The Simple Things Issue 135 September

RAMBLE

Picnic with a pooch. Giving marbling a swirl. Healing waters & garden swim ponds. Blackberry blondies & turmeric gingerade. Geological days out. Why we love a picky tea. Bloody Mary Rigatoni. A thoroughly modern miniaturist. How chit-chat helps. DIY garden tandoor. New hobbies & harvest feasts. Pleats, Poirot & Pickleball. How often do we really let ourselves ramble in the truest sense of the word? The dictionary offers three interpretations – to walk for pleasure in the countryside, to talk or write in an aimless, often long-winded fashion and to describe a plant that sends out long shoots over walls, fences and other plants. But even these precise definitions don’t quite capture what it means to ramble; that feeling of wandering without a particular place to get to, with no clock-watching or to-do list. And on a sunny afternoon, what is nicer than letting your thoughts meander and drift, coming and going as they please?

There’s a carefree mood underpinning every ramble – real or in the mind – and a lack of responsibilities, if only for a while. Only plants really ramble with purpose, striving for space and light. Though, thinking about it, maybe that’s our unspoken goal when we ramble too – finding headspace or physical space and a lightness that comes from clearing your mind. Sometimes the right path (or choice or decision) is not obvious and our roaming buys us time to see things from a wider perspective or another point of view. Late summer is made for rambling, leaving us refreshed and ready for a return to the rituals and routines of autumn and beyond.

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