Ruminating

The last few days, well weeks really, have just merged into each other - not sure where one ends and the next begins. Thank goodness I take photos on my cellphone otherwise there are some days I can't even remember!

I worked the Saturday - I do remember that as because as much as I like my job - it absolutely riles me working alternate weekends. Fortunately this one coincided with the bank holiday so I did have two days off with Himself but most of it was spent just recovering from the previous week. 

Time at home was filled with gentle and simple joys - like having Pan choose to sit next to me whilst I was working on the laptop. As she gets older, she is becoming less crotchety and feral, so to be able to stroke a relaxed cat and be rewarded with a rusty chirrup and whispy purr - is wonderful.

I picked the first bunch of flowers from the garden for 2022. I have already started picking posies for sale at work and they just fly off the shelf but at home in my shady and damp garden, these woodlandly flowers - honesty, sweet cicely and lilac - in my hawthorn jug, make me smile.

I am not that fond of bulbs, finding that once they have finished and returned back to the soil, I tend to accidently dig them up when I am gardening. This year I have more bulbs that I have ever had - ever - and have planted them either in tubs and pots or beneath a perennial plant so that I (hopefully) reduce the chances of unearthing them - fingers crossed.

My weaving has sat ignored for a couple of weeks while I wait for my fingers to feel 'human' again (I knocked them against a wooden raised bed hard enough to think that I had broken them) so a few rows in the evenings felt rather cathartic -  I need to get back to doing more, I rather enjoy the escapism it brings.

Recently I stumbled across a new blog/IG account and one of the posts had a super simple (shortbread-esque) recipe for biscuits and by Monday evening I felt ready to do some baking and quickly made up a batch of pigs, rounds and oak leaf shapes. As usual Himself scoffed a fair few, leaving just enough for his lunch box today! The only evidence is this solitary photo of the dough ... they were very short, very yummy and certainly a do it again - if you want to try them yourself the recipe is here at Five in the Nest  Jane mentions that they cook quickly and they do, I peaked at them and they were still pale so decided to leave them for a moment or two longer, turned away to finish washing up and when I took them out - one or two (ok may be more like four or five) were a little darker than they should have been however they were still demolished with a mug of tea.

 Now it is Tuesday, I am about to set off for work and it is threatening rain - I am not sure to be relieved or annoyed! The gardens need watering but it is not enough to be give a good soaking or for me to call off working.

Hope the rest of your week goes gently - I am aware I have another hectic one waiting for me so I am bracing myself - so I better get myself to the launch pad (via the kettle of course!)

24 hours

Snapshots from the weekend - a brief visit to the coast.

Moss, who is back to her normal (almost) bouncy self  'wearing' a mudpack set of black boots... she smelt 'delightful'!

Bluebells nodding in the brisk breeze on Saturday afternoon - their fragrance whipped away before I could smell it, will have to wait for a less windy day...

St Helen's Church, Overton - one of the oldest churches in Lancashire thought to originate around 1050 - 1140, depending on which wall you look at with evidence of both Norman and Saxon architecture.

A heron tentatively dipping a toe into the estuarine waters - it was incredibly choppy with spray breaking off each little wave.

We walked around Bazil Head (a small farmed peninsular) where the coastal defences are huge boulders piled up against the land preventing erosion during stormy weather. Someone with a sense of humour created this ....

With my back to 'Stone Face' I photo-ed the view - Himself and Moss ahead of me of course.

Further round, in a marshy inlet there is a fine line where the land starts and the sea ends with the fence as the marker, although it does appear as if the sea breaches that manmade barrier on a regular basis.

All around the headland were small red place names - obviously a community who love and care for their little headland on the edge.

Then as the sun began to set, we watched four hares loping around the fields below us. We could make out two male and two female and although there was no boxing or chasing, there was definitely a platonic group happening as they grazed in the lengthening shadows.

In the morning after breakfast and a dog walk  (wallowing, stick hunting, mud puddling, sniffing and running. Insert any or all listed ...) we packed the van - with a list of chores to be done we returned home to make the most of Sunday afternoon.

Hope your weekend was a good one 😊

Where did the weekend go?

Why is it a four day weekend seems to slip by as fast as a two day one? 

No, I don't know either, however I do know that we must have filled every last second with something and you know that old adage ...I'm going to work for a rest?? Well, I think that might be what I've planned for the rest of this week!

Friday evening kicked off with an picnic (of fish and chips) eaten outside alongside one of our favourite picturesque canal banks near Gargrave. With Eldest and his lovely girl we watched an amazing and unexpected display of hot air balloons as they drifted through the sunset. We were surrounded by cowslips, violets and early bluebells. Moss was of course more than happy to throw herself into the canal at a moment's notice and was a little disappointed when it was time to eventually leave however within  a few seconds she was racing up and down following interesting scents and hunting down sticks - happy dog. 

