The simple pleasures of being outside
add on a huge dollop of joy to life.
It’s lovely and warm in ‘The Shire’ today, the gentle breeze carrying the heat from the west, a milky sun lazily pushing the clouds aside from time to time. The end of half-term week and the town has a familial buzz about it – kids and their parents pootling about, it’s good to be out of the house when the weather is this kind.
Be it listening to live music, a picnic in the park, a stroll through the meadows or a deck-chair and a book – the simple pleasures of being outside add on a huge dollop of joy to life.
To a Butterfly by William Wordsworth
I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! – not frozen seas
More motionless! And then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers.
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
Customers have started to come into the shop seeking reading for their upcoming holidays, and it’s making me jealous. I want nothing more than to be sat on a beach towel, reading a gruesome crime novel, while the sea gently rolls in beside me. So if anyone has a plane ticket going spare, do think of me!
If you happen to be jetting off soon then have a glance at our book suggestions, we’ve got something for the fiction and non-fiction lover alike, and even something for the kids.
As always, if there’s anything you need, just pop by or reply to this email!
From Amber
Feeling curious? Click on the book covers below to explore the book.
The full newsletter with links to books – including this week’s Signed Editions – can be found HERE
