We filled M's final week with seeing people and going places and doing things. A trip to the Innocent pop-up restaurant near Old Street, a two course dinner containing five portions of fruit or veg for a fiver. A visit to Greenwich and the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition, walking through Greenwich Park, spotting mushrooms and sweet chestnuts and yellowing leaves. Imprints of leaves on pavements, ghosts of themselves. Saturday was M's birthday; brunch at Ottolenghi (delicious), a meandering walk across Hampstead Heath, all cobwebs and mist, browning seed heads, moss, more fungi, snatches of sunlight through mist, reflections on water. Then a birthday dinner at Skylon at Royal Festival Hall and a walk along Southbank in the dark, the London skyline lit up around us. A walk to the top of Primrose Hill in the glorious sunshine of Sunday afternoon. Lying on my bed, watching the shadows and late afternoon light on my bedroom wall as M completed the final stages of his packing next to me. Thank you for all the kind comments on the last post (and to Lisa-Marie for the award!), reading them as they appeared in twos and threes has made my heart that little bit less leaden. We will be Skyping (or Google voice-ing) and emailing and letter writing and postcard sending, he is back briefly at Christmas and I am planning on heading out there next spring, hopefully in time to catch some of cherry blossom season.
I hope you're okay. Those last few days sound magical and hopefully that magic will stay swirling around until you see each other again.
ReplyDeleteAnd again your photos are beyond stunning, they make me feel like I'm back in England...
Beautiful pictures, as ever - I always really love looking at your blog.
ReplyDeleteI spent 8 months abroad before me and my husband were married. It was a rollercoaster for sure - times when I thought I might burst because I missed him so much, times of pure elation when we did manage to see each other, back to gut wrenching emptiness when he left. But I look back at those times now with great fondness, because they show me how much I love him and how glad I am to have him in my life. I hope that this year will come to be the same sort of anchor to you too.
Beautiful pictures as always. It sounds like you guys had an awesome week together. And having the perfect excuse to write beautiful letters to each other is pretty awesome xx
ReplyDeletePerfect moments... I love the sunlight through the trees in the third photo from the end... it looks so overgrown and countryside-y, it's amazing that there are places like that in London. We are lucky!
ReplyDeleteHope the days aren't going too slowly at the moment...
Sounds like a wonderful weekend, but it must be bittersweet. I can imagine how your heart aches - I know how mine did when my husband and I were apart for a term at a time in my uni years. Take care, see friends, bake cakes, write letters, and find fun things to distract yourself x
ReplyDeleteAn exquisite series of images, beautifully balanced in colour. I particularly love the ash tree. You are very good at spotting nature in the city.
ReplyDeleteI have never forgotten someone once telling me, 'Absence is to love as wind is to flame: it extinguishes the weak and fans the strong.' You two will be more than fine, I think.