do the morning yoga (yep I’ve gone full on hippy) under the shade of the apple tree. I found a small patch of grass which hadn’t been dug up by our active tunnelling Mr Mole and off I went twisting, bending and groaning.
A few moments later the helpful yoga instructor blasting out of the iPhone encouraged everyone to undertake a form of torture. Wrapping one leg around an arm, doing the same on with the other leg and then balancing on what limbs remained still free to move. I might have misheard her….. Anyways it wasn’t a pretty site. I felt like an iPhone which had just been permanently bent out of shape. Funnily enough we have a story on that one to come…. I thought yoga was supposed to be relaxing, this is just brutal.
Is yoga out to get me….
Yes it is….
A few hours later we were walking the mad dog down one of the narrow village lanes when a car headed our way. Hawklad went one way and I headed towards the other fence. I recognised the driver and waved. Unfortunately at the very same moment I stepped in a rabbit hole and suddenly entered into an out of control stumble, culminating in me trying to fall nose first over the fence. I clearly gave the driver a really good giggle. And here’s the thing. The driver is a yoga instructor. I’m clearly on the yoga naughty list.
Yoga is out to get me.
Worst
Biodiversity captured in one photo. Just moments later Captain Chaos decided it was a great place to cock his leg. The flying creatures didn’t hang around after that….
Maybe I should send The Captain to 10 Downing Street. Maybe that’s the only way of getting The Serial Liar to finally quit, end this nightmare and we can get our country back again.
Look at the mess here in the UK. That is what happens when you give power to the worst amongst us. When will we learn.
Snowdrops
The first flowers of 2022. Winter might not be over but it feels much more manageable now.
There is a local saying here – The first snowdrops bring the first real snow. We shall see but the sledge is ready to fly down the hill. One of the advantages of a large posterior is that once the sledge gets going, wow does it get going.
Sill waiting for the school week to get going. Hardly any work provided today but that means Hawklad can set his own learning agenda. It necessarily great for his exams but much better for his own development. So while he was learning about multi universe theory (that’s not the Marvel version) I could go outside. Outside on my hands and knees. Checking at the beautiful new arrivals. That definitely feels more satisfying than the usual Monday school lesson day.
Visit
There’s a small garden which I like to visit every day on the dog walk. It has the most wonderful flowers. Never fails to deliver. Very relaxing.
Some visits are not so relaxing.
This is what happens when the bedroom door is left open. The pets pay a visit.
They sleep, humans not so.
Pink
Pink.
On the daily walk. On the family walk we walk past an old building with a crumbling wall. Everyday nothing to see here. It’s almost like a stepping stone onto the real interesting stuff.
But today look what appeared by the wall.
Just goes to show that you just never know what you might find if you keep looking.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 