Observations

Most of the droplets glisten when they capture the meagre early morning sunlight, others appear opaque. The window pane is littered with static rain beads giving the appearance of pockmarked glass. Then when the fast moving grey clouds curtain the sun, the droplets become almost invisible allowing my eye through the distraction. I now watch the trees in the garden are dancing in the brisk breeze, it fluctuates from a gentle flip of the lighter branches to whole tree contortions. 

We have a stained glass plaque in the window and at the moment, brief flashes of sun sing through the colours scattering speckles of colour on the glass.

Himself left for work while it was still the last drifts of darkness leaving the cat and me in bed, his parting shot - I'd stay there if I were you. So we have. Although I suspect I will be up long before the cat.

The hyacinths in the lounge have both decorated the room and the air with their delicious scent and blue flowers however they are beginning to fade and I am sorry to see them go. It will be another ten months before we have them up on the mantel and in the window again.  Primula have been brought in to fill that hole.

The cat is rhythmically snoring beneath Himself's aged lumberjack shirt - one reserved specifically for gardening and tucking around a cold sleeping cat.

I can see, but not hear, the wind chime in the garden twirling around in the wind. It is an elegant spiral of tubes which normally share a gentle chime as they tink against each other. Today I suspect it is more of an angry clash than a melodic background sound. The blackbirds do not seem to care. They are busily foraging around the plants and bird feeder breaking off only to chase each other around and across the garage roof.

I plan to paint once I have posted this. I  can feel the compulsion to sketch and run a watercolour filled brush across paper. It sometimes feels like a rising tide which I used to suppress - somehow 'adulting' seemed more important - but now I heed that urge.

Life is for living.

snapshots and scents

The plan was - get up, shower, strip the bedding then stick on the washing machine, finally sitting down with a mug of peppermint tea and toast..... The first two happened fairly smoothly, that is until it came to pulling back the duvet only to find the cat firmly burrowed beneath Himself's warm padded shirt. I hesitated. Her eyes were so firmly shut it felt quite disrespectful to disturb her. Instead I worked my way through the wash basket hoping that by the time I was ready to pull the bed apart, Pan would have decided to get up and leave me to my chores..... not a chance.

So I carefully untucked the corners of the sheets, gently pulling them to the centre. This produced the 'ears of annoyance' and the 'frown of disapproval'. I stopped. This time, I slowly pulled the duvet to the now bared mattress - this was considered inappropriate behaviour and I was given the sharpest of glares. 

How is it I have been reduced to a timid char lady to an elderly cantankerous cat?! 

I tried again, this time she poured herself out of the nest she had created and slipped off the bed and away with a rather cross flick flick of her tail.

Later.....

Chores done, breakfast eaten, carpets briefly tickled with the vacuum cleaner I reached for my knitting to do whilst I finished my tea. For what felt like the longest time, I have not had the need or the urge to knit or crochet however that seems to have returned and in the last few days I have knitted a pseudo-Sophie scarf and a warm scrappy hat for work. 

The weather has vanished again, leaving a sepia-grey sky heavy with damp and cold air. It took quite a bit of an effort on my part to go out, so I rewarded myself with the snowdrops in the garden. 

The kitchen at the moment, smells rather warm and inviting - I have a marzipan and vanilla loaf cake cooking in the oven and the fragrance is filling downstairs with a mouth watering aroma.

I hope that it tastes as good as it smells😊

Postscript..... Himself declares the cake delicious and has scoffed two chunky slices, suspect it will be a 'make it again' 🍰

You can do it

During Wednesday's sublime light, this little flowering moss glowed in the sun

After the snow, there was rain, followed swiftly by driech grey mist which seemed to not only hang around the house and garden but around me too.  

Then yesterday the skies cleared and the sun filled the day. 

At work, the volunteers and I revelled in the warmth and light - it felt uplifting. We tackled something I'd planned months ago as an early autumn project which was then thwarted by the weather.

Finally on Wednesday, with a huge pile of chestnut palings, saws, mallets and steaming mugs of tea we started and the joy was palpable.

I quietly listened to happy chatter and bird song. Volunteers and birds all soaking in the light and gentle winter sun. However what made me smile the most was the obvious pride these ladies felt by the end of their session. They'd completed a rather manual and physical task and it looked bloody fantastic !

Old news New news

 It was Himself who discovered this bundle. His head and hands buried beneath the floorboards as he scouted for any further unwanted issues. He tossed it towards me and returned to his 'below board' position. 

Carefully peeling it open I discovered the date - 30 December 1976 - this paper had been hiding beneath the floorboards for 49 years.

