Slow Sunday, simple things & a recipe
Wild leek & kefir risotto with lemon thyme & parsley
I have some music playing in the hallway. I like being in the sitting room with my speaker playing music in the hallway, it makes me feel as if I live in a great big house. I love space, which is why I open my windows as much as possible, it stops me feeling closed in. Also, I’m more of an outdoor person. So, in this music filled, open-windowed moment, I have put on a great big warm jumper and I’m sitting with a mug of hot homemade soup, listening to the music from the hallway and looking at the view out front.
The night is starting to roll in and the view, painting itself silver grey. The slate roof of the church opposite shiny from rain. The red tiles of the house roofs looking like they have just been painted. I’m thinking of the wildlife I have seen today. I saw one bumble bee and one black crow flying with wings stretched wide. Not so much; except!
Early in the morning, when the sun was out and big patches of sky were blue, I saw what looked like a wild cat, twice the size of domestic cats, stripy tortoise shell, with shaggy raggy fur around its face and ears. I opened the window, then it saw me too and froze by our front garden gate. We stared at each other for 5 long minutes then, the cat decided I was safe and continued to walk up the road. It must have been a domestic cat but I’ve never seen one so big. I think it may have been a Maine Coon.
Earlier, I caught the little train. The platform was full of people chatting and laughing. Three families with children dancing and playing and giggling. It was a lovely cacophony of sounds. Even strangers were talking. The birds were singing as the sun shone in between white fluffy clouds, and storm clouds crept in from a distance. By the time I got off the train a wind had got up and later, the rains came. The storm clouds are still here this evening of open-windowed music cosines, bringing a lovely light with them as the evening draws in. Silver charcoal but with a glow, and there are warm lights starting to twinkle on in distant windows.
The wind’s getting up again, I can see the firework branches of the tree out front waving around. The music plays, the night rolls in while I, sip hot soup made from green things — wild garlic, purple sprouting and broad beans — as I start to write my Slow Sunday. I wonder what you are doing, and whether you are noticing simple ordinary things. If you are I wonder what you see. Perhaps you’ll tell me in the comments.
As the evening continues to draw in, darker skies start to surround the church across the road. I often wonder what it’s like inside that church across the road since being turned into apartments. I think the top floor is one open plan apartment, I’d like to see that. I wonder if they will put the outside lights on tonight that thread their way in ripples across the whole of the front. I hope so, it looks so lovely, lit up like that. They are golden lights.
And now, it is dark. I’ve just watched my room turn from day to night and still the lamps are off. Sometimes, I just like that, watching the light fade as day becomes night. I think it’s because it signals to my brain, to my nervous system; nothing to do, and ages before the next day of responsibilities begins.
Joy dots
Day to night
Golden lights in the night
Old buildings made new
Silver skies
Crows
Bumblebees
The sound of happy children
Hot homemade soup
Lights twinkling on in the distance
Open windows
Music from the hallway
Early night
Recipe
Wild leek & kefir risotto with lemon thyme & parsley
This was a creamy risotto with the tartness of kefir. The wild leek is also called three-cornered leek. In the last garden I shared a neighbour popped a small plant in the ground, it quickly came to cover the entire top and lower shared gardens! I sauted the chopped wild leek then added arborio rice and stock, little by little. Once cooked I seasoned and added the herbs and swished some homemade kefir through.
I have discovered there is a farm near the city that sells raw milk, so I’m really enjoying making kefir and then raw cheese from the kefir. My neighbour put me on to the raw milk farm, he goes out there on a Saturday and is now picking up raw milk for myself and Suad in the other flat. I am loving being able to support a small farm, and it feels really good to buy this milk, turn it into kefir then turn the kefir into a little artisan cheese. At £1.20 a litre it means, with a little bit of enjoyable effort, I can afford to eat really good quality food. I’ve got my second batch of kefir cheese ready to eat tonight, and think I will mix thyme into it’s creaminess. Next time I may weight it down to create a firmer cheese like feta.
Ayurveda
Sleep routine
The Ayurvedic approach to winding down, supports you to live in balance with your circadian rhythms, get a good nights sleep, and wake refreshed in the morning.
The idea is to wind down an hour or two before bed, making sure you are asleep by 10pm if you have any health challenges.
Switching off all electricals including TV and phone, and turning the lights down low, triggers your body to produce the melatonin needed for a good sleep. Getting to sleep by 10pm means you will get the full 4 hours of metabolic activity — detoxing, healing and rebalancing — that the body performs during these precious pitta hours of 10pm to 2am.
Here are some ideas for relaxing during your wind down period.
Listen to relaxing music.
Have an Epsom salts bath and rub sesame oil into the soles of your feet.
Burn relaxing essential oils like lavender, geranium or rose.
Read a book, one that is relaxing or funny. The survival brain doesn’t know the difference between reality and imagination and so if you read a drama your mind will not relax.
Do a gentle yoga routine, or yoga nidra—lots on YouTube. I’ll be recording some soon — I’ve just cut back to three days in my other job, so this will free me up some time.
Read the extracts to my fall asleep stories, or the warm words of ordinary things, I write these to relax the mind, drawing on my hypnotherapy training.
Beginning of another fall asleep story
The owl in the tree swooped into the open sky. Broad wings outstretched, then flew across the city park. Trees swayed in a gentle, night time breeze, while the crocuses and daisies closed their petals to the night. Ground, still of human feet, but little furry smudges could be seen scurrying into holes as the owl flew over. The human beings, fast asleep, or on their way to bed with warm mugs of milk in hand, feet stepping slowly up stairs and through doorways into darkened hush-filled rooms. The owl, flew out of the park over a suburban street where street lamps were turned down low, as little lights in windows started to go out, one by one and all became very, very, silent.
Wishing you the warmest,
Lucy x
Your warm words are exactly the balm I needed today Lucy, thank you 😊 🙏
Your dishes always look so delicious and nourishing, Lucy. And how wonderful that you made the kefir from raw milk from a small farm!