Mud and Ice

No decent spring walk would not have significant levels of either mud or ice or in the case today - both.

Not a particularly inspiring photo but one that would make a happy Willow wuff 

Her ball, mud, puddles and shards of ice.

The last few days definitely dipped back towards a last wintery flurry and yesterday we had snow and hail on and off through out the day. However, like the most of the uk - today is utterly glorious (if a little fresh still). 

We, Willow and I, set off after a short stint of lead training - can see this will probably be a long term lesson as the pulling has not decreased in any way. I have been offered loads of (not necessarily good) advice including different types of leads and harnesses, but I will persist - she is a collie, they do charge on ahead, they do think for themselves and think for you too, so this is more a battle of wills rather than just obedience training. We'll get there (eventually!)

There is a whole different life in the village during working hours which I knew existed but never was really involved with - until now.

 A sense of purpose and busy-ness by the volunteer gardening force, a cheery chattery-ness of the dog walker (mostly women with the very occasional man - they seem to do the dog routes on the weekends).

Delivery men and posties marching from house to house, the screaming kids from the primary school playground during recess, the surprisingly quiet traffic passing through and the general chatter as neighbours get on with their lives and pass pleasantries over hedges and fences.

 Admittedly today's weather certainly helped buoy the joie de vivre mood. 

I am - still to a certain respect - known as an off-cumdun (which means new comer) in the village, however it has evolved over the years. We were from out of the village when we first arrived and with me being 'foreign' - we did stick out a little. Now we've been living here some time and since leaving work, once again I am the 'new person' puttering around the village and having a red and white collie makes us stand out a little haha.

I wish the washing machine would get on - it is taking ages to chew through the washing today, I want to get the bedding out on the line whilst it is sunny and fresh - the smell of line dried sheets is sublime.

And I shall leave you with a certain elderly princess basking in the sunshine making it impossible to straighten the bed hey ho.....

Celebrating the small stuff

Up early this morning to see Himself off to work gave me the absolute pleasure of being able to slip back into a still warm bed and catch up with reading or replying to comments on my blog. It was rather fresh first thing when I took Willow out however the dawn chorus was spectacular. I listened with clenched teeth to stop them chattering before returning to the warmth of my bed, but not before I used my bird app to help ID all the birds I could hear. 

I was very happy with that list!

After breakfast, boots and leads were collected and a pathway followed. When I used to walk with Moss, I allowed her to 'choose' the route (within reason) and it would vary from day to day. 

The last couple of walks, I have gently allowed Willow the same freedom of choice (again within reason) and today she took us up and round the village along stony tracks and muddy lanes then through a rough field and a scruffy meadow twice - because she knows she can play fetch with her favourite ball there. 

To do that - she would have had to mentally plan the route to be able to return back through the fields without turning back or repeating a track, either that it was a very lucky guess!!

I recently mentioned my love of punchy home made ginger biscuits and I was sent a flood of recipes - so - today I am going to start experimenting with every recipe offered - it is a mission and some one has to do it!! (oooh oooh pick me, pick me!)

Todays photos a mix of our walk, what we found, in the garden and in the kitchen - I do have quite a long 'to do' list but - hey there is always tomorrow!

How has your Monday been?
Are you doing things YOU want to do or are you procrastinating?

glimmers

I am taking a self enforced rest day today - the last week of joyous sunshine and a happy me working in the garden has taken it's toll on my hands and they are rather painful. I am very grateful I learnt to touch type at school and can type with relatively little hand or finger movement.

So the three of us are sitting in the summer house, Willow napping on her duvet, Pan popping in and out or watching the frogs VeRy.cLoSeLy... sorry frogs - we think she needs specs coz she gets so close to look at them. 

Himself had constructed a little fence to prevent an elderly cat from entering the pond area, but the 'old dear' still has quite a spring in her step and with a bit of thought has found a route in.

One of my jobs this last week was to try and thwart her but have failed..... I have just watched her analyse the alterations, think about it, then just jump over a different way and - with equal rickety ease - jump back out... sigh. Back to the drawing board.

It has been a rare pleasure being able to spend a run of gently warm days in the garden. At the moment I am smiling quietly to myself as I watch all the birds using the bird feeding station I constructed on Tuesday. I had had a rusty metal version up for quite a few seasons and each time I looked at it, I gave it a hearty frown. Tuesday was the day of it's demise. 

All the hooks and tray holders were fine so I sawed them off, drilled holes and used one of the branches left over from the cherry tree removal from last week. I tried to take a flattering photo of the new and hopefully improved feeding station - but I just can't get a good one - so you will have to imagine it!

Something else that has made me smile, is the gentle improvement in cat and dog relations - Pan has lived with two other border collies in her life time so this one is just another inconvenience, however Willow has never met a cat and it has taken some weeks for her to stop reacting as 'sharply' as she has been. 

Today I held my breath as I watched a cranky old cat quietly soothe a scared little dog .... Willow is terrified of large men - especially those with loud voices. Our neighbour is both large and loud and he coughs and clears his throat with the explosive force of a snorting bull. And he does it regularly.

Willow was startled, sat up trembling, and Pan came into the summer house, went over and booped noses, stood near until the dog stopped quivering and lay back down, then she went back into the garden. Situation defused.

I can't ask for any more than that...............

well, may be one more thing -

a dog that does not think that walking at full steam-train-speed is 

The.Only.Way.To.Go

What gentle gems - glimmers - have lit your day?🩷💚

How is your gardening growing?🌱🪴🌿🪻🌷🌹

Here is to a lovely weekend - long may the springy weather keep on springing ☀️

Gently sharing the love

Edited to add:

 apologies if I don't reply to you here or comment on your own blogs - since yesterday afternoon Blogger has refused to let me comment??!! any idea why?

