When walking ...

Rules of Engagement

*Shoes, lightweight converse style with shorty socks ✅

*Camera - always a camera ✅

 *Dog - who, at this point may have noticed and begun to get excited🐾 ✅

*Lead  ✅

* Dog poo bags   ✅lo plenty ✅ ✅

Step counter set and ready  ✅

Action Plan

*Step out, turn left, left again then right....

*Follow the dog's nose🐾, she leads the way,

pulling us towards the walk.

*Up the cobbles to Claire's field or the bowling green or 

down the main road and up Rock Lane 'S' bends,

via 'fridge farm' or 'Ol' Joe's Lane'

At the whim of the nose of a dog 🐾

Capturing moments 

Small spots of hopeful talismans 

 Gifts of positivity and love❤️💛💚💙💜

All over the village.

❤️💛💚💙💜

They come and go.

❤️💛💚💙💜

Sharing a colourful message of hope and encouragement 

❤️💛💚💙💜' 

What to do next time you stick the kettle on :D

If you are a regular blogger you might remember the little option on the left hand side of the top bar which allowed you to go searching for new blogs to read and follow. That disappeared a while back (all around the time google+ updates and the Cambridge Analytica debacle) any hoo - where this is leading - that ability to go and find some new blogs was lost.

There is another way - one I have used on and off for several years and quite successfully - my most recent 'find' is Mad Englishwoman and Dog. I thought that you might like to try this method of search to look for some new regular reads.

This system works if you have a  account - if you are on another platform, please try it and see if it works for you too and let us know - thanks x


Right here goes......

Go to your own 'About Me' on your page and open the 'View my complete profile'

You will see all the things you listed under your interests,

tap on one that you really fancy seeing more about 

A new page will open with thousands (and I do mean thousands) of blogger accounts. All with the same link you chose. You could choose any of your interests and someone somewhere will have a similar list!

This is not an invasion of privacy - these are up for you to see, it is a directory and if the blogger you open happens to have a private blog, then you will be directed to a page that will tell you same and prevent you going further.

Each one has some indication of where in the world they are, their blog name and a few details of themselves. Just a quick tip - if you see one that you fancy reading - open and check it out - always notice how current it is, I have been caught out once or twice, finding one I thought I would like to follow only to discover that they last posted in 2013!

I have found that, once I am having a look around, I will see a different 'interest' and follow that. It does take a bit of falling down a rabbit hole until you see something/some one who resonates with you, so stick the kettle on, crack open the laptop and have a look :)

Let me know how you do! Good luck and good hunting - EnJoY!

One for me

Recently I have been making rainbows for folk to hang in their windows. Just a small 'something' that gives me pleasure to make and pleasure to hand over.... this weekend one was made for me and I was absolutely delighted .....

Thank you Fran💖🌈

Saturday's drop in and say hi post

Good afternoon dear ones,
how is everyone coping?

I am still taking the one day at a time school of thought, with simple plans and a gentle routine, finding the merits and joys in even the smallest things. The fire is on and the house is warm, the dog has been outside with me while I was gardening, seedling emerge daily, house martins circle the sky above our garden, buzzards whistle to each other over the fields behind us. All heartening things.

I'll be honest, I have cut back on the news, only half listening to the radio or ignoring the television, in fact I think we all have reduced our media-consumption - and it feels good. It feels lighter to avoid the bombardment of news and facts which seem to change daily and some times hourly.

Life in our house and the garden quietly bumbles on, and we fill each day with love and companionship, gardening and walking, baking and eating, bird watching and weeding, support and crafting.

It seems that a lot of folk are doing the same - finding simple pleasures doing gently mundane things and feeling unexpectedly rewarded. It goes to show that we do not need the excesses that were pushed on us as essential. 

A simpler life is so much more rewarding in my opinion - and hopefully so much less damaging.

How are you all doing? hope you are not feeling too isolated or at a loss, we are all in this together - reach out and keep in touch xxxx

Some reading and brain fodder that might be of interest ...

Prepare for the ultimate gaslighting   and  Not all Super Heroes wear capes, some wear medals and finally Global C02 emissions fall 

Things I have done today.

Made a Cushion Den for the dog....

 Read a page or two in the greenhouse

Admired and weeded around the rainbow radish seedlings 

Sprinkled sawdust along the edge of the seedling bed to deter slugs, watched intensely by my very able (ish) assistant....

Eaten a brownie with a coffee in the garden

Sifted home made compost - the finer stuff makes perfect potting soil, the rougher left overs are added to the veg trenches to feed them and to help give the heavy soil structure and texture

Making crochet rainbows to swap for surplus books

So, yes - a day full of gentle rewards and positive activities - hope you have had one of those too xxx

#staysafe #staylocal #staysane

April's Five on Friday - Gratitude

Five on Friday - gratitude

What am I grateful for?

Every night after I have read a bit then turned the lights out, I quietly settle down and run through what I am grateful for. This small ritual has made a huge difference to me.

My family - immediate and extended, human and furry

My home - the roof over my head, the food in the kitchen, the fire in the hearth

My garden - a space to gather, to breathe and to feel refreshed -  now all the more special

The walks we do - all local and even more important now

My very precious other half

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

What is your coping strategy?

During times of stress, different folk use different coping mechanisms.  This particular situation is peculiar in so much that the entire world is having to deal with the same invisible threat.

My escape is my garden and my greenhouse is my sanctuary. 

I love collecting the home made compost from the back of the garden,

 then sifting it so I can fill pots.  

 Then, the wonderment of pricking out of the seedlings and pot up ready to grow on.

The pleasure of making seed blocks with the block maker,

totally plastic free, I bought this one a few years ago and love that I can,

as an adult, still make mud pies!

Pop a seed in each little depression,

sprinkle soil on to cover the hole and....

voila - little magical things grow. 

I love that our cats share the space too - finding sun spots 

and melting into warm and furry puddles.

Today, during a break, overhead I thought I saw swifts, cue a happy dance,

bit later we decided we may have actually seen house martins,

either way - it was a precious moment of joy. 

I try to utilise as much space in my greenhouse, sort of running a combination of a squarefoot system and forest gardening,

a three layered growing layout.

My floor level is in the centre of my greenhouse and along one side,

 where I will plant directly into the soil - this is the squarefoot section.

The midlayer are large pots filled with homemade compost, 

and the top storey are the hanging baskets.

 Kneeling down, close to the soil, hand picking out the weeds, as a solitary-ish pastime 

is quite liberating. It frees my mind to wander and think, 

or not,

it allows me to breathe in the scent of the earth,

it allows me to hear the birds who seem to be in fine song at the moment,

it allows me to watch the small mini-beasts

 that occupy the compost in the trenches.

 And, you will have to humour me here, I love the way my gloves, the watering cans and soil sifters hang above the waiting beds .... sigh .... (a happy sigh)

For the last couple of nights and again tonight, I have been in and 'tucked up' my little emerging shoots beneath newspaper. The frosty nights and early mornings are still quite sharp.

I come out of my happy place a whole lot happier,

how do you cope?

What is your strategy to survive?

what is your coping mechanism?

Do share, it might help others who are struggling -  #staysafe #staylocal #staysane #gardening

The way we were

I am encouraged and warmed by the response to my last post - it seems there are quite a few of us who long for a simpler life and fervently hope that there are collectively enough of us around the world to make that difference because, let's be honest, there are many many more folk who are longing desperately for the 'old normal' to return.  It has taken this terrible pandemic to show how ugly and unsustainable the old life had become and how urgently we need to make serious serious changes to our lives.

The problem is, as I see it, is how we are now - during these present restrictions - is unsustainable too - we, due to the way the economy is set up, means we have to work. Which means most of the working population has to drive to their place of employment.

So immediately after lockdown is lifted, there will be mass movement again. Instantly reverting back to the original levels of pollution, noise, congestion, traffic, and just by listing these, my heart aches at the mere thought of it all returning.

I firmly believe that some folk will take stock of their lives and decide that their work to home ratio was imbalanced and they will take that step to change. They will decide that they prefer the sound of no traffic so will sell up and try and move out into the countryside, to smaller villages or purchase an isolated farm. Some will succeed and some may find the new solitude that had been so attractive before now feels isolating.

May be more folk will walk for leisure rather than resort to the ease of a car, cook for themselves rather than the take aways and garden more, grow things, feel the earth between their fingers, - however, all this may just be conjecture and short lived resolution.

I really really hope that there is enough of us take care of the earth, to love and nurture, change and quietly repair.

Bring on that steely determined gentle revolution - I am ready.

The new normal

Today,

the sun is shining a warm and comforting heat,

today,

the greenhouse is full of promising small green shoots, quietly growing and bringing hope,

today,

Eldest and GF are repotting all their plants, quietly chatting and laughing, sowing seeds and making plans,

today,

Youngest is working on his car, quietly giving it the attention it needs,

today,

Himself is tinkering with our van, chatting with a neighbour at the required safe distance, drinking tea,

today,

the cats have dozed in the greenhouse and the dog sat on the bench, happy to be with us,

today,

friends have rung, emails have come, texts and messages have pinged in - all sharing love and concern for each other,

today,

today, despite the unsettling greater outside world, despite the restrictions, the horror, the news and the awful virus,  we have discussed that 'what was' is not what we want to return to. We know there are those that are not as blessed as we are, and we feel for them and hope that things will improve soon.

This lock down has shown the reality of the excess, the commercialism and concentration that sadly we seem to have become benumbed by, desensitised and stupefied.

We want a simpler, quieter and more holistic life - we have quickly become used to the quieter roads, the wonderful bird song, the clear blue skies uninterrupted by jet streams. 

Is that too much to ask?

Friday Gratitude

Now, more than ever, we need to notice those small things that make our days that little bit better.

Now, that our world's have shrunk to the size of our homes and if we are lucky our gardens too, it is the small sparks of joy in our lives that help us through.

So, despite our 'new normal', those small gems that fill our hearts with love, make us smile or make us feel a little happier should be acknowledged and celebrated.

On Friday 17th April there will be 'Gratitude on Friday' post and link up - please do join in,  notice those small things that help you get through the day, share them and inspire us and spread the love.

And as a pre 'Gratitude on Friday', I shall share with you someone who fills my day with love, laughter and company - Moss

#staystrongfriday  #corvid19  #staystrongfriday