Saturday was rather good too - we set off for a walk in Skipton Castle Woods to find the sculptures. Himself and I have been before and now that there was a new willow sculpture of a stag, we decided that we'd take Eldest and GF to show them too. It was such a lovely day, a bit fresh to start but soon warmed up and despite it being a bank holiday and warm(ish) and sunny(ish) it was surprisingly quiet. The town centre was busy but still quieter than I have seen it in the past. The woods did not disappoint and nor did the new stag. Most enjoyable. 

Eldest's GF has been delighted by all the lambs in the fields but has never had the opportunity to bottle feed or cuddle a lamb, so I messaged a friend who has rare breed sheep and goats and asked it there was a chance for a bit of lamb cuddling action and the answer was yes! So off we went and held and tickled the cutest (and tiniest) Ronaldsay lambs we've ever seen then spent a very happy time scritching and scratching Golden Guernsey goats and goat kids.

Sunday we had my folks over for tea and cake and in the afternoon we went off looking at the lambs in the fields - the fields are liberally sprinkled with lambs around the village, from the tiniest little long legged lambs to the mini sheep sized lambs full of bravado as they charge around the fields in little groups.

By Monday it was back to Himself and I so we decided to jump in the van and head off to the Dales for a walk. Himself chose Littondale and we easily found parking above the isolated valley. Once again we were surprised how quiet the roads were and how few folk were about despite again the sunny and reasonably warm weather. We dropped down on to the side of the valley and walked up to the head of it, crossed over and back down on the other side. There was a cutting breeze that seemed to find its way through all clothing however, when the sun shone it was gorgeous. We stopped in a dry limestone riverbed for our lunch and found a sheltered and warm spot. Lunch was piping hot mushroom soup, cheese and pickle sarnies followed by chocolate eggs - what a treat! Moss of course found a pool of water and played 'dipping for sticks' as she stuck her face in and blew bubbles in the rather chilly water. (what a strange dog!)

The last stretch back up to the van was a bit of a pull as it was from the valley bottom (in the far distance in the main photograph) up to the crest of the hill on the left. In all it was over six miles and we hardly saw a soul. 

Now, Tuesday, I am wondering what happened to our extended weekend? I know we stuffed it full and made the most of every minute but it still seemed to vanish in a flash!

How was your long weekend?

Did you manage to make it linger and feel like a holiday?

or did it fly by in a blink of an eye!?!

Monday doing what it does best - being a Monday....

Monday morning meanderings whilst waiting ....


For the washing machine to finish the final spin.

For the 'smart meter' man to arrive .

For my mug of tea to cool enough to take the first slurp.

For Youngest to let me know when I can collect him and his girl from the train station.

Thought I would share our weekend escape but need to give a bit of a back story first......


Two weeks ago in a moment's lapse in concentration, Moss spotted some children who happily (and quite innocently) yelled out - look at the doggy! Said doggy trotted over to say hello.......straight into the path of a car. Said doggy then bounced off the bumper, rolled beneath the front and had her paw squished beneath the tyre.

I never saw or heard any of this as I was about to put my boots on so Moss and I could go for a walk, my son and his lovely girl were first on the scene and scooped up a bruised and bleeding dog. She was carried back over the road where by now, I was there and grabbed her bleeding paw, shutting my hand over tightly to reduce further blood loss while I pressed and poked the rest of the dog to see if anything else was hurting or broken. Then out of nowhere our neighbour (who is a vet) arrived and between us we bandaged and checked over Moss. Meanwhile Youngest had got his car ready and we bundled in a very sorry and bloodied dog and headed off to the veterinary surgery.

Anyhoo, one sorry dog with comedy patchwork foot and bruising and one rather large (but deserved) vet bill later, we brought her home. The parting instructions from the vet - who looked young enough to have only left senior school last week - keep her quiet, gentle exercise for ten days, no swimming etc……. Youngest and I looked at each other and both thought ‘yeah right - you don’t know this dog!!!!’

Fast forward to this weekend - her stitches are the dissolving kind, she has had the all clear from the vets, had all her medication and was now suffering a seriously large bout of cabin fever. Moss was at bursting point and was beginning to bounce off walls. 

Youngest and his girl did their best with lead exercise and entertainment while I was at work, however Moss has such busy feet and a busy head that she very quickly got bored with ‘ill health’ and needed some serious play time.

So on Saturday we took her (and us!) in the van to Glasson and spent two days playing in the sea, walking along the canal, ‘falling’ into mud and puddles, following paths and exploring new places.

Bless her, by Sunday afternoon she was tired and a little stiff but you could she loved every minute. As we prepared to come home - a chilly breeze struck up so we wrapped her in her duvet, gave her some chews and let her sleep all the way home - happy happy dog indeed!

It is so easy to blame the children who called her - even though they did not, 

it would be so easy to blame the car driver for not seeing the dog - but it was not her fault (despite her driving off at break neck speed as soon as she saw Youngest hurtling down to scoop up his dog), 

it would be so easy to say ... she's never done that before - but you can't put the onus on an animal. 

It was our brief lapse in concentration that caused it and despite what could have happened - fortunately it didn’t and we are so so very lucky that Moss got away with just bruises and a patchwork paw……. 