A gentle turning of pages revealed the frontispiece with the cost of the newspaper only being 7p, however the stories felt very familiar. Taxes going up, prices rocketing, unemployment etc etc. However the biggest difference was an advertisement for smoking. A full spreadsheet sized one.

For a princely sum of 45 pence you could get your grubby little fingers on a packet of 12 KING SIZE cigarettes. I looked up the company and in 1976, this company was at it's height with it eventually being hobbled first by taxes, then health sensibilities, finally being absorbed by an American company and fading away. 

Another full page advert was for a car - I looked up it's number plate on the MoT checker and it reported that yes this was indeed the car in the photo but it also informed me that it had a red livery.

There was a 'pocket cartoon' - which has a woman asking a bloke whether ' kissing was a health hazard' as well as a simple weather report stating that it was a cloudy and rainy December - yup - some things never change........

To purchase the current version of this paper is £1.70.

The Fiat was sold for £1500 at the time, I have looked up car and classic car type websites and the same model can command a price between double and 12 (yes TWELVE) times the original cost. wow.

tip my hat

 A personal challenge - try and write something every day for January 2025 

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Having come home (albeit a little earlier than normal) from the day job, I'm doing my 'homework'. A portion of my day is computer related which I choose to do at home. Today I am planning and designing a treasure hunt for children based around the park, a 'bingo' card for littlies to tick off as they run around the gardens and an adult level anagram and word search. 

However, I keep being distracted.

I'm in the lounge which faces the lane through the village. Any movement makes my eyes flick over towards the window. So many bobble hats, beanies, trapper hats, berets, slouchies, hoods and caps trog by. After my eye was caught yet again by something colourful bouncing along as the wearer made their way down the footpath, I stopped trying to avoid looking out, leant back and gave myself permission to enjoy the visual feast.

Most folk seem to be ensconced in some variant of woolly type head gear, whether knitted professionally or by their gran, they all seemed to be tugged firmly down around the ears, resting just above or over their eyebrows. 

A few fleecy type hats have loped passed, usually more trendy in appearance with bright colours or patterns. The best so far has been a furry trapper type hat. The kind that have long 'ears' which can be fastened tightly below the chin with the hat part pulled down deeply, keeping the head and a goodly part of the face covered .... except this one was not.

The hat was jauntily perched above a cheeky chappy's face with the ear flaps sticking out horizontally, very reminiscent of Grogu's own ears, bouncing quite merrily in time as he walked.

About a half dozen of teenage lads then lanky-legged by in their school uniforms - no hats or scarves and certainly no coats. At what age do lads mature into hat wearing, coat donning, scarf wrapping, fee paying members of the public?

I 'double-hat'. 

I wear a thinnish skull cap type - usually crochet cotton courtesy of my sister in law, this acts as a heat trapping layer, topped off with a thicker knitted slouchy beanie. This allows me to removed the outer hat if I get too warm without actually exposing the horrendous bird's nest hat hair that lurks beneath. It does not matter one jot if I contain my feral hair as tightly as possible, I know that once it is hidden deep in a hat - it goes even more wild and makes me look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards.

The view through the Victorian Folly towards the Italian Gardens and Chinese stone lantern

we are all things to all nations if nothing else here at the park...

Rain runs a thread through it

 Friday
After days of grey dank with the sky having no colour and mist filling all the spaces, we met up with Youngest and his lovely girl for a walk. We slipped and slid our way across muddy fields, deeply pock marked by sheep feet. I listened and failed to hear any bird song - not even subdued twittering although I watched a couple of flocks of starlings fly overhead in tight clusters. The afternoon stealthily darkened so we cut our walk short and returned. Carefully picking our way back, we finally reached firmer footing. With the mist thickening and the light failing, I was grateful to return to Youngest's home and wrap my fingers around a mug of tea. I know we will walk the route again, but hopefully when the weather is better, the sun is shining and the paths are dry.

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Sunday

Himself and I headed off to the Dales to make the most of the mist finally lifting. We set off in fine fettle, looking forward to getting out and although it felt rather fresh with a frisky breeze (well it was December) it was rather nice to have no commitments and know that the day was ours.

It seemed also to belong to many other walkers as the pathways and parking places were the fullest we'd seen for some weeks. We strode out, listening for bird song, watching for wild life and breathing damp cold air.

The pathway - well trod and muddy in places wound and wove itself alongside the River Wharfe, dipping down to the water's edge, following a farm track away then returning to the riverine margins.

