Activities for this weekend
And a fact about cockroaches
Hello you! I hope you’ve enjoyed some time outdoors this week. I’ve been rained on a lot and also complained that it’s TOO WARM and FREEZING COLD in the space of 24 hours. But this morning the sky was bright pink when I woke up and I learnt a fact about cockroaches1 today, so there’s that.
I’m still in catch-up mode at work and, despite the fact I’m buzzing with ideas for articles, I haven’t yet found the time to write any. So instead, here are some activities you can do this weekend, courtesy of some fellow Substackers:
Draw something
Snowdrops are just about still in bloom here and I even ordered some for my garden this morning, influenced by this post from Lia Leendertz.
Annemarie Bleeker shared a lovely edition of Play Post recently, encouraging you to get outside draw a snowdrop. So see if you can find one and if you can, draw it! If you can’t, draw something else!
Look closely / collect seeds
There are some very exciting signs of life out there… daffodils, minature mint leaves, the first hint of some escaped oxeye daisies in my scrappy bit of lawn. Spring is coming! This week, Jack Wallington is encouraging us to get out into our gardens and look closely at what’s growing. He’s also enticing us to go and collect some seeds or move plants around (which is just what I plan to do with those daisies!). What’s not to like about free plants?!
If you don’t have a garden, why not go out and see what signs of spring you can spot? If you do have a space to grow things, perhaps you could collect some seeds and then start a seed swap with your friends and neighbours!
Embrace analogue
I’m not gonna lie, I’ve rolled my eyes more than once when I’ve read the words “analogue trend” over the past few weeks. I’m rarely on social media these days (apart from Substack of course!) so I’m not entirely sure what this “trend” is referring to but I guess anything that tears people away from their screens is probably a positive thing.
This post, written by 15-year-old Csermely Szilvia made me feel hopeful this week (also I’m obsessed with the dog in her profile picture). Listen to Csermely and step away from your screens this weekend!
Fun fact: I used to have a monthly mini mag called The Procrastination Paper which encouraged people to “Waste Some Time Offline”. Time in nature is never wasted… so get off your phone and go outside!
Make friends with a tree
I saw Jackee Holder tell the story about the elder treet in this post at an event in a South London allotment a few years ago and it’s stuck with me ever since. It’s never too late to make friends with a tree. Maybe this weekend is your time to find The One.
Now that you’ve found your tree… take out your notebook and let Janelle Hardacre guide you:
Have fun! Let me know how you get on with your tasks in the comments….
I went to the hairdresser today and someone had put a box full of cockroaches through their letterbox in the middle of the night. No idea what that’s all about but it did lead to an extensive chat about cockroaches that led me to me typing “How many species of cockroach are there?” into Ecosia when I got home. In case you’re interested, there are over 4,000 species of cockroach worldwide and three species considered native to the UK: the Tawny Cockroach (Ectobius pallidus), the Dusky Cockroach (Ectobius lapponicus) and the Lesser Cockroach (Ectobius panzeri). Of course I’ve now fallen into a hole of further cockroach research and it turns out they are FASCINATING… so you can expect a newsletter about cockroaches soon, I guess. Life is weird isn’t it?
Ah Csermely, I really did live reading your post. You are wise beyond your years! Don't worry, there was no eye rolling at your words! I'm the same as you, it's diffuclt to stay positive sometimes but writing and being outside helps. Keep going. And please give Lady a belly rub from me! She is so sweet.
Thank you so very much for mentioning me, Zabby! It really made my day. Congratulations for not spending much time on social media, I don't, either. I simply meant "trend" as a thing that many people are doing, and talking about, on all platforms, including Substack. I'm so honored to be mentioned here. Glad I could fill you with a little bit of hope, that's really why we write, isn't it? To make people (and ourselves) feel like everything will be alright, though, to be honest, my outlook on life is less optimistic than that, I do my best to stay positive.
You are right, any "trend" or "movement", or whatever you want to call it, that gets people offline is a wondrous thing...
And the dog in my profile picture is Lady, a dog friend of ours who visits almost daily for treats & belly rubs. She is a fantastic dog!!