Fresh air and tired feet a little bit of fair-isle

What a glorious day!
After a bit of a discussion how to make the most of the sunshine - we tied on our boots, grabbed our haversacks, camera and some nibbles and set off.

We are so lucky that we can fall out of our garden onto a foot path that heads immediately onto the hills. All that glorious countryside with in a few strides from home.

We crossed over the hills that rise between us and Wycoller and dropped down into the valley to briefly walk through the village. It was heaving with dogs barking, kids pond dipping, ice-cream eating, horse riding day trippers and along with a farmer in his tractor, we wove our way through them all.

A stone bench inviting you to 'sit thi deawn tek a rest', 

ponds full of tiny fish and tadpoles, 

willow weaving and a willow tunnel

We crossed back over hills, along the moor road, only sheep and curlews for company.

And once home - what better way to recover our lovely walk, tea and fresh scones in the greenhouse - bliss.

Hope your weekend was as good as ours and you had sunshine where ever you are!

Oh - and before I forget (This one is for Jane) my knitting is growing!! Ohh I am getting 'grown up' I am attempting beginners fair-isle - look!

Very basic stuff going on but it certainly makes my heart skip with happy thoughts!

Snapshots and thoughts

Firstly a huge thank you for all your wonderful comments on the blue pram blankie, it was lovely to 'hear' from you Thursday :)

Radish's Mum and Andria - those labels I got from  Woven Label UK - I followed the hobby and craft link

Angela, Liz, Lovely Lady and Jak - thank you  xx

And Jane - I wholeheartedly agree with your 'glass of wine' and after the Friday evening I had - I nearly asked to come and join you!!

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With such glorious autumnal sunshine and still unseasonably warm air, we went for a hobble (I say we as in the 'Royal We' - I really should just say me.....) while the other three and giddy dog kindly pottered slowly at my pace.

We wandered along another canal and it was such a lovely walk.

The dog and Youngest were happily playing with sticks, he was throwing them and she was chasing after them.







Then suddenly, in a moment of total giddiness - giddy dog watching a flying stick, her head in the air, tongue lolling out, tail wagging - ran straight into the canal - spadooosh! And completely disappeared under the water!

Himself instantly threw his haversack aside, launched himself onto the bank and grabbed a spluttering and very surprised dog by her collar and hauled her out.....she showed her gratitude by shaking every last drop of canal water off her - all over him!

A couple walking towards us grinned and asked if she had meant to do that - and I laughing at the dog's very shocked look on her face managed to say no - that it was a moment of giddiness! She soon recovered and she and Youngest resumed their game.

All along the way were wonderful snapshots of history - like the faded painted mooring bollard - you can just make out  the folk art roses despite the flaking paint.

All along the water's edge were steel rings, some with chains, some with rope.

We walked over canal bridges............

....And below them.

The reflections gave such serenity and depth to the landscape.

The late afternoon sunshine was truly wonderful as we returned.

I truly miss my 'proper' walks at the moment, but these gentle strolls that Himself kindly finds for me are precious and shared with him and my boys (and that silly giddy dog....) makes them even more treasured.

Hope your weekend is being good to you and for you too xx

Put your sunnies on!

I feel absolutely brain dead today -  due to an accumulation of nearly two weeks of double shifts, dancing till dawn last weekend and then when I do eventually crash on the pillow finding that I can't switch off but am too tired to use that wakefulness productively! Never mind, nearly the weekend coz today is Friday eve!! (that's Thursday to everyone out there in blog-land) and tonight is knit and natter here which I am looking forward to.

I have been wanting to share with you some gorgeous zingy-full-of-colour photos with you for a little while but for reasons already mentioned I haven't had the brain power to do anything, but today I am in need of some bright colour therapy and want some sunshine even if only in digital format.


While we were away Himself spotted an open garden being advertised in the local paper. He knows I love visiting other gardens and he is right.  I can find inspiration, feel envy, notice weeds, admire planting schemes, dream and aspire or just simply escape and enjoy.

On a squint-making sunny day we rambled around a huge garden with only the flowers and insects for company. We had the entire place to ourselves. There was no pressure to move on, we I could stare at the long border and sigh in Victorian style rapture, we I could inhale the scent of this rose, which I have to say was so heady and so all encompassing in the heat of the day that afterwards when we climbed into the car, I could still smell a hint of it's perfume. 

The old moss roses, although not as scented were just as wonderful to see.

The long border, not yet at it's full splendour was still wonderful. Filled with lupins, iris, geraniums, alstroemeria, aquilegia, hemerocallis, peonies and sweet peas. There were many more plants just waiting to burst into bud, but I won't bore you with the list as there were a lot of them! We chatted with the head gardener and he said that they hadn't started putting out the summer bedding yet. So imagine how glorious it will look at it's peak. I loved the way fagus sylvatica (purple or copper beech) had been used as an alternative to yew as a formal back drop. Delicious!