We stopped, sitting on a damp ledge with our boots on a sandy 'beach' and watched three mallards steadily make their way towards us as they battled against the river flow and noticeably increasing winds. They were rewarded as we tossed a few crumbled shortbread crumbs before we continued our walk.  The wind now carried rain droplets and on the other side of the river we watched sheets of rain make their way up the valley. Coats were pulled tighter and hats more firmly yanked down over ears and eyebrows. The inclement weather was winning the battle so we turned away from the river, joined a small quiet road and worked our way back to start. Once in the van, heating on, kettle whistling away cheerfully we watched rain creating runnels down the windscreen. 

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Tuesday

New Year's Eve - and with weather warnings being issued with stern voices we all set off to meet up to celebrate the demise of 2024 - which has been a notable year if only for the tide of life being a double edged sword throwing us mixed fortunes amid small glimmers. With both our boys and their lovely girls, we ate (too much) drank (tea, coffee, tonic water and beer - but not simultaneously!) played board games that both flummoxed and frustrated us with equal measure causing amusement and howls of laughter. We watched fireworks on the television and through the rain streaked windows, listened to music, joked and shared stories, cuddled cats and hugged each other.

Wednesday

Rain, so much rain overnight, rivers flooded and fields drowned. After hugging everyone we returned home - today is the first day of the new year, time to reset and think about returning to normal. Here's hoping that you all find 2025 in a better place.

2025 - please be gentle and kind and far far nicer than your predecessor - thank you.

Another brick in the wall*

I find that I look forward to the days I can 'art' for a couple of hours. As the weather warms up and I return to my seasonal garden work, my time to get the brushes and pens out has reduced. The escapism it provides is turning out to be cathartic so I am going to try to ensure I can still 'play'.

The small group which we have started at work seems to be enjoying 'arting' too. I am not the only one benefiting from the results. There is a wonderful small wave of pride as the books and work are shared - including one or two who I quite wrongly suspected would not even participate - how wrong I was!

Between us, we share the theme choice - so some are quite out of my comfort zone (as it is for others) and my results each week are rather variable. Below are some from the last few weeks.

World of Whimsy (I went down a rather dark route with this one rather than the cutesy style the others did)

Thunderstorms and Cloudy Skies

Communication - poison arrow frog 

I am also playing around with different ways - so at the moment one of my favourite things to do is 'art-small'. I found a rather tiny tin, cut papers to fit and paint mini pictures to fit the tin! Pocket painting💙

You can not believe the joy this brings me! I have made a bit of a traveling art studio in an old pencil case, small enough to fit in my haversack and plan to do a painting or two, when we are out walking. (Cue eye roll from Himself!🙄🤪) Fortunately they are surprisingly quick thanks to their teeny tiny size.

And, what have I been working on today? Well, this week's theme is 'Building' - happy heart jump! I love drawing wonky houses, tumbled stones, shingles, slate roofing - so - happy me!

It was at this point I discovered that the black pen I'd used was not water fast and as soon as I tried to apply a sepia colour wash - it smudged - oh well, c'est la vie!

Post Script: The title? Well, I was wondering what to call today's post when on the radio -  Pink Floyds' Another Brick in the Wall was requested by a listener - cheers mate! 

Random Notes on a Thursday

The promised snow has arrived, swirling small pellets of white covering the garden and dusting the trees. Despite this, the blackbirds are cheerfully kicking around in the flowerbeds unearthing morsels and the robin in fiercely guarding the bird feeder. I am so glad I am not at work today!

Definitely knitting weather (and red petticoat weather too!) I have the warmest red flannel 'underskirt' I wear with my tartan pinafore - that with thick leggings - I find cozier than wearing jeans, tights and boots. 

At work we keep finding conkers the local park squirrels have buried in the kitchen garden. Some have started to germinate. So seeing the same squirrels keep digging up our snowdrop and bluebell bulbs we see this as payment and have gently planted up the Horse Chestnut seeds and hope they all grow.

It is so dark inside today - I have switched on our fairy lights and moved the glitter ball to bring a little 'light' relief into the lounge. I also lit a candle for the wax burner and now the room smells gently of amber and warm spices, perfect for today's weather outside.

Yes I am waffling - sort of procrastinating too - I am part of a weekly art challenge to get us all back into 'arting' and once I have started - I am fine, it is the STARTING I am dancing around. That and the theme this week - PIRATES. Hmmm. I don't want to draw something gimmicky or box office inspired (think Pirates of the Caribbean) so this needs a bit of thinking. Last week's was BIRDS and I was in my element!

 

Still snowing..... Oo arrr me hearties - I better get swashbuckling!

Post Script: Blogger is still playing up - I am unable to comment on several blogs - so excuse me if I seen to be silent, I am not. I have, however, found a couple of ways to get around signing on and not be anonymous hopefully things will get back to normal soon - here is to spring xx