January's link up party!

Welcome - just follow the instructions below and add your name to the link up. Don't forget to visit other photo hunters and drop them a comment :)

Keep an eye on this link up page as photo hunters appear through out the weekend - you don't want to miss a post!

Have a lovely Friday and enjoy your weekend!!

**

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

January's scavenger hunt photos

Morning fellow photo hunters - what have you found this month?

Here are mine - enjoy!

Lost and found

A rather old and rusty silver cross pram stashed behind a wall a very long way from anyone....

A little further along was a series of kid's bikes, each one slightly newer than the last.

Shame on you Mr Farmer - the land might be in your name 

but you are still a fly tipper :(

Print/s

It has to be said, that some of my daily walks have been quite - a challenge....

Lunch

One from the archives - my birthday last year, 

Himself and I spent a very long and wonderful day out in the Dales,

 only returning once we'd walked our legs off and eaten all our supplies.

This was our late lunch which we ate alongside a lovely Dales beck.

We were ravenous.

Starts with an M

'Does exactly what it says on the tin'

Ends with a T

A most glorious sunseT - one evening coming back from a wintery walk,

a chilly afternoon turned into a icy-fiery evening.

My own choice

My latest WIP - a cushion cover to go with my new lapghan,

soooo warm and snuggly,

I was really lucky to be gifted the wool.

Only problem is ..... what to make next????

Off to see what you lovely lot have done this month :) xxx

Thursday's thoughts

Thank you 

for reading, 

for taking the time to comment and thank you for understanding.

Thank you - even the lurkers who don't comment,  you took the time to drop in and share a small section of my day - so yes, thank you too. Your silent company is very welcome - not every one has something to say x

Cocoon is almost at the decreasing stage - had hoped I could wear it today for the Moss-yomp-about, but that will have to wait another day. It feels so warm and snug when I try it on (complete with all four dpns and attached wool cake!), I am looking forward to wearing it in earnest.

Gentle reminder that tomorrow is January's Scavenger Hunt Photo link up party. If you are a regular you will know that photo hunters add their photos through out the weekend, so do pop back and check if there are any new posts to read.

Right, Moss is ready and firing on all four cylinders as she waits for her walk ... so if you will excuse me, I have four miles to knock off xxx

1000th post

Cocoon is gently growing - feels soft and squidgy to the touch

 The weather is still dreary - sepia skies and a brittle breeze

My cinnamon coffee is good though 

Just discovered that this will be my 1000th post with this blog - hoodathunkit.....

My previous blog incarnation reached 581 posts before I closed it, and it got me wondering how long I'd been blogging. 

I started on the 15th September 2009 with the first post dedicated to my eldest son who was then 11 and had just started senior school. The blog (and I) gently changed as it went along and eventually became a different version - this one.

It got me thinking - how much things have or in some cases, have not, changed since then.

I'm pretty much the same to look at - apart from the inevitable ageing and the increasingly odd grey hair. We still live in the same little semi-rural village, still know a lot of the folk we first met and have remained firm friends. Equally it is not the same.  I have changed.

Changed jobs, from evening work at a rural doctor's pharmacy so I could be at home for the boys during the day, to a rural veterinary surgery - a job I loved and left before it destroyed me, presently a 'struggling artist' which - if I am perfectly honest is not a job. It is an inner deamon that drives you to distraction that when you show it some attention, drops you like a hot potato.

I have met people along the way that I felt at ease with only to find their friendship makes me feel as if I am being drained and drowning and have had to fight to regain myself and then there are the folk that fairly early on you realise that they are not for you and quietly and without being rude I have had to gently distance myself from. Not always successfully.  That has changed me too.

I am was, naturally gregarious, a natural communicator, preferred the company of others as apposed to my own. That has changed. I have narrowed that down to those amazing folk I am honoured to call my friends and if possible avoid situations where there is a large group of people. I dislike people. That's changed.

I can feel it in myself and I know those who really really know me have seen it too.  Sometimes at night I dwell on what has happened, what could have happened, what did not happen and now, added to the list is ... I have changed. I am more solitary, preferring the company of the dog and the hills.Not everyone likes it. 

Yes I have changed - I can now walk further and faster than ever before, further than before I damaged my knee (although hills are still a challenge..... I will work on that particular one), I can knit and crochet - learning the latter and relearning the former in the 11 years since the first post. I paint and sketch better than I have ever done, trying out new techniques (with variable but fun results) make paper and print.

I can do spreadsheets, online forms, organise meetings, schedule and coordinate groups of artists and volunteers and run events - things that before I would have shuddered at. With a lion-hearted friend we ran a very successful art event for three years running, with events through out the year - again something I would not have even dreamed of being part of never mind leading. 