Another intoxicating old rose.

The beauty of this place was the freedom to wander around a garden filled only with plants and history and us.  This garden** is open all summer and we just happened to arrive on the second day and only had to share it with the sun in the sky. We did go on to another gorgeous place but I will save that for another day when I am in need of some more exhilarating colour therapy!

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**Garden -  Bughtrig

walking weekend, 9/52 and 10/52

Right.

You are about to go on a walk and you have been asked to get together all the stuff you will need. Bearing in mind that there is about a 20 minute car drive first

  and  you are a 10 year old boy. 

Ok? Ready? well off you go............

• Did you remember to take your toy car? 
• And that large TransFormer and his mini-me side kick? 
• Oh yes don't forget you need to take your camera (sans batteries) 
• And your GPS (plus flat batteries and then ask mid way to walk if any one has any spare batteries..)
• And for good measure - would you have remembered to take....(wait for it....) your guitar?... I thought not.
• You would have, I suspect, not taken your gloves, or found your hat, or collected your scarf or even begun to look for your walking boots or coat.  For which, as your mother, I would have said a thing or two about your choice of equipment.

Having addressed the balance we would have got in the car, you would have a cross face and a restricted toy collection and I would have a furrowed brow. Then on the journey to our walk, our collective grumpy demeanour would have evaporated with the miles and by the time Himself had parked the car, we would be ready for our walk :)

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While we were out, I took some photos, and I thought I'd share them with you...............

The oh-so cute fisherman's cottage with it's snowdrops and daffodils. 

The happy giddy dog smiling for the camera as we walked towards Elbolton Hill (where we stopped and had lunch)

The wonderful view were we lapped up the sunshine. 

The nip in the air just about bearable as we sat eating our sandwiches 

minus our usual layers of fleeces.

Meandering drover's tracks gently falling away from the hills

leading us to quaint little villages, 

where time appears to have stood still - 

the only hint of modernity are the expensive looking shiny 4x4s littering the driveways.

A strange earth working machinery rusting quietly next to a rickety shelter, 

the vehicle reminded me of Scoop from BoB the Builder

The sunshine bright enough to gift us strong shadows which kept us company all day

Two lovely days of walking.

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We have a book club at work, where a company comes in and drops off a selection of books for us to look at and potentially buy.  I flipped through a cook book idly on Friday evening as I waited for the last patient to leave, when I spotted a couple of recipes that looked quick and easy. After further reading I found several more that really interested me, so I have put my name down for a copy. The first two recipes that caught my attention I wrote down on a scrap of paper to try this weekend and both got the thumbs up from Himself.

One was leek fritters and the other was a very quick lentil dhal - which initially tasted rather dull but with a bit of tweaking, soon improved. I will make them again I am sure, but until then I now have numbers 9 and 10 to add to my 52 recipes I've not tried before. 

Quick, easy and cheap = excellent in my book!

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Time for me to finish waffling, I am sure I could say so much more but it's getting late. So I wish you a good night and hope the spring-like sun shone for you this weekend :)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oh - and before I forget, I have been doing some crochet but I can't show you just yet - no, it's not a surprise, it's blogger stopping me downloading any more photos until I pay them some money!!

Ha!

Happy memories heart

Today's heart

is

a small crocodile clip photo holder

It holds a photograph from about 5 years ago and is of my boys laughing in mock terror as they clasp each others hands while they ford a small but swiftly flowing stream. Small enough to just step over, deep enough to walk in, so guess what they chose...... The shrieks of delighted alarm as ice-cold water splashed around the tops of their wellies soaking their feet and socks. Oh the naughtiness of it all! 

Youngest holds his bigger brother's hand tightly, his right fist is clenched shut as he feels the sheer iciness of the water as it drenches his shorts, all the while he sports a cheeky grin. 

Eldest - more cautious is holding his little brother's hand high - protectively as he too tentatively wades into the water, his shorts are also dripping and although his face is down hidden by his hair -  he watches the water swirl and sparkle around his boots,  his left hand is relaxed - he is in control.

A second step by each boy and they have crossed 'the raging torrent' so they turn and repeat the expedition to return to the other side. Where.... yes you guessed it, they repeated the crossing....again...and again...and again - oh the laughter, the giggles and the fun of being 5 and 7 and camping in a field up in the Southern Lakes. 

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Well, it's been fun sharing this wonderful memory with you today, I had originally planned just to show the heart and leave it at that, but once I started writing, it all came out - and it is as fresh as if it was this last weekend.......how I love memories :)  

Well, have yourself a lovely Wednesday - I am about to go out quickly and give the dog a walk before I go to work - the sun is actually shining and it would be silly to waste it - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

18.07.10 - My kind of Rainbow

Rain, lots and lots of rain (we do need it) 

with a little bit of sunshine 

produces 

the 

most 

...beautiful rainbows...

