November in Photos

November has been a difficult month for me, one of illness after illness, different each time, with a short break in between before I have caught the next thing.  I have spent most of the month resting inside, with short walks here and there for my sanity and a healthy dose of fresh air.  I am looking forward to an illness free December now.  As November draws to an end I am once again joining in the Photo Scavenger Hunt over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me... here are my photos inspired by words and words inspired by photos.

Seasonal View

A rare coinciding of lovely weather and feeling well meant that a last minute invitation to hang out with friends for an afternoon could be taken up.  We had a lovely paddle on a local lake, enjoying the last splendour of the autumn colours, followed by dinner at their house.  It was tinged with sadness as we heard of their plans to move away from the area.

Oops

My enforced hibernation has meant that I have been doing a lot knitting this month two hats, a pair of fingerless mitts, one of a pair of mitts and finishing off a cardigan.  Lots of knitting means more needles around and about and I have managed to break several.  The pair on the left should look like the pair on the right but they have lost their metal ends which enables them to be attached to a cable linking the two needles together.  I also managed to break a double pointed needle too!

Seashore

This time last year we were spending our last few days at home before heading off for a month in the sun.  All the Christmas cards were made and sent, the presents all bought, wrapped and posted or bagged up to be hand delivered and the house was nearly ready to be closed up for a month.  I cannot believe that it was a year ago.  We are very lucky to have friends who call a small island in the Bahamas home, we had flights to pay for but the accommodation was free.  We are hoping to return next year for a similar trip.

Card

We don't just make Christmas cards here but birthday cards too.  This is the one that Alice made for Cameron's birthday earlier this month.  He loves his mountain biking.

Striped

All that knitting and needle braking necessitated a ratch through my project bags where I found this scarf which I seem to have been neglecting.  I cast this on at least eighteen months ago if not longer, it is for Alice and was meant to be a ninth birthday present, she is now ten and half so maybe I will have it finished by her eleventh birthday?

Own Choice

My local town has fifteen signs dotted around which are very tongue in cheek.  Like any town it is has its fair share of street signage directing traffic or pedestrians, to keep us safe, signage for every aspect of our lives, their meanings are clear and keep everything running smoothly.  The 'extra' signs are an antidote to this, injecting a little humour.  I am a very visual person, so this sign is one of my favourites as I imagine people doing as it commands.

October in Photos

October you are are my favourite month of them all.  This year you have been a month of contrasts, busyness at home, quiet and calm away on holiday, warm wet weather at your start, closing with beautiful cold frosty days, the leaves changing from green to yellow, orange and red.  As you draw to an end I am once again joining in the Photo Scavenger Hunt over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me.... here are my photos inspired by words and words inspired by photos.

Umbrella

Alice and I went for a walk in some beautiful woodlands whilst Cameron mountain biked with a friend.  The forecast was for it to be dry and cold, a forecast is well a prediction and on this occasion totally wrong.  It rained. Hard.  We had coats on but for warmth not waterproof.  We sheltered under the trees watching the rain pouring down so close to us but we were dry under the trees, it soon stopped and we were on our way again.

Wet

We had a wonderful holiday in Scotland this month, staying with friends near Fort William.  There are many things I love about this part of Scotland not least the trees, many of them are covered in lichen.  Absolutely covered.  A beautiful natural adornment that you can see from some distance.  Lichens are not parasitic they do not harm the plants that they are growing on.  In fact they are beneficial, as they are useful to other wildlife, providing nesting material for birds and food and shelter to invertebrates which are food for other animals.  A woodland rich in lichens will support many more species of wildlife than any other.   They grow very, very slowly, 1- 2 mm (0.04 - 0.08 inches) a year, and they thrive in undisturbed, wet conditions.

Puddles

This is a photo from my archives, one it would seem I have used here before.  It has been surprising that I haven't seen a single puddle when I had my camera with me.  This puddle is the remains of a serious volume of rain that fell in the month of November 2015 the legacy of several storms back to back which culminated in the most serious of them all destroying so much of my beautiful county.  We were so lucky to have quick thinking neighbours who were out in the terrible conditions ensuring that the water flowed away from our terrace of houses, my mind was elsewhere at the time.  I really hope this Winter does not bring too much rain for anyone.

Overflowing

This is my yarn.  A mess.  Overflowing its storage space.  This cupboard is in Alice's bedroom, she tells me that I need to do something about it as the door will not shut properly.  She is right, I do.  I need to make some baskets that make better use of the space than the boxes and bags that I currently use.  This photo is a reminder to me that I need to do that job soon......