I had noticed that several bloggers I'd quietly been dipping in and out of, catching up with their words and their images - have vanished - usually with a final post saying that blogging was not for them any more. I miss their company but equally sympathise with their decision. 

Any hoo - where this is leading that after 11ish years of blogging - something that has not changed, is I still enjoy this space, waffling on and sharing photos and stories. I will continue to evolve, it is part of my journey - I need to - change can be good.

And I'll leave you with this little meme - it struck me today how relevant it was.

Cacooned

Growing up in Africa, as I did, I can only really recall two seasons - hot and not so hot. Some times the hot had rain (lots) and some times it did not. Simple really. Men still wore shorts all year round with their only concession to the slightly less hot season - a pullover which could be taken off by mid morning, when it was too hot.....

Here, in the uk, seasons are slightly more discernible - a cool damp spring sliding into a probable cool damp summer with a brief glorious warm bit which then suddenly transforms into a russet and orange coloured damp autumn followed by a long slow cold and damp (occasionally snowy) winter.
sigh.

(the sky this morning at 9am, bleugh - just bleugh)

I do miss the sun during winter when the endless grey sky is just that - endless, it can get quite depressing. I long for spring. I want to see buds on the honeysuckle, leaflets on the rowans, I want to see snowdrops quietly filling the dark corners of the garden.

Eldest and I went for a walk in the late afternoon yesterday- not planned to leave setting out so late, but as ever we'd been distracted.  Wrapping up warmly (but not warmly enough to keep out a bitterly cutting wind) we set off up on the lower hills which border the valley our village nestles in. I'd chosen this route as it has been the least muddy recently but a night-full of rain and springs full to bursting had made the long meadow an interesting backwards sliding trudge as we made our way up it.

However, once up on the edge, the view was very rewarding (as long as we had our backs to the breeze). Then it was a race with the sinking sun to return back down along the ridge to the village before fully dark.

A walk does improve my mood, it helps with my SAD and with my 'mindspace' - however, it isn't always easy to persuade myself to get out. When I do drag myself out of my warm home and in to the cold air with a dilly dog - it does do me good. (Well - I keep telling myself that!)

So, as a reward, yesterday evening - I chose some alpaca wool from my stash and am knitting myself a slouchy hat - keeping both the fingers and mind busy and me happy :)

 Cacoon in Alpaca select - 'tweed' and 'charcoal' by La Maison Rililie

 Not sure if it was subliminal but I have just realised the name of the slouchy hat I am knitting - cocoon - how very appropriate for today - needing to be cocooned and kept warm because I've just looked out the window - it is now sleeting. *yay* (updated to now read as .... snowing)

Think I shall go and put the kettle on - hope your Tuesday is full of sunshine 🌞(how ever you make it/find it/hug it/hold it) xxxxxx

Brumal *

Thank you for your lovely comments - yes my walk did clear my head and yes I did find small little treasures that brightened my day. They shone out through the dank gloom calling to me.

We walked a familiar route but the narrowness of view and the lowness of the cloud made seeing the micro rather than the macro so much easier. Even sounds seemed suppressed, as if cotton-wool had been wrapped around cars and bird song - we could hear them, but it was wistful and distant.

The dank air held a lot of moisture and it left a fine layer of droplets on everything. Some twinkled, reflecting what light they could and others glistened damply making the air smell melancholy.  Despite it being well and truly winter, trees still had some leaves and they hung, swinging lightly in the breeze. 

One ray of sunshine lead us to the river's edge and flung herself into the steel grey water. Grinning from her chops to her tail, Moss swam around retrieving sticks bobbing in the water.

Further along, some small bird had 'exploded' on contact with the resident raptor leaving just a few droplet twinkled feathers on a mossy wall. It's demise meaning the survival of another. Bitter sweet. 

Still loitering along the river, a small blue piece of pottery shone out between the millstone grit pebbles - it made it's way into my hand and into my pocket of course. 

Looking for another meal?

By the time we had returned, we were ready for a mug of tea and finish off the fruit cake. 

*brumal - means 'of or characteristic to winter' and comes from the Latin bruma meaning winter. Brumal shares roots with the word brume meaning 'mist' or 'fog'

Pen and ink

Friday.

Yet another driech and bland weather day - they are so draining.

So this morning I made a black cinnamon coffee, switched on lights and grabbed my sketch book. In the gloom there was not much incentive to draw so I stared out the lounge window whilst sipping my drink.... then realised I do have something to sketch. 

My view itself - complete with cat *not listening* to the raspy pen on paper noises I am making.

Later Himself and I will head for the hills (not that you can see them as once again they have vanished into the gloom) and I will be taking my camera to make myself find some small treasure bright and beautiful hidden in all this grey.