All photographs supplied by Eldest today - as he wandered around the garden.

28.06.10 - Weekend

Saturday -

We sit scoffing fruit salad and yoghurt in the garden as we plan what needs doing today. The boys have their garden competition entries to start and Himself is going to lay some concrete for paving slabs. And me? Well, I keep looking at my garden and the weeds keep looking back at me, they cheerfully pop up overnight from areas previously cleared - how do they do that?

Eldest scrubs out his chosen 'creative container' - an ancient old zinc bucket, gifted to me by a man in his eighties. The bucket  had previously belonged to his 102 year old mother.......

Youngest disappears into the back of the garage to retrieve the red tray he is using for his mini-garden, it also needs a bath.

There is much planting and pulling back out and re-planting and shoving back in and yanking back out of all their chosen plants - I wince at the 'hands-on' approach the boys (particularly Youngest) but stand well back as these are their entries and I am not to get involved. Finally, after much juvenile cussing and muttering under breaths, they stand back pleased with their results.

Eldest's creative container is delightfully done -  a mix of annuals and vegetables

He is relieved and proud of his work - so am I....

Youngest's mini-garden - not quite finished (art in the making) is still being constructed. He is last seen wielding the hair cutting scissors (aargh - not them!) as he creates a little hen hock for his flock of plastic chickens.

I get fed up with weeding and edging and make a start on the adult creative container 

- but this one is a secret!  

Oh - ok, just one picture as a hint............. 

might show a few more teaser pictures as the week goes on!

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We missed celebrating the solstice on the 21st, so I plan to have one tonight - in the garden. After all the collective hard work, I think that the boys (all three) and I need a treat. Himself puts the benches out as I cook all sorts of easy to eat finger food. We bring out candles to symbolise the fires as we sit and eat and watch swallows and bats and a tawny owl and watch the sun go down. 

And when, finally the candles have burned low, the sky is almost dark and the boys are tired, we wander back into the house - it has been a good day.

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Sunday - 

A wonderful walk on ancient tracks, along quietly bubbling streams. A walk under huge beech and oak trees and along old stone causeways. A walk that cleansed the soul and made us feel so very alive.

Steeply wooded valleys 

Stone steps worn by years of trudging clog-weary feet

Last remaining relics of now long gone mills just 'appear' out of nowhere.

Sunken tracks beneath beech tree woodlands.

Coming out of the darkness of the woods and into the bright warm sunshine bathing the meadows.

A quiet moment of reflection.

It is days like these, with my boys, I feel free.

03..5.10 - Flying with swallows and swans

Isn't it amazing how much better everything is when the sun shines?


Yesterday we packed up the car, Himself threw (well - staggered beneath) the bikes onto the rack and we set off to the Southern Lakes for a day out.


We stopped at the village of Levens in Cumbria. Himself had devised a lovely (flat) route for us going up one side of the Lyth Valley and crossing over to return down the other side.  Despite a bitterly cold wind, the flashes of sun between the clouds was wonderful.


When the boys were smaller and lighter than now, Himself pulled them along in a bike trailer and until recently it had languished forgotten and dusty at the back of the garage. This weekend saw it being given a reprieve as Himself dusted it off and loaded up with our picnic goodies. 

We found the area ideal for trundling around on quiet lanes. 

The views were gentle and invigorating

I usually ride at the back, where I have my own company with my boys ahead in my view. It's here I can think, I can see and I feel free.  Quietly free-wheeling along a straight lane something caught my eye. I turned and flying alongside me was a swallow. It flitted and swirled with me for a couple of minutes and for that brief time, with wind in my hair, I felt like I was flying too.

Today - Monday, we had planned to make the most of the bank holiday but with a damp start and Eldest firmly attached to the computer trying to finish his homework for tomorrow, we didn't get out as early as we had hoped.

I played around with some sheep's fleece, trying out hand spinning whilst Youngest and Himself did a bit of baking.

We finally managed to escape the dreaded half-nelson grip of the homework and once again we jumped into the bicycle laden car and set off to find somewhere to ride.

It was wonderful being out alongside the canal.

We wondered about the history of this old stone.

The evening sunlight bathed us in a warm glow

As we were nearing the end of our ride, I saw a swan silently gliding on the canal, it stretched it's neck out as I came alongside, swept it's wings round and lifted itself out of the water with that wonderful reedy noise their feathers make. The swan flew for about 10 - 15 metres then landed again in the water. 

It has been a wonderful weekend - just wish it wasn't finished just yet..............