LATELY

18 Sep LATELY

Sitting here with a matcha, looking out over the rice fields, which are almost ready to be harvested.

September is harvest time here, although everything is a little delayed this year. The rice was planted late because of the rain and now the harvest has been delayed by even more rain. We had a massive storm earlier this week with so much rain in 24 hours, but I imagine they’ll start harvesting soon.

I love the rice fields so much.

I love watching them move through all the different stages. The rice grows incredibly quickly and sometimes it really does look like it’s grown overnight.

Then the rice will be cut and laid out to dry along the pathways. It’s such a beautiful time of year here.

I made this last September –

The heat is definitely easing as we move into autumn. I like that the seasons here follow a similar pattern to Europe – May to August is the height of summer. September feels like autumn, then the rainy season begins in October and continues through to January. It’s cooler and referred to as winter, although it’s certainly not winter as I know it. I can still wear flip-flops every day and there’s no need for scarves and gloves.

Although the Vietnamese do wear scarves and gloves, because they really do find it cold! To us, it feels more like a slightly bad autumn day in the UK.

January and February feel like spring and are probably my favourite months to be here. The rain subsides and the temperature is perfect. Not hot, not cold and, most importantly, no sweatiness at all. Then March and April begin warming up before we’re back into the full heat of May again.

There’s something comforting about the seasons following a familiar pattern.

Life at the moment involves helping Luke a lot with his work and business. We’re getting ready for a shop update, so there’s plenty to do and lots of content to make for that.

I’m trying to finish my work day at around 4/5pm each day and go out for a matcha, so I can read my book. I like to pretend it’s my commute.

Working from home means it’s very easy to spend the whole day indoors, especially if we haven’t gone out for lunch. So heading out for a matcha or riding through the rice fields marks the end of the working day and gets me outside.

Anyway, gonna sign off now and enjoy the view a little more.

(5 blog posts this week! finding my groove, I think!)