It is done #30DaysWild Day 30

Hello to Eileen T - Welcome and glad to have you along :), Hi Susan - yes I crocheted that rug a couple of years ago - I keep promising myself I'll do another one sometime. I blogged about it here

****My 30 Days Wild has finished****

It has been both restrictive and a pleasure to do. 

I've only missed a couple of days but life just got in the way.

It has made me look closely the minutiae well at the wider picture.

I've loved doing my random acts of wild - I hope you did too!

Today's acts of wild 

are

small snippets 

from walks

from holidays

from memories

 I have been so lucky with our walks

we have found some precious

wild places

Female Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly 

Herb Robert and a Rustyback fern (Ceterach) 

River Water Crowfoot - Ranunculus fluitans
The most amazing floating carpet of white buttercups I ever seen.

I have loved finding corners of wilderness in towns 

where pockets of green have beautiful artwork

 There is something so special about knitting with the tang of sea salt in the air.

I have treasured my walks

with my boys

thank you for sharing them with me

And thank you for coming along for my wild days - 

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!

Won't you join us? #30DaysWild Day 29

It's not raining!

C'mon in

We're having scones and tea 

on the lawn 

Follow the garden path

look!

Here we are!

Sitting in the unexpected sunshine

on the grass

brushing scone crumbs off our faces 

 

Smiling at a happy cat

and listening to the chuck chuck chuck of an annoyed mistle thrush

And later we'll watch

the sun sink

below the hedge 

 and shine the evening light

through petals.

Giving us the space and time to think

to talk

to breathe.

Day 28 of 30 days of wild - this Sunday we were in our own little space of wild, 

our own small oasis, 

our refuge from the maddening crowd, 

setting us ready for what the working week will bring

strengthening us and rejuvenating us

I hope your Sunday

gave you the same

wonderful feeling

as our small space of earth

did for us.

Blessings x

Tired legs, sore feet, smiling face #30DaysWild Day 28

Saturday started off with clear skies and fleeting clouds. This was all the encouragement we needed - after a week of work and school and dreary weather, all this sunshine was not to be wasted!
First we had stop off at my work to drop off two 'sheep scarecrows' we'd made as part of the town's flowerpot festival which is also undergoing a MAJOR yarnbombing - more about that in another post :) Then having set up the sheep (also a story for another day) we picked up some provisions and set of for a 19km walk.

I have to say that I am just too tired (but good tired) to do anything more than post these photos of our wonderful day out on a micro-adventure, I have loads more I want to show you, but not now, so please excuse me if I stop here xx

Simple pleasures #30DaysWild Day 27

Gentle foraging 

A singular delight

Chewing grass stems

Eating hawthorn shoots

Nibbling oxalis - our faces pinching at the acidic flavour

Feasting on field dock relishing it's sharp lemon taste

We have collected wild field mushrooms*

Gorged on escaped raspberries, 

collected bilberries until our fingers turned purple with their juices,

picked cherries, crab apples, wild strawberries and wild plums.

we've been scratched selecting the choicest blackberries

Stung trying to reach a ripened fruity morsel.

And been 'intoxicated' by the lightest sip of nectar

from the base of the tubular flowers of red clover.

A moment of sweet bliss :)

 #30DaysWild Days - you can do it too.

*What ever you do - picking mushrooms can be a mine field - be very careful!

Be sharp about it #30DaysWild Day25

How is this for a lunch time view?

How's about this one?

Not quite as amazing as the previous photo....

That huge clump of nettles obscuring the view...

But,

when you zoom in,

nettles are actually - strangely beautiful

Almost alien 

Complete with silica needle guard

Defence at every corner 

Even the stalks bristle

A survivor.

A visitor (linked with being brought by the Romans).

A food source.

And a brief distraction for me and

a subject for my camera.

Back to work, lunch eaten, view admired, nettles photo-ed.

Job done!

 #30DaysWild Days - you can do it too.

Boy and camera #30DaysWild Day 23

On Saturday Eldest idly picked up my camera. 

We were in the garden and after a morning of drizzle and grey skies, the sun had now appeared and the garden seemed to shake itself from it's stupor and glow in the light. 

I watched as he wandered around taking photos of the flowers.

 His technique seemed to be to slowly approach a plant, camera casually slung around his neck. He would slouch and rest on one leg while the other sort just hung about. He would almost absent-mindedly lift the camera and point it at his chosen subject.

Then his picture taken, he would carelessly amble across the lawn, yawn and look around indifferently then take up another typical teenage stance - casual yet cool, would take another picture. This continued for quite some time.  Then, almost in an off hand way, he returned my camera and wandered off to the house to find something to eat. 

He took nearly 70 photos..... I only had to discard three - the rest are amazing - 

think I must get him to take more - don't you?

He spent probably nearly 3/4 hour in silence almost immersing himself in the plants and the camera - job done :)

#30DaysWild Days - you can do it too.

Walking on Summer Solstice Sunday #30DaysWild Day22

Today we celebrated Father's day (My Dad and Himself)

 Today we marked the longest day

 Today we walked in the Midsummer sunshine

 Today we listened to lapwings call above our heads

 Today we stopped at St Helen's well - where ribbons and gifts adorn the trees

Today we walked as a family, enjoying each other's company, enjoying the breeze and the views

Today we breathed in the air and felt the sun

and we savoured the day.

View of dark brooding clouds, Lapwing in newly sown field, Lapwing above my head, 

The entrance into St Helen's well, The emptied canal near Gargrave under maintenance. 

#30DaysWild Days - you can do it too.

The setting of the sun #30DaysWild Day 21

Last year, during the summer solstice weekend, we wild camped on a moorland hillside to watch the sun set and then the sun rise.  This year the weather played foul, keeping us inside most of the day. Then in the afternoon, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds, we spent a few precious hours in the garden. The sun was glorious and so so delicious.  Eldest perloined my camera taking photos of the flowers while they sparkled with rain drops in the sunlight.  

 I had for months and months planned to wild camp over the solstice weekend to celebrate the longest day and felt quite betrayed by the rain.  This summer has, on the whole, been a rather pale version with low cloud and grey days.

 Himself knew I was wanting to watch the sunset so we took the cameras and the boys and found ourselves a vantage point and waited.  The clear skies from earlier had filled with fast moving layers and layers of cloud.

 We watched. Smudges of pinks and peaches quietly peaked through the predominantly clouded sky.

 We listened to curlew trill and call in the moorland and heathers.

 We heard the sheep chewing through the grasses and watched as they came closer.

 The hills and the sky merged with only merest slash of peach.

 In the far distance, the clouds melted and rain filled the horizon like a curtain. The sheep oblivious to the inevitable downpour continued to graze.

 Time to return home. Before we get wet too.

#30DaysWild Days - you can do it too.