postcards from cornwall

one of my sister’s little mantras for a happy life is: “live in anticipation of the memory.”
sometimes life feels rouuuuugh. but very often, when we look back at an experience, it seems pretty sweet. the hard stuff tends to melt away and we remember the adventure, the learning, the tiny beauties and the moments of exhilaration.

the trick is realizing in the middle of the roughness of the present that, in the future, the reflection of the past will be nice – and therefore embracing the now, brilliant in its grittiness and challenge and comedy of errors.

our trip to cornwall, while it was happening, felt like an epic fail at times, for reasons ranging from the pesky to the profound. our trip to cornwall, looking back, feels actually quite dreamy - all wrapped up together as a memory, it was wonderful. i anticipated that i would feel this way about it after it was over, so i deliberately enjoyed it before it was over. and i’m grateful for that little slice of time we spent as a family on the wild cornish coast.

here’s some pictures from our road trip.

^^ we impulsively decided to leave friday night instead of saturday morning,
and ended up staying at this gorgeous manor house in wiltshire on our way down to cornwall. ^^
 
^^ after hours and hours and hours stuck in holiday weekend traffic,
we arrived at st. ives during low tide. ^^
  
^^ there are vw buses everywhere in cornwall!
it’s my dream to drive one of those (my alternative to a minivan) one day. ^^

^^ cornish ice cream makes everything better. i loooooved all the super british flavours. ^^
 
^^ i had banoffee crunch and blackcurrants in clotted cream.
and this was definitely not the only ice cream cone i enjoyed over the long weekend.
i don’t know why cornish ice cream is so dang uniquely delicious.
happy, healthy cows enjoying the stunning views in the sea air, i guess! ^^

^^ windy selfie. of three kids so sick of being stuck in a car :) ^^
 
^^ quite a few crazy people were out swimming and surfing in the ocean! brrrrrrrr! ^^

^^ a self-timer from the car’s side mirror on the way to church during a spot of sunshine! ^^

^^ those tiny white dots are all sheep! ^^

^^ we walked the causeway to st. michael’s mount during low tide.
that pathway is completely submerged during high tide! ^^
   
^^ scenes at land’s end, england’s most southwestern point. ^^

^^ it was raining, and moses was snoozing in his car seat,
so ian and i took turns hurrying along the coastal path in the whipping rain to see these views. ^^

^^ super narrow cornish roads (yes, this is meant for two-way traffic…!) ^^
  
^^ there are wildflowers sprouting up everywhere in cornwall! i loooooove it. ^^
 
^^ one night after moses went to bed and while ian was studying, i took a little solo adventure to this spot – called bedruthan steps – just as the last light of day was eeking its way out. it was remarkably clarifying and nice for me to do something like this completely by myself. i was the only car in the parking lot at the trailhead, and the only person on the trail. (pretty good self-timer pic, huh?!) ^^

^^ the front door of the little cottage where we stayed for three nights is on the right! ^^

^^ tiny daisies in the grass is one of my very top most favourite things about england. ^^
  
^^ the tiny village we stayed in – st. minver – a few miles from the coast. ^^

a beautiful memory indeed.