Holidays from Home

Last weekend I did a guest blog post for the fabulous Grace Quantock, who runs Healing Boxes. Check them out here..

Grace is doing a photo blog series, called Waist Height and Wearing, of ill and disabled people in their favourite outfits. I thought it was a brilliant idea and was happy to do a post. With all the rain we’ve been having, it was a challenge to find some time to get outside and get Mum to take a few pictures; but amazingly the sun shone the day I’d had my hair done and so we popped out into the garden and I was really pleased with the results!

Here’s a sneak peak…

You can see my full blog post on Grace’s site here… I’m number 12 so you’ll need to scroll down slightly; but check out the rest of the incredible things Grace does. She’s one busy lady with Healing Boxes and her new project Sick Chick to Trail Blazer.

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Today I woke to a tweet saying Disabled woman ‘s virtual holiday to London will bring the Olympics closer to home. It was sent out by the local newspaper Twitter account and I realised with a burst of excitement that my article on the new Holidays From Home virtual London trip must have been in. I was so relieved and pleased. I followed the link and saw the brilliant article. I was really happy with it, it covered everything I wanted to say.

I dispatched Mum to go round to the paper shop, where she got several copies; but I was amazed and slightly horrified to see my face on the front cover! That’s the first time I’ve been on a cover and I was on page 9 – my lucky number!

Front cover of the Evening News

Mum took me round to the shop later in the day because they had a board up outside with a headline about my being in the paper and I had to see it for myself. We even took a picture….

Holidays From Home in the Evening News, the board outside the paper shop.

When you send out a press release, you never know if anything will come from it; but I was so delighted with the coverage and very, very grateful.

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I’ve been gradually noticing the lighter evenings; but tonight for the first time I really appreciated that spring was here. I’ve even been able to sit out in the garden the past two days which has been wonderful! The spring flowers are out, with lots of brightly coloured daffodils and the fresh green of new leaves is emerging on the plants and shrubs. It feels really hopeful.

I’m making the most of the nice weather while it lasts, since we had a great spring and then a poor summer last year. You feel like you have to be out in the sun as much as possible, I’m doing all I can to up my vitamin D levels. I even took the laptop out and sat writing some of the virtual London trip today. Topically I did the day set in Kensington Gardens and drew on the sounds and senses around me, including some very chatty blackbirds, to help imagine the experience. I did visit the park years ago; but I’m going to be roping in some of my London friends and traveller contacts to help add some more details to the virtual experience. I’m going to create some virtual Olympic games events to do while at the park, that will also be living room /bedroom friendly. That’s tomorrows task – I’m hoping I’ll be able to get outside again, I feel much more creative when I’m in the open air!

Spring is probably my favourite time of year. Everything feels so much more hopeful, anything seems possible and there’s the promise of a beautiful, warm summer ahead. Let’s hope the weather listens and delivers on the promise this year!

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