Take care

The last few years I have chosen a word to guide me, inspire me and remind me through out the year. A gentle nudge towards what I am hoping to reach or attain. Nothing like rocket science, more a gentle loving hug to help me along the way.

In 2019 - I chose walk. And walk I did. Through injury and self doubt, through stress and  unemployment, through rain and snow and wind and sun. I did it, I walked and completed a #walk1000miles challenge and found my head began to clear and I felt better for it.

A couple of years ago I chose journey. I needed something to work towards, I still felt 'lost' and directionless so by gifting myself a word that required some 'movement' meant that I did in fact - have something to achieve. The journey was not so much packing my bags although that would be part of my plan, it was more of a journey towards a better me. It also turned out to be a word that gave me strength to get through 2020 along with the rest of the world - we all had to journey through strange times and we all had to survive as best we could. Travelling through 2020 was a different type of journey I had hoped to navigate but it was one I learnt from and am still learning.

Last year's word was courage and I needed that so so many times through 2021. New job with a lot of new responsibility and so much to learn and to understand and to deal with. Some days I felt pulled thin having to do something that years ago would not have even concerned me. I needed my word and it certainly gave me the courage I needed.

Which leads me to this year's word. I have been waiting for it to fall into place. There have been several gently whirling around my head each one with merit, each one worthy but none felt completely right, until as I was taking a photograph of the sun's late afternoon rays glowing in a heavy cloud that 'my word' whispered to me.

CARE. Self care, care of the environment, care in completing daily tasks, care of those who need an extra moment, for those who need reassuring and that gentle 'care' that does not take much but means so much more. Care for those I love.

I suspect (I know) this one is going to be hard, going to test me as I am impatient, can be short tempered and hot headed (Himself blames my hair colour...!) But I am willing to let my word guide me.

Care. 

My word. 

Care.

And you? Do you have a word that you choose to guide you through the year?

 

It starts here :D

Despite a rather late night ... ok ok - well it was New Year's Eve and we did have a cracking cheese board and sticky toffee pudding to scoff  - any hoo, we eventually fell into bed ... then ...after a two hour 'nap' I woke up ... wide awake ... wide.... wide ..... wide... awake. 

Any hoo - by the time everyone had got up I'd only had about two hours sleep in total ... so cue a rather bleary eyed me for the rest of the day 😏😴😴

Going for the first walk of 2022 was the very best thing for a fuzzy head - induced by lack of sleep rather than anything alcoholic! The fresh breeze soon cut through the haze and filled my lungs with clear crisp air and despite it being the first day of January - it was amazingly mild and we soon shed jumpers and coats.

Moss ran around with the silliest grin on her face as she chased down her frisbee and ran around with it around her face.

We bumped (not literally) in to folk we'd not seen to chat to since before the first lock down and visited our local village café and had a welcoming warming brew as we sat outside in the soft sunlight. It almost felt .... normal?  Well as if 'normal' is a thing now!

 Hello January.

Hello 2022. 

And hello to the first walk of the year and boy did I need you 

to blow away those lack of sleep cobwebs!!

💚💙💜💚💙💜

Hope you have had a good start to your year and it just keeps of getting better

(As long as you get plenty of sleep 🤣🤣)

Right I am off to bed - absolutely knackered!! 

Good bye ... Hello

Days of driech weather have abounded, low cloud and wind tossed trees. Puddles and reflections, mud and slush. It has been, so far, a damp and  rather mild winter with the briefest of moments of snowy winter wonder. 

In the past I have been pulled down with the gloom and retreated into myself, revelling in mawkish self pity while I yearned for summer and sunlight and sunshine.

This year, as we slipped from summer to autumn I began to feel that looming dread, that sharp unreadiness for winter and the cold and damp. 

Today, while out walking with Moss and Himself, I had a rather gentle realisation that the usual seasonal melancholy which had been prevalent during autumn, had stayed in autumn and did not come with me into winter .... now, on the last day of 2021, after days and days of dreary weather where rain and wind plagued our every move ... I seemed to have survived - unscathed and - if I am perfectly honest - feeling quietly contented and happy. 

I hope that this is indicative for 2022

I hope that things can only get better. 

I wish you love and joy, 

peace and health 

and a kinder 

and more gentle New Year xxxxx

💜💙💚💚💚💙💜

Good bye 2021

Hello 2022 

See you 'on the other side!!' 💜💙💚💚💚💙💜

Blanket making season

During this gentle nothingness that Twixtmas seems to hold,

there is a definite change in the winds,

a sharp wintery scent in the air,

the need for cosy and comfort and love.

These feelings coincide with and herald the start of blanket making season.

It seems to appear when crafting is no longer in secret

 (shhh its a gift for ....) 

or with a deadline 

(stitching right up to chrimbly eve) 

then out comes the stash wool ...

along with a twitch in the fingers

and the need to be doing 'something'.

Colours are arranged and played with and a hook selected.

A return to a favourite pattern (Seaside stash busting blanket) from Coastal Crochet blog.

