Savour the season

Growing up in Portugal means you live for Summer. And when the days have grown too short and cold to think about Summer, you yearn for Christmas. And once New Year's gone you pine for Summer once again.

Living in the UK for four years I have grown to love the seasons as they come and to not look too farther into the calendar. I have mastered the art of savouring the present season and I have learned to compartimentalise the year. In truth it's not really enlightment, it's self-preservation. It is a way of coping with the long periods away from my family by facing the year in smaller chunks of time.

Right now I long for Halloween. Once that's done with, I will count the days until Bonfire Night, and from then the sleeps until Christmas. Then comes January, with a new year full of promise and resolutions. As the month draws to a close I focus on Valentines, shortly followed by my birthday. Then comes a day I never celebrated before moving to the UK - Pancake Day! This heralds Lent and 40-odd days of giving up something I love (usually chocolate) and proving myself I can do without it. Easter is soon on the horizon, followed by the Spring bank holidays, which tentatively open barbecue season. By this point I can start packing to go back to my family and my country. The day after I come back from holidays I close the door of Summer and look forward to the crunch of freshly fallen leaves, jumper season and hot tea aplenty. Knitting projects, warm blankets and movie night ins. Rui's birthday and our anniversary and we're back where we are now. And this is my year.

Even though this is something I merely happened to stumble upon on my route to keep from going insane in a foreign land, there is happiness and bliss to be taken from this way of passing time and I am glad it is now engrained into how I look at life and time. Each season has something to be celebrated, be it a special day, the food that's in season, a show or expo (Comic Con!) that's in town or simply the much awaited presence of loved ones. So grab you calendars and pepper them with dates to look forward to, you'll see the year has never flown so fast.

Autumn love

In late October, when my mind first starts to think about Christmas, I always feel the need to rein myself in and think of Autumn.

Autumn with its crispy leaves and falling conkers. The season of Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night. The time of year when we first light up the scented candles or when we start searching the cookbooks for hearty warm food.

So, to distract me from the early thoughts of Christmas, I turn once more to list-making. Here's a list of things I want to accomplish before December kicks in:

1. Organise the pantry - the last few months have been so hectic we just dump the groceries in there and our neat system has become a hodgepodge of items wherever we find a bit of room.
2. Tidy our wardrobe - another victim of lack of time and energy. Also it's time to make room for new clothes.
3. Get back in that gym! (I think this one speaks for itself. Shame!)
4. Learn how to make stuffed butternut squash - because yum!
5. Eat less meat and more fish and veg.
6. Make my own Mark scarf (if this sentence means nothing to you, go watch Rent and thank me later!)
7. Start journaling - I think this will give me the focus I need to achieve more and starting it now will give an edge with next year's resolutions. And I saved the most important item for last:
8. Spend as much time as possible with my better half. If all goes according to plan the first months of 2016 will be quite intense, so I want to concentrate on pampering and focusing our relationship now.

There! I feel ready to embrace the season!

Previously on The Life of Meerkat

So remember that new year resolution about writing more? That idea kind of died before it was even born. (Sorry about that, everyone!) Nevertheless here I am, ready to stretch my muscles enough to have me in fit shape for a new year of writing. Yes, I know 2016 is well over two months away, but it's high time to catch up on old resolutions and give them a kick now so that I can get a head start on 2016.

So here's a little catch-up of what you've missed so far:

• I celebrated my 29th birthday
• I've been at a job I love for 14 months now
• I went from temp to perm in April
• I'm on my 21st book this year
• I've finally seen Miss Saigon live
• The boyfriend celebrated his 40th
• We've been to our first UK Games Expo
• I've held a live owl and petted a real meerkat
• I showed up at my dad's unannounced for Easter break and I've never seen anyone so surprised and glad to see me, ever!
• I've been to London four times this year and Oxford another two
• I've made a Tom Baker scarf (it's a bloody long achievement)
• I got used to getting up at 5am every weekday
• I've spent a full week in the Algarve, which I hadn't done since I moved to the UK
• I got over my dread of selfies and making funny faces on camera thanks to the Big Hoot owls
• I've finally learnt how to make tomato risotto and it's the best comfort food

That's about what I can remember now. I'll try and keep this going from now on. Watch this space and keep your fingers crossed!