Dear Diary, it's summer 2026

A nostalgic motherhood diary entry about summers, chaotic ones, and the ice lolly in between

Dear Diary,

It’s summer 2026 and my summer doesn’t feel like I anticipated it would…

It’s really starting to heat up. We’re set for a scorcher of a week with the temperature reaching a really hot 40 degrees. There’s no sign of it looking to cool down according to the news.

I can’t believe I checked the news this morning… I’m trying my hardest not to look at it and I always get drawn back in. I wish I could just put my phone in the bin sometimes, but I won’t. I need it incase of an emergency.

Last night I want all in on Substack and read back to back of other people’s articles. One article suggested trying an app called Freedom which I must look at today.

It will hopefully help me to block being able to look at the news on my phone but that’s only if I ever get through all the washing I have from the weekend!!

Well I guess at least it will all dry nice and quick with this hot weather!!

The air con is on in the living room and it’s not making any difference. The noise from it is driving me bananas.

The baby is warm but he’s doing ok and is currently sleeping, so I’m managing to get through a few tasks.

My eldest is at school and I really hope he remembers to top up his sunscreen at lunch time and also drink lots of water…he must be extremely hot today, bless him.

I need to remember to take a nice cold drink with me for him after school today.

I’m feeling quite inspired this morning.

I have articles to finish, designs to list on Etsy, pins to pin on Pinterest. Substack messages to get back to and I just want a minute to do some much needed planning, so I don’t feel so over loaded and I don’t want to forget ideas that I have.

I need to write down these thoughts that are swirling around in my mind.

Im really glad that im feeling more creative than i did last week.

I’m literally raring to go.

I don’t know what was going on before, I couldn’t seem to grasp any ideas and this week, I can can’t write them down quick enough! I think something has happened according to astrology and the solstice, I need to finish that article I was reading last night, maybe there’s something there…

I must hydrate properly. I have to start drinking more water, oh, and I must clean my bathroom today.

I hate cleaning the bathroom.

It’s the worst job of all the cleaning jobs but, I will say that it’s the most rewarding.

I know I’ll feel better once I’ve done it.

When did summer feel so chaotic and this hot???

I spoke to my husband this morning and he seemed to think that summers were always this hot when we were kids!

I don’t think they were…no way, he’s talking rubbish!

They were definitely warm I’ll give him that.

I used to love dipping my feet in my brother’s paddling pool and my whole body would just instantly cool down.

But not for long though, because there was always bits of grass and funny looking bugs floating around in the water.

Oh, and sitting on the grass under a tree in the shade, eating a double lemon and lime ice lolly with two sticks and watching for (again..) bugs in the grass near my bare feet. Hoping that they definitely wouldn’t touch my feet.

The sounds and scents of Charlie Red, Impulse and Lynx Africa being sprayed at school. And piles of school jumpers being used as makeshift goal posts for football, all mixed up but somehow managing to get back to their original owners.

I used to love it at primary school when they had cut the grass with the big mowers. We would all go round collecting the dry grass at lunch time making huge grass piles and once the mission had been completed, it was a grass throwing free for all on the field.

Or how about making perfume potions from flower petals in my own garden and also trying to sow flower petals together to make dresses for the fairies.

Such amazing memories. I miss these times, I sure do.

But…

I love my life now too, I love my kids and my husband - I just hate cleaning in hot weather.

I feel like today is the perfect day for a water fight, or maybe just a slow walk home after school to see what bugs we can spot, followed by a nice cold homemade ice lolly.

My eldest will love that and my baby will love the sprays of water too.

I’ll leave it here for today and will let you know how I get on tomorrow…

As always thanks for listening.

Speak soon,

Luv4eva

Jo ♥️

(All photos have been taken from Pinterest. Thank you so much to all of the artists, photographers and teams at Pinterest who allow me to share my words along side their stunning photos.)