I spent the whole day in the garden yesterday - let that sink in......... (apart from nipping into the house to put the kettle on, make lunch or use the loo but that aside).... 𝕥𝕙𝕖..𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖..𝕕𝕒𝕪!

At one point the three of us (Willow, Pan and I) were sitting in the summer house having a break and we were all just a little too warm - hang on a minute - does that mean.... there was sunshine, actual sunshine??

Yes! and it was absolutely blimmin' marvellous.

And there has been a bit of a break through - it is amazing how a good dose of sunlight and being outside can help soothe differences. 

I had to hold my breath - long may this gentle progress continue

After years of working at the walled garden where there was an almost indecent need to sow seeds in vast quantities for the coming growing season, this year I really needed to rein in my enthusiasm for filling every available tray or module with potting soil! 

Fortunately I do have more than my own garden I supply plants for - both my sons and my brother have new gardens and sharing plants and seedlings is a form of love. Eldest's garden has just reached the point where he is able to start sharing back - splitting herbaceous perennials, passing on self sown seedlings and collected seed heads. 

So, while my two supervisors were investigating the back of their eyelids, I made 'seedling rolls'  filling them with summer annuals for my brother's garden. Once made up, they take up so little room that it makes them easier to transport (up to Scotland) and then all he has to do is un-roll them and plant out the seedlings.

Today, I am planning another day out in the garden, I am sure my two side-kicks will be more than happy to play out again. Although I do have to take Willow for her walk first otherwise she natters at me until I get the message!

Yesterday's walk produced a very muddy doggo - which I think we can call a win - means she has played hard and is happy to hang around and chill while I potter with plants.

Hope there is sunshine where you are today☀️

And if you are working in your garden, hope too you see all the new shoots and the promise of this year's plants and flowers beginning to wake up. Certainly here in my shady garden in the north of the country - we are considerably later than others, my anticipation is bordering on desperation!

making things a 'hole' lot better!

Some years ago, when in a charity shop, I came across a modern punky interpretation of a woman's kilt in a dark grey, black and cream tartan. A heavy full skirted affair cut across the bias with a multi layered handkerchief hem.  

I loved her. She twirled and swirled and hung with a weighted and rebellious charm.

Then, for some reason she seemed to migrate to the back of the wardrobe. Quietly becoming invisible and then forgotten.  

One winter we had a terrible infestation of clothes moths and several items of clothing were rendered as holey as sieves. Some were given careful repairs, others thrown or repurposed and one or two mended very visibly with joy and defiance.

Couple of years later, now that I am at home and feeling feral and free (although my freedom slightly curtailed by truculent weather) I decided to continue with my 'operation de-clutter' and targeted my wardrobe. EVERYTHING was hauled out and piled on the bed, then the space was given a wipe down and refresh. 

Now I was ready to go through each item of clothing.

I was honest with myself - would I really wear that again? Does it still fit? Do I actually still like it? Did I like it in the first place? By the end I had a large pile for the charity shop, a small pile for the bin, a clean and surprisingly well arranged row of clothes ...... and my skirt ... which had inexplicably been missed when I did the clothes moth check.

My skirt seemed to have been feasted on by the clothes moth caterpillars and created a rather 'fetching' network of holes on one side. There was only one thing for it - reach for my embroidery thread and repair all the holes with love and defiance.

Randomly selecting a colour then enhancing each munch hole and adding little seed stitches around kept me busy for a couple of evenings (especially as I had to unpick several embellishments coz I stitched them inside out - duh)

15 holes later - I was done.  All my skirt needs now is a wash and a light press and she is good to go! 

I might just be wearing her again a lot more this year!

Have you been mending?
It is certainly a form of rebelling against fast fashion.

Did you also get 'mothed' a few years ago? - I remember the infestation even made the news!

Is it still raining where you are?

It is here and us three - Pan, Willow and I are heartly sick of it. We do all still go out but - enough now!

What did we get up to yesterday?

 A photo an hour 6am - 6pm - well, as near as I can get it.

6am (actually a little after)

Curtains thrown wide revealing the day before the weather turns

7am - back in bed

Pan having eaten breakfast, slipped out in to the garden, has now returned to bed.

8-ish am

Toast - food of the gods, 

especially with lemon curd or marmite and washed down with a mug of tea

9.30ish

The morning walk, post breakfast, with Willow.

It seems we are now part of the 'Women who walk' their dogs in the morning. 

More talking that walking seems to occur. 

Willow and I pass our greetings then walk on leaving them to natter.

10.30ish

In the greenhouse, tidying it in preparation of the new growing season.

11.45ish

Someone has found a rare slip of sunlight, whilst we are inside for lunch

1pm

Back outside and spotted some primroses in the wild part of the garden

2pm

Working in the garden with these two, 

tidying up the shredding from yesterday's garden hurdle making

2.45pm

Planting onions in modules to give me time to prepare their growing space

3.40ish

A precious half hour at my art desk,  

quietly working on a year long project following the seasons

4.40pm

Sewing on a butterfly patch whilst the pasta sauce simmered - 

I'd torn my trousers whilst working in the garden today

5.45pm

Our 'getting-on-a-bit' old lady - a proper heat worshipper 

Thank you for coming along with us through our day. Hope yours was as gentle and productive as ours.