A weekend of sharing things

Sitting down with a cup of tea as the weekend draws to a close. I've swum 5k today (taking me to a total of 21k for the week), cycled to the pool and back (taking me to about 51 miles cycled this week), made a beetroot risotto to have with smoked trout tonight, and started packing for a trip away next weekend.

Aside from the usual activities of cooking, cleaning, and swimming, this weekend has mainly been about community. Yesterday I met a lady who wishes to be mentored through the chartership process (a qualification which will enable her to become a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of the Library and Information Professionals) and over the next year I'll be spending some time helping her along the way. I benefitted from the mentoring process so it's good to be trained up as a mentor and able to give something back.

This afternoon I have been decorating a birthday cake for a little girl who will have her fifth birthday on Tuesday for a request via Free Cakes for Kids Oxford (which I've talked about before). I was happy to be told that she is very girlie and likes butterflies as that is exactly the sort of cake that I like to make! I cut the butterfly shape out of sponge, covered it in buttercream and then used lots of sprinkles and sparkly candles to finish it off.



But community isn't just about giving. As I type, one of our friends is helping Mr W find the garden by removing brambles and digging up dead trees. It's the sort of thing that I hate doing (and it's a very long task as the garden was neglected when we acquired the property, and we have neglected it further over the last nine months) so I am grateful that she is enjoying being outside in the cold whilst I do jobs and chores inside.

Somehow things seem to have balanced out rather well this weekend.