Except these days 

I just pick and select the pattern I want to do

 rather than follow the exact prescriptive recipe. 

There are some rows I never (ever EVER) want to repeat..... 

Ever.

The final essential tasks before the blanket can be started - 

a mug of tea,

my laptop to check the pattern,

may be a slice of chrimbly cake

or a last mincepie,

 then I can begin.

Some rows fly,

where the pattern just falls from my hook without so much as a glance or the need to count,

other require a little more attention,

one or two do need me to watch closely 

but they all add up and the initial little brown twirl of stitches

becomes a ribbon,

then a scarf,

now a small knee blanket.

I was a little unsure of the colourway

when I first started,

but as she grows, so does her personality!

Now, as she sits on my knee

with joyful stripe after joyful stripe

falling off my hook,

I love her more.

I know she already has a home waiting 

so, kettle on,

I have more to do.

Gentle Twixtmas to you, dear reader, 

stay safe and stay warm and let's celebrate blanket making season! xxxxxx

Baby it's cold outside ☃🎵🎶

There's been snow over night - a soft wet slush and the garden is full of the sound of rain dripping and sloppy snow dropping off the trees. There is a bitter damp chill to the air - the sort that makes you pull your coat tighter around you and your toes curl with the cold.

Christmas, just like that, was over with a blink of an eye - this year is will continue to be a gentle spread out affair, the meal was on the eve, then my folks, Youngest, pressies and a shared lunch on the day. Now, during twixtmas, Eldest and his girlfriend and Youngest's girlfriend will return (restrictions and isolations permitting) and they'll find their gifts under the tree. A good excuse to make brownies, share stories and sip warm drinks around the fire with the family.

Himself, as I type, is in the kitchen making 'Sunshine Soup' - a butternut based thick and warming soup that we'll have for lunch. The scent of sautéing onions has drifted into the dining room where I am working and is rather enticing.

I'm painting - a birthday commission - won't show just yet as it is a surprise but I will share the first step ....

So, that is today in a nutshell, a quiet day at home, gently doing simple things which I have to say, I am rather enjoying and the best of it all? The complete lack of inane festive songs and jingles on the radio - aaahhh, yes bliss!

Hope your day is as kind and as loving xxxxxxxx

Today

A chilly walk to deliver the last of the village cards.

The lighting of the Swedish Angel chimes and cooling of the yule cake 

Finishing off the handmade gifts.

Making leek and potato soup in the slow cooker. 

Cooking veggie lasagne and sticky toffee pudding.

Wrapping the last few pressies.

And displaying the last (yes the few remaining uneaten) gingerbread stars in a wreath.

And you?

what are you up to today?

We're are about to set off for our chrimbly meal with my folks,

we eat ours on Christmas Eve.

Wishing you all a gentle, loving, peaceful

and kind Christmas, 

I'll pop back during 'Twixtmas' and say hello

with love and jingle bells

kate

How dough you do it?!

Idly, a few nights ago, I came across a rather beautifully (probably professionally) gingerbread 'wreath' covered in iced gingerbread stars. I gazed upon this gloriously made confectionery and thought ... I want to try that!

So quick as a I could, I purchased some star cookie cutters and informed my co-conspirators (although at that point they did not know this is what they had become) and after a bit more research into recipes, I found the ones I wanted. One which produced a gentle hint of ginger in a golden biscuit and a second richly spiced punchy one in a dark dough.

The ingredients purchased, the dough made and chilled in the fridge overnight,  the cutters washed and ready - all that was needed was my co-conspirators to land with their icing kits and cookie cutters and their best icing ideas!

This afternoon we started. There was lots of rolling of dough, cutting and cooking in shifts, cooling and stacking until we were ready to mix the icing and blend the colours.

Some of the biscuits had windows cut into them and boiled sweets were crushed and added to make stained glass window panes.

We had tree and star shaped windows and the bubbles and dimples made the 'glass' look soooo good!

We all sat around the diningroom table and with mugs of tea and icing bags loaded and ready, we began to decorate the stars and festive tree shapes. The early decorations were stars and snowflakes but as the afternoon wore on slightly more wacky decorations began to appear  ..... headphones, Sydney Opera House, the cat and the dog, squid, Santa, flowers, and other strange designs!

We chose to make the colours wintery and frosty and had great fun adding (one drop at a time) the blue or the black to the lavender or three drops of blue to the white until we had the shades we were after.

Eventually Eldest's girlfriend was defeated and I had to go into the kitchen to start cooking the evening meal, leaving Youngest and his girlfriend to complete the icing and eventually all 130 (ish) biscuits were decorated and ready for their photographs! I say 130 - ish, we did not count them at the beginning, so we did a tot up of what we had 'sampled' as the afternoon went on and added them to the survivors on the table.

Then in the evening, after we'd eaten and washed up - we sat around the diningroom table again and played a boardgame and ate biscuits ... lots of biscuits... !

I think we may have started a new tradition although next time, I will probably make less dough - chuckle.