Blossoms and Bunnies - Easter with Alice Clover

BLOSSOMS & BUNNIES WITH ALICE CLOVER

ALICE CLOVER – THE FARTING FEMINIST

Alice is our monthly blogger, an EyeStorm WIZ member
Author, CEO and Founder of Alice Clover Stories

Website: www.instagram.com/alicecloverthefartingfeminist

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Alice shares her thoughts, ideas and quirkiness every month.

No April Showers

Who else has been enjoying the glorious weather we’ve been having in April?

I had the absolute blessing of going to my mums for a few days and found myself basking in the sunshine in her garden every day. It was wonderful to be able to pop out of the back door and find myself in a south facing garden full of blossom and flowers, with new buds springing up all around me.

My mum also had her pond enlarged just before we arrived and was extremely excited to tell us all about the frogspawn. Both Will and I were interested but neither of our daughters were, they’ve never really been into tadpoles or frogspawn.

My youngest daughter did enjoy making perfume from the petals, also adding mint leaves and some orange peel too. I remember doing this as a child and it brought back such beautiful memories of my own childhood spending hours playing on my own in our garden.

I’ve often felt sad about the fact that we haven’t had a garden for our daughters to play in but as a result we have purposefully spent time outdoors in playgrounds, in the woods and at the beach. Both of our daughters have a love of nature and I particularly wanted both of them to be able to identify trees, flowers and plants because statistically most children can name brands and logos but don’t know what type of tree that see or the names of flowers. My eldest daughter told me she doesn’t know many brands but does know a lot of trees.

My job as a mother is now complete!

A private woodland all to ourselves

Following on from our visit to my mum, we camped at a private woods near Chichester in West Sussex and there was no one else there! The weather was perfect and we were able to relax listening to bird song and the breeze in the trees. I also had time to sit and read some books, drinking cups of tea.

The girls both played make believe games, using the materials around them and benefited from a minimised amount of screen time.

At this woodland there is a heard of deer but we didn’t see them this time. We did glimpse one or two when we went for an evening stroll but they dashed off quickly. It is also always an adventure using compost toilets! I’m not sure how many of you reading this have ever used compost toilets but we’ve used a fair few and our daughters use them each week at their forest school, so we are used to them but my eldest insists on someone going with her each time. When you go to the toilet you can see all of the waste, so if you’re squeamish I’d advice that you steer clear of these types of toilets.

I love the natural aspect of camping, waking up and going to sleep in nature but I also find everything quite a faff! My husband is always worried I will stop wanting to go but the truth is, when I see how free we can all be it takes away the feelings of frustration and inconvenience that go side by side with camping.

Watching, seeing, listening and smelling the natural world helps to heal, ground and reset the nervous system.

The best day ever

When we were at my mums we had the opportunity to go and visit her friends rabbit Charlie.

My daughter adores rabbits but we don’t know anyone who has them and until we move into our future home with a garden we are not going to be getting one either, so meeting Charlie was quite literally the best day ever for her.

She sat in the garden feeding and playing with him. Then she took him back into the house, where he relaxed on the sofa beside her as she brushed his fur and dotted on him. She is gentle and softly spoken and has a deep affinity with humans and animals who are vulnerable.

Unfortunately we only found out about Charlie on the last day of our visit but for Easter she was given her own Easter bunny from grandma and grandpa. It’s a mechanical rabbit that hops and makes noises and, for now, is the best option we have to fulfil her dream of getting her very own bunny.

Easter celebrations

I always look forward to celebrating Easter, making the girls their Easter baskets. It’s a tradition we have done for many years now and I love to see and feel the excitement as they discover what is in their baskets.

The magic of childhood is something I treasure and this is why I love working with children.

At Brownies this month the girls made chocolate nests and I was asked to make some with a group of girls because their first attempt hadn’t gone to plan but we didn’t want them going home without a nest each. As we all prepared and melted the chocolates one of the girls put the cake case on her head and then another followed suit. I asked if any of them had headlice, which they vehemently denied, and this lead us onto discussing the various types of headlice lotion! Brown Owl appeared at this point and wondered why on earth we were discussing headlice lotion whilst making chocolate nests. I have always found the best way to engage children is to make them laugh and that is exactly what happened but to be honest most children don’t need encouragement when it comes to making cakes or sweet snacks!

We also went on an Easter trail at one of the local National Trust properties and enjoyed getting involved with the inclusive activities and even did a spot of yoga too. The girls both got a bonus egg, which made the day even better.

With love,

Alice, The Farting Feminist