May fun and frolics

May marked the arrival of summer, we skipped spring it would seem and went straight into warmer weather.  Not of course for the first May bank holiday – for that we still had frosty mornings and the need for multiple layers of merino if braving the outside!  For the second one, for the most part it was sunshine and hot days, for once the weather wasn’t the doom and gloom that was forecast!  I gave up wearing tights to work in May, so it is definitely ‘warmer’ than it was…

May in the Parker house also marked the arrival of Mr P’s other ‘woman’ – his new boat!  All boats are female and this one is called Pondlife, just like our previous dinghy.  He’s doing well on a very steep learning curve – the boat is singlehanded and powerful and as you can see from the photos isn’t the simplest to sail with racks on the side and a trapeze wire.  I did of course excel in my one role which was to dolley the trolley – i.e. stand in the water and collect the trolley as he launched and bring it back when he came in.  As you can see Southampton Water is a lovely murky colour… Not one to dwell on…

More my kind of sailing is something over 60 feet with toilets, beds and a galley.  We had a lovely evening cruise as a bit of a shake down for the boat!  It was such a balmy night – we came ashore well after 10pm and it was still 20 degrees and humid! I love being out on the water for sundown, it’s definitely been too long since the last one I saw as that was back in August! The highlight for me of the summer arriving is when suddenly you wake up one day and everything is just green.  I assume a switch flicks the same way in other countries, but overnight in the UK we always go from looking pretty wintry with just buds to suddenly humming Jerusalem with the birds making a proper racket too!

The best bit of the month (aside from starting to feel warm and being able to mark the start of rosé season) was of course our long-awaited trip to Israel!  There’s a little taster below of photos I instagramed as we went.  Suffice to say we loved our time there and are planning another visit already!  It was fantastic to spend so much time with a friends and be taken to some amazing places.  It is a beautiful country, such a great vibe, varied culture and the best foodie scene I’ve come across.  I can’t wait to share all the unexpected things about Israel on the 1st June – every expectation or unexpectation was totally blown out the water!

And so to June, let’s see what it brings!