Back to the here and now, the ‘smart meter men’ (two of them) have landed, they have drunk the tea I made them, they seem to be 'heeing and hawing' over the placement and the vintage of our existing meter, the power is off and I am waiting for the confirming call from Youngest to say he and his girl are finally on the train.

Moss wants to watch the ‘smart meter men’...

Not because she is being a guard dog,

not because she is interested in what they are doing,

no, they are both working right next to her big bag of dog food …..🤣😂

In at the deep end

 Go on, I said, let me fix it for you ... I really would love to. You'll be doing me a favour - I need my hands to be busy and I love doing that sort of thing....

It took a couple of weeks of gentle (ok persistent but gentle) persuasion to be able to prise this jersey (well you lot would call it a cardi but a jersey is a jumper is a cardi to me!) and bring it home. It is a well loved lamb's wool super soft favourite of a dear friend of mine and I'd seen that she'd already made a couple of repairs and that another hole had begun to appear.

I brought it home and started to un-pick the stitches so that I could see what I was working with and soon found that there were many mini repairs all over the body of the jersey. It was like doing textile forensics with the differing coloured thread revealing many layers of repairs to this beloved item of clothing.

Every time I turned the garment over, I found another mend or another hole. So, I decided to start with the smallest wounds and work my way up the the major one on the left under arm.

I kept going, building up my courage and practising different techniques - good old fashioned darning, Swiss darning, boro-esque stitching, patchwork, applique, freeform, pseudo-Dorset buttons and 'wing-it'.

Each evening, after we'd eaten, I'd switch on my anglepoise lamp and stitch another hole closed, avoiding looking at the large one on the arm until apart from a worn thin area that I was going to weave over, I had no choice but to tackle the arm. In the end I took the scissors to it and just cut away all the threads and wool then picked up each tiny stitch and sewed them to prevent any more unravelling.

It was then a matter of finding a soft but strong fabric to patch from the inside and applique stars and tiny stitches to strengthen the knitting. Strangely enough, once I'd got over my reluctance to repair this particular gaping hole - it turned out to be my favourite mend.

This afternoon, after three weeks, I completed the final mend - the woven section on the left front, took the photographs and folded up the jersey. Both relieved and bereft it was now completed. It can return home tomorrow. I shall miss it's company!

This was an act of rebellion against the tide of the throw-away-society as well as an act of kindness to a friend who does so much - thank you x

Saturday part 2 - banging!

Continuing on from Dog Days Saturday - we met up with Youngest, he and his lovely girl were still sorting out the last of their plants so we stopped and had a mug of tea with them. Suddenly I could feel a migraine or rather - I noticed I'd lost my sight in my left eye - so after taking tablets immediately - I took Moss and Himself for a highspeed walk - over the years I have worked out that walking hard and fast as soon as I can helps reduce the intensity of my migraine which then helps reduce the length I then have the headache for. (In the past I have had them up to 72 hours). 

We don't know the outskirts of Lancaster so the walk was an adventure with plenty to discover. We headed upwards towards Williamson Park - a very prominent feature with the Ashton Memorial at it's highest point. Himself made sure I was safe and pointed out things I could not see clearly.

By the time we'd yomped our way up to the monument I could see again and only had the sparkles (aura) around the outside of my eye. We kept up the pace - Moss thought this was great at first as she is a speedy walker however when she realised we were walking past all the water features at the same speed she was a little miffed!

It was a glorious day with such blue skies and the grounds were filled with relaxed families sitting in the sunshine. The monument itself was hosting a wedding and there were a couple of vintage cars all bedecked with flowers and ribbons. I would have taken a photo but just as I was about to all the bridesmaids appeared and Himself felt it was a bit intrusive.

We walked up and round then back down to Youngest's house and by the time we'd returned I'd managed to shake the aura and get my vision back - another big drink of water and I'd managed to beat back the pesky headache - thank goodness! We still needed to fill the van with Youngest's goodies and he planned to take us for lunch at a rather excellent Indian takeaway - but that adventure is for another post 😊🐾

Dog days of (not quite yet) summer!

 Our view on Saturday morning was utterly sublime....

Clutching a mug of tea looking towards the small hamlet of Sunderland in the early morning chill whilst still curled up in bed in the van - was wonderful.

We'd gone up to Lancaster to collect Youngest's goods and chattels as it is end of term. We decided to go the night before so we could wake up and breathe in the cool coastal air during a quick walk before lifting and shifting. Moss was almost besides herself with excitement when she realised where she was!

We walked through the sleepy village down to the 'basin' where a pair of swans were quietly swimming in the draining harbour. The tide was on it's way out exposing the mud flats making boats appear to be resting and giving plenty of space for birds as they looked for breakfast.

Moss kept 'accidently' falling into puddles both briny or filled with mud - she was certainly enjoying her day out!

We were not too bothered as we knew that on the returning path, she could throw herself (and she does) into the canal basin and rinse off the mud. It was so picturesque and still so quiet - it was a glorious start to our morning.

Once back at the van, she was ruffled dry with her towel by then it was time to go off to Lancaster to meet Youngest.

more to follow xxxx