Splash

Throwing stones into water is immensely satisfying don't you think?  A beach with stones, they are just crying out to be thrown into the water.  On a walk for the John Muir Award that Cameron is currently completing, all the teenagers were throwing stones in the water, mostly to see who could make the biggest splash.  I am surprised that no one fell in as some of the rocks were heavy and it looked, to us adults, as if they were going to follow the rock into the water.  They were huge rocks so the splashes were big, they had small rainbows too.

Gift (Own Choice)

Alice's best friend has a birthday next week, she wanted to make her a present and decided on a chest of drawers for her dolls clothes.  She drew up a plan, with measurements and Daddy helped her to make it.  It stands 33cm (13") high and the drawers run really smoothly.  It is beautiful and I'm sure will be well received.

September in Photos

Ah September you have been a wonderful month.  So much time spent outside nourishing and restoring me.  So much time going slow and noticing those things that pass you by when life is busy.  I am once again joining in the Photo Scavenger Hunt over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me.... here are my photos that inspired by words and words inspired by photos.

Cosy

Camping in a cooler month means that warm layers are vital for the evenings, actually they are vital for camping all year round here who I am kidding.  Packing for a trip at the beginning of the month meant that my favourite winter warm layer was dusted off and placed lovingly in the bag.  I knitted this, the pattern is mine, inspired by many I looked at on Ravelry, made up as I went along.  It was a labour of love, stitches unravelled as often as they were knitted until I reached the perfect pattern, shape and size.  On taking it out of the basket where it has been for the warmer months I realised that it could do with a wash, that will have to wait until it warms up again next year.

Changing Foliage

The great wonder of nature.  The beauty of Autumn.  

Scarf

Not so much a scarf but a cowl which does the same job.  I made this at the beginning of the month when it was cold enough for the hats and scarves to come out of hibernation.  The yarn was leftover from a cardigan I made for my nephew last year, an end of ball that was the perfect amount.  The pattern is here  if you would like to make one for yourself.

Baking

I love flapjack, it is my favourite snacking food, I make savoury and sweet versions.  I don't like using syrup to make it as I find it too sickly sweet, I have experimented over the years with alternative ingredients.  Medjool dates are great at sticking everything together, along with some butter and honey.  I have been trying to find other ingredients that compliment each other and provide that stickiness that will hold the flapjack together, a recipe I found online sounded hopeful.  I didn't have all the flavour ingredients suggested so I used what I had.  I love the taste combination of ingredients, sour cherries, cacao nibs, chopped almonds and desiccated coconut but I haven't yet perfected it staying together.  One particularly crumbly batch made a great breakfast with yogurt whilst we were camping this month so not a complete failure I would say!

Cobweb

I looked out of my bedroom early one morning the light, so special at that time of day, was catching shimmering silver patches on the hedge and the green roof.  It took me a few moments to realise that they were cobwebs covered in dew.  It bought this poem to mind:

The lawn is the fairies' washing green
And there, by the moonlight's mystic sheen
Their garments are spread in the soft night air
All fashioned neatly with skill and care
Until the dawn of the morning

Such gossamer gowns of silver-grey
All 'broided with pearls and diamonds gay
Must need to be dried by the moon's pale light
The sun's harsh rays would ruin quite
These dainty robes of the fairies
Janet Armstrong

Own choice

We spotted these acorns on a tree, a Sessile Oak Quercus Petraea, whilst out walking on our recent camping trip to Wales.  This tree is part of an Atlantic oak woodland, a habitat that is sometimes call the Celtic Rainforest, as important globally as tropical rainforest.  This is an ancient woodland that is mentioned in the Welsh legends of the Mabingion written down in the 12th century, and has been thousands of years in the making.  It was a really special and magical place to walk in.

August (sort of) in Photos

August has been a funny month, periods of lovely hot weather followed by periods of relentless rain, cold and grey, I am ready for it to be over, roll on September.  We had some fun adventures, despite that, not all these photos was actually taken in August, some are from the past year.  I have noticed that I have taken far less photos since I stopped blogging, but now that I have started again I am sure that the camera will out and about far more often.  Joining in with I live, I love, I craft, I am me... here are my photos inspired by words and words inspired by photos.

Mark

When we stop and really look, we notice.  A small patch of grass growing in the sand, small and seemingly insignificant. The wind blows and its delicate ends have traced a wee pattern.  The charm of nature.

Duck

A mother mallard and her chicks.  A rather charming duck house floating in the middle of the Shropshire Canal built to carry tub boats of coal, ore and limestone, now a very quiet place but once an epicentre hustle and bustle carry the fruits of industry in Coalbrookdale.