Hope the sun is at least attempting to shine where you are, have a lovely Friday! - xxxxxxx

#penandink
#viewfrommywindow

Simple pleasures

Sometimes it is the little things in life that mean the most ...

Met up with a dear friend yesterday as we'd planned a walk with our sketch books and pencils. We'd both lost our creative mojo and felt a bit lost without it and on a whim I'd invited him to bring his pens, something to sketch in and his walking boots, then spent a few days worrying (unnecessarily) over the finer details of our jolly out. I found I was trying to mentally micromanage the day.

So - I stepped back and let go and the only thing I sorted out was a surprise picnic lunch which 'magically' appeared when we arrived at the local nature reserve.

It was a gentle and cathartic walk - we pottered up lanes, through farms and fields. The view was a soft grey mist which swirled around tree tops, teasing us with brief snapshots of the village below then whispering the view away.

Above us the sun occasionally managed a weak smile through the drifts of cloud and for a moment or two the air actually felt warm on our skin.

The usual paths were too muddy to be pleasant so we stayed on the lanes, eventually arriving down at the river walk that Moss and I both love. Usually you can hear sparrows chirruping, chaffinch whistling and crows chatting but today in the grey all was quiet except the distant monotonous drone of traffic, our foot steps and chat.

Along the river, Moss transformed into part otter and part fish, swimming and splashing to her heart's content - her enjoyment just radiating from her face. 

When we stopped for lunch I produced the secret picnic and he bought us two large take-away teas from the nature reserve's cafe. We talked and sketched and ate.

Eventually sitting and drawing began to chill us so we packed up and worked our way back. Our views were even more muted as the cloud had descended and had eaten the hills.

It was wonderful.

We will be doing it again :)

Ta da!

Yesterday's knit and natter was a pleasant catch up, a bit of crafting and lots of talking,

I suspect that (sshhhh don't let the secret out) the get together should be renamed ...

Chatter and Nibble (oh and bring knitting if you fancy!) 

I did start (between chatting and nibbling) a cover for my wooden stool 

Which, after everyone went home, I continued a little longer,

finishing it off in the evening after we'd eaten.

Quite like the end result.

Happy.

Was also quite happy with the cake,

A moist and succulent ginger cake,

my only comment?

Needed a lot more ginger, so when I make it again 

I will 'up the heat'.

Right, if you excuse me, I have a friend about to land

and we are off walking and sketching,

hope you have a lovely

Wednesday xxxx

In which I natter on tea, cake and paint

Thank you for your 'sympathetic' comments - whether for me or for the Cupboard Inspector, some of them (Jayne and Threads Through my Life you are both incorrigible) very amusing ..... pfft!!!

Any hoo my own personal adventures with white paint continues ....

The dresser now gently beams out a reflective glow even in the dim early morning light, already brightening the room.

A small multi-painted many-coloured stool - one we have had for ages (so long I can't even remember how it became part of the family) has quietly stood in a dark corner - that too has had a lick of white (needs a final coat today) and suddenly it wants a cushion in grey and cream to sit on it - I shall oblige.... just need to find something suitable in my wool stash.

It is amazing what a coat of paint can do - not just to a piece of furniture or a room

but to me too. 

Ah - the kettle has just boiled, time for a mug of tea and a bit of baking (feeling a bit hygge today). Our knit and natter group are popping round this afternoon so I think may make scones or lemon pound cake or ... I know! A ginger cake - not made one of those for a rather shamefully long time :)

It is amazing how spirits can be revived with a mug of tea, thoughts of ginger cake and a bit of paint - I have been so fed up with this dreary January - hope your Tuesday is feeling more positive filled with cake, tea and yarny friends :)

Excuse me while lose my rag....

The cupboard inspector has been in....

Instead of the usual inspecting INSIDE the cupboard.....

A thorough (I say that between clenched teeth) inspection of the 

EXTERIOR took place 

Then, to confirm the inspection,

a written report... 

In dupli(cat)e.... 

errr tripli(cat)e... 

With a spare copy. 

Signed... 

twice.

The Cupboard Inspector tends to do all work anonymously (bit like a secret shopper) however in this case despite the EVIDENCE YOU RIDICULOUS CAT!... all connection to the case is DENIED.

Apparently having a white paw is not evidence enough (nor is have three white paws....) besides the evidence has been tampered with and in a cat of law - not enough white paint under the claws or on the fur is enough to pin ANYTHING to ANYONE......

Excuse me while I quietly LOSE my RAG, fill the kettle, find some sandpaper and RUB DOWN THOSE FOOTPRINTS and SCRUB THE CARPET and THE KITCHEN MAT and THE BACK YARD and THE WOODEN SURFACES.....  aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

who? Moi?  No CATegorically - no.