Two brown-haired girls
And the spaciousness of summer.
It’s a beautiful morning in Tooting. There are a few clouds in the sky but the air is fresh and the plants seem happy because there’s been a bit of rain lately. I love this time of year because time slows and space expands as windows and doors stay open, welcoming in the breeze and the sounds of London and the birds.
The four walls of home don’t seem to mark the boundaries anymore — the garden is the lounge and dining room, the open windows add what feels like metres to the size of this postage-stamp place, and the porch out the front, usually reserved for six broken bins, has become hospitable enough for three peachy roses to stick around for a while.
All this extra space has brought in some visitors. Two brown-haired girls who’ve made themselves right at home.
Lottie is an 8-year-old cocker spaniel with the softest fur and sweet little grey eyebrows. She has a face a bit like a womble and does a funny squinty thing with her eyes when she gets a smell in her nose. For the past couple of weeks, she’s been coming to stay while my friend who’s looking after her goes to the office. Sometimes she just stays for the day, other times she’ll sleep over on a pillow on our bedroom floor. Whenever she’s here it reminds me of how life-enhancing pets can be. Working from home all the time, it’s comforting to have her snoozing on the couch behind me or nudging me to get outside for a stomp around.
In the last few days, another brunette has joined the gang. My littlest sister Jasmin finished school last month, which seems mad since in my mind she’s 7 years old. For the summer, she’s making the most of our second bedroom — the van parked outside — and for the last few days, she has joined Lottie on the sofa, relaxing behind me while I work, eating lunch with me in the garden, and generally just sitting whenever and wherever she can before she starts her job at a pub tomorrow.
The idleness of it all is quite specific to summer, I think. The way we move from inside to out with bare feet and bare shoulders. We chat and chat then sit in silence for a while with the sun shining down on us as we eat orzo salad and drink sparkling water. It’s slow and simple and should really be savoured.
I wasn’t quite sure where this was going when I started, but I think where I’ve gotten to is an appreciation for the spaciousness of summer. While winter is cold and small and cosy, summer allows for so much more space. Space for a dog and a sister to settle in nicely without feeling like we’re all on top of each other. Space to sit and eat and be outside, or at least keep the windows open when it starts to rain, as it did not long after I started writing this.
A short and sweet one this time. See you in the next one,
Annabel
A bit of extra Lottie content for the dog lovers out there…
