FREE MOTHERING SUNDAY GIFT AT THE END OF THIS POST.

The world has changed a lot since I last visited my blog. The other day Constance and I stopped on our morning walk to watch a bush buzzing with bees. “Look mummy! Bees!” said Constance. “That means spring is coming!” She talks now.

Yet in many ways, the world has stayed the same. This past week has been emotionally exhausting. International Women’s Day highlighted the achievements of women throughout a global pandemic, but also the huge setback it has caused in terms of gender equality as the larger share of childcare has fallen upon women working from home. A disproportionate amount of hate has been directed towards a young couple in California for saying how online bullying has affected their mental health. And the tragic disappearance of Sarah Everard has sent many into a frenzied outpouring of public grief, which may not be what her family and friends would wish for at this time.

Thinking of these recent events made me want to step back from the world just as it starts to open up. Then my mind returned to the bees and their first cautious flights after a winter lockdown. They don’t know what will be waiting for them outside, but every year they start where they are. We can’t change what has happened in the past, but we can change where we are going.

This time last March, I was running around after a 20-month-old toddler with a fever (mine) of 38.4C, on a good day, and pain in my lungs and chest. I had caught a virus. I don’t know if it was The Virus because, like many others, I was not tested and will never know for sure, but it has taken almost a year to recover. Today I breathe with lungs that feel almost clear again, and I look forward to celebrating Mothering Sunday with my 2-year-old in a few hours. She doesn’t know it’s Mothering Sunday, so I won’t get a lie-in with a cup of tea. But I’m looking forward to surprising her with a pretend make-up set that she has been asking about for ages.

To give thanks that I am still here, and so are my loved ones, when others have lost much more, I have made a set of nature-inspired postcards – some of which are featured in this post. The files are freely available to download below as printable pdfs. Each download contains six postcards sized at 105 x 148mm (4.1 x 5.8 inches). I hope you will enjoy using them – they look quite nice printed on glossy paper. Thank you if you have continued to follow my blog during my very long maternity leave from keeping bees. I don’t know when I will return for good, but I wish for you all to enjoy the warmer days of spring.