Window

A beautiful ornate window on a Victorian industrial building, in Coalbrookdale, where tiles were once made.  This is now a fascinating tile museum which sounds like the most unlikely place to while away your time but we spent many hours there on a recent holiday in the area.

Arm

A supporting arm for the wealth of growth in our poly tunnel without which we would not be able to venture into.  It is really full of tasty growth and bounty this year with courgettes, summer squash, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuces and salad leaves for the eating.  My garden would not be quite so productive without this wonderful space.

Straw

Straw in the making.  This is in my front garden, a seed most likely dropped and germinated from the bird feeders which are attached to the post in the background of this picture.  A few years ago this area was covered in sunflowers which again were seeds dropped from the bird feeders.  We have several ears of wheat this year.  I love how much of what grows in my garden comes from the birds themselves.  We are leaving this wheat for them to pick at.

Rare (Own choice)

Cameron is working towards the last level of the John Muir Award, this requires him to spend a minimum of 160 hours Exploring, Discovering and Conserving wild places.  We have spent many hours this summer attending events hosted by our local wildlife trust, it has been a real privilege to be involved in some of the important work they do to conserve our local wildlife. One of these events was a butterfly walk along an abandoned railway line which is now a beautiful nature reserve with a large number of butterfly species including this rather rare beauty the Scotch Argus, one of only two populations to be found in England (the other just south of this) most of these butterflies are found in Scotland. I was amazed at the other people on this walk and how far they had travelled to see this butterfly.  There were very few local people this walk. In truth this made me a little uncomfortable, whilst I am sure as a butterfly enthusiast it is great to see an unusual and rare butterfly, but from a conservation point of view is traveling hundreds of miles to see it a good thing? 

June in Photos

So June, you have passed in a blur.  A blur of wonderful weather and lots of time outside.  It is the month of our favourite home ed camp, to celebrate the summer solstice, a highlight of our year.  I have once again joined in the Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Hawthorn Spellweaver so here are my photos inspired by words and words inspired by photos for June.

Stone

I already mentioned that we attend a get together to celebrate the summer solstice, it is a wonderful time surrounded by friends in the beautiful countryside.  We are always blessed with the weather.  On the afternoon of the longest day we always have a small ceremony at a small stone circle sited in the woods close to where we camp.  In the middle we create a small altar which is the centre point of our circle.

View

A little further on from the stone circle, a short walk through the woods takes you to a stunning view of the sea.  I could never tire of this view which changes throughout the day as the tide changes.  As you come out the dappled sunlight of the wood the world suddenly brightens and the colours change completely.  This photo was taken in the late evening light.  It is a truly special place.

Sky

It is rare, in these parts, for the sky to be completely void of clouds.  The hilly nature of the terrain around here ensure that they are nearly always a feature.  It is possible to forecast the weather from the cloud types, a skill that Cameron has learnt through a recently project on the weather.  Clouds may, sometimes, bring rain but they also give you the most amazing sunsets.

Trees

I could spend all day in and amongst the trees.  I have so many pictures that it was hard to choose which one.  In the end I chose one of the area of wood just above where my tent was pitched for our summer solstice camp.  It is the place I go to mediate in the early morning, a place to watch the beauty of the sea, to listen to the birds singing, to gain some peace and quiet in the hustle and bustle of camp.

Water

I have alluded to the sea a few times all ready, so it just had to have a picture for this category.  This is the view from my place of meditation.

Dwelling 

A place of marvel, a wonder of nature.   This was once the home to a wasp.  It lays its egg in the the fresh buds of our native oak trees.  The grub releases chemicals which causes the leaf bud to distort in shape resulting in a round green gall with a central chamber housing the grub.  Not only does it release chemicals to get the tree to build it a house it also does so to get the tree to divert nutrients for it to feed on.  By August the chamber has become more brown in colour and come the autumn it will most likely be empty, if it hasn't been opened and eaten by a predator, with a small hole from which the adult wasp has emerged.  The adults are < 2mm in length.  Next time you pass an Oak Tree look out for them, the Oak Marble Gall.

Garden

My garden is lush and fertile this year thanks to the wonderful weather we have been blessed with.  After the cold, cold summer of last year my garden looks like a completely different place.  Everything I have sown has germinated and grown into strong seedlings and in some cases good small plants.  These are my bean seedlings waiting to be planted out, they are sat patiently waiting on our wormery.  I just need to make some space for them!  I hope I continue to be blessed with good weather and haven't just tempted fate by raving about how good it has been.......

Gate

Back in April I featured a photo from my favourite local woods, a place steeped in memories for me and, I should think, a good many other people.  There are so many features about this wood that I love in particular this gate.  It is in full working order and engineered to open both ways, it serves no purpose at all as the fence boundary is long gone most likely removed as part of metal collections during WWII.  I remember the first time I came across it and wondered who might have used it, how many hands have touched it, where they were going and why.  I still ponder this each time I walk past it.  The eagle eyed will note that this photo was not taken this month!

Leaf

When we first started to create our garden I wanted it to be full of either edible or interesting and unusual plants.  I forget where I discovered this particular plant, Actinidia kolomikta, but I loved that the leaves changed colour in the sun.  We planted it about twelve years ago and it is now a lovely mature plant covering the trellis it was planted by.  It provides a good shelter for the bird box attached to the back of the trellis.  Our climate means that in some summers the foliage remains a resolute green, but this summer it is a blaze of colour greens, whites and pinks.

Flower (my choice of category)

I just love these flowers, Orange Hawkweed, that have taken up residence in my garden.  I have no idea how they arrived but they are a most welcome visitor which seems to be thriving.  I love that they flower in groups and the heads open up in the sun and close when it is wet or at sunset.

So now we head into July.  A month for a family holiday which means I will be offline for a week or so at the beginning of the month.  I will catch up with you all on my return.  I am hoping to schedule some blog posts to publish whilst I am away, time permitting.........

Looking forward to all that July as to bring, including the photo prompts!

May in Photos

So May, you have been a busy month but a really good one with it, good busyness is the best kind don't you think?  I am ready for a rest now.  I have once again joined in the Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Hawthorn Spellweaver so here are my photos inspired by words and words inspired by photos for May.

Path

 A path on a walk we took on one of our Wednesday nature days.  I love this place it is a few minutes drive from my house, close to a busy motorway and yet we never see anyone when we walk here.  It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere.  The forecast was for rain showers all afternoon, undaunted we set off and had a beautiful afternoon in the sunshine with patches of blue sky and big white fluffy clouds.  I could have stayed out till dark, we were late home this picture was taken at 5.30pm and we still had a fair walk back to the car.

Hairy

A daisy flower fairy with slightly mad hair, taking pride of place on our birthday ring.

Edible 

 Wood Sorrel. Sprouting up everywhere at the moment with its delicate wild flowers.  The leaves have a slightly citrusy taste, if you haven't tried one look out for them next time you are in a wood.

Small

Actually make that tiny, or maybe minute!  A Gorse Shieldbug, one of the topics of our nature study  this month.  Cameron remembered a good place to find gorse so we went off on a hunt to find them in the wild, having learnt about them at home.  Our research paid off as not only did we Alice find the bugs themselves we also found the eggs (also Alice), the bugs are 10 - 13 mm the eggs are significantly smaller.  The gorse was absolutely amazing, a feast for the eyes and nose the bushes covered the hillside and were carpeted in flowers, their wonderful scent filled the air, the smell was divine.

Poem

When I have said my evening words,*

And my clothes are folded on the chair,

And mother switches off the light,

I'll still be six years old tonight.

But, from the very break of day,

Before the children rise and play,

Before the darkness turns to gold

Tomorrow, I'll be seven years old,

Seven kisses when I wake,

Seven candles on my cake!

*we always talk about the good parts of the day and share a poem together.

Hands

Alice making labels for her homemade party bags.

Vintage

This sign rather amused me especially as the gate itself was padlocked shut!  The observant may notice that it is an old railway sign, so it was a necessary message in its day, owned by the company who included the Mallard and Flying Scotsman in their rolling stock the latter came past our house not so long ago.  We see quite a few steam trains rolling along the line at the end of our garden so we have become a little blasé about them passing, we were eating lunch and could hear it coming from a way off, steams trains have a particular sound, we looked up noted it passing and carried on eating it was only later that we discovered it was the Flying Scotsman!

Shadows

I am blessed to live in a beautiful area, full of wide open spaces some of which are spoilt by ugly electricity pylon lines.  On an early evening walk this month I was struck by the beauty of the sunset reflected in this large puddle not realising that I had managed to capture one of those pylons in my picture too!

View from a Window

I did take several pictures when I took this one but managed to delete all but this one!  This has already appeared this month, but I do love it so I hope you don't mind me including it here too!

Flower (my choice of category)

Remember those gorse flowers I mentioned?  Here are some of them, I can still smell them when I look at the pictures.

My busyness this month has meant that I have had days at a time without getting online.  I know that I have not been visiting blogs like I usually do.  I shall be coming a visiting soon, I am sorry I have been a little absent!