ARE YOU READY FOR SUMMER?
The weather is getting warmer–it might even stay that way for a while! Do your thoughts turn to having fun in the sun? Or is summertime a bit of a stressful time for you?
However you feel towards summer, the long evenings and summer breaks give you a great opportunity to relax, reflect on important things, and make time and memories with old or new friends and family. It doesn’t have to be extravagant and costly. Whatever your situation there’s something for you below.
Making the most of… friendships
Think of something you and your friends would really enjoy doing together – e.g. watching sport (eg:Olympics, Wimbledon, European football), or go camping or hill walking. Kenwood House (Hampstead Heath) is free, with great paintings, furnishings, gardens and grounds.
It’s good to talk and it’s good to pray, especially with your actual (or possible) spouse. If you’re more action oriented, use the evenings to undertake projects together with your other half. Everything from gardening through to painting a room can be more fun done to-gether. Achieving a goal together can bring us closer. How about a day trip to the shrine at Aylesford, or even Walsingham, by coach, or to a famous London Church to say the rosary?
Making the most of… your children, grandchildren, nephews or nieces
Stay up late to watch a meteor shower.The Perseids are visible from mid-July each year, with the greatest activity between 8 and 14 August. During the peak, meteors flash across the sky at about one a minute. The best way to see meteors is on a moonless night, away from streetlights. Activity starts slowly in the evening but picks up by 11 pm.
Go back in time. There are a number of TV documentaries about life in the early 20th century. Watch one as a family, and then try to live like that for a day. No TV. No internet. No phones. No electric lights. See if you can borrow a camp stove or barbecue instead of a modern oven, and cook a meal where you have to prepare all the ingredients. (You might want to make a concession about the indoor flushing toilet, though!)
Take part in an awareness week How about having no baths or showers in Plughole Week (7-13 July), or digging up the back garden in National Archaeology Week (12-20 July)? Or, get into wildlife in time for European Bat Weekend (22-24 August), or encourage youngsters to come on one of the FAITH summer camps in our newsletter-for 11-30 yr olds.
Whatever you do this summer, remember, it’ll fly by. Winter will come soon enough – so resolve to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Adapted from Care for the Family website.
However you feel towards summer, the long evenings and summer breaks give you a great opportunity to relax, reflect on important things, and make time and memories with old or new friends and family. It doesn’t have to be extravagant and costly. Whatever your situation there’s something for you below.
Making the most of… friendships
Think of something you and your friends would really enjoy doing together – e.g. watching sport (eg:Olympics, Wimbledon, European football), or go camping or hill walking. Kenwood House (Hampstead Heath) is free, with great paintings, furnishings, gardens and grounds.
It’s good to talk and it’s good to pray, especially with your actual (or possible) spouse. If you’re more action oriented, use the evenings to undertake projects together with your other half. Everything from gardening through to painting a room can be more fun done to-gether. Achieving a goal together can bring us closer. How about a day trip to the shrine at Aylesford, or even Walsingham, by coach, or to a famous London Church to say the rosary?
Making the most of… your children, grandchildren, nephews or nieces
Stay up late to watch a meteor shower.The Perseids are visible from mid-July each year, with the greatest activity between 8 and 14 August. During the peak, meteors flash across the sky at about one a minute. The best way to see meteors is on a moonless night, away from streetlights. Activity starts slowly in the evening but picks up by 11 pm.
Go back in time. There are a number of TV documentaries about life in the early 20th century. Watch one as a family, and then try to live like that for a day. No TV. No internet. No phones. No electric lights. See if you can borrow a camp stove or barbecue instead of a modern oven, and cook a meal where you have to prepare all the ingredients. (You might want to make a concession about the indoor flushing toilet, though!)
Take part in an awareness week How about having no baths or showers in Plughole Week (7-13 July), or digging up the back garden in National Archaeology Week (12-20 July)? Or, get into wildlife in time for European Bat Weekend (22-24 August), or encourage youngsters to come on one of the FAITH summer camps in our newsletter-for 11-30 yr olds.
Whatever you do this summer, remember, it’ll fly by. Winter will come soon enough – so resolve to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Adapted from Care for the Family website.
posted by Sinead Reekie at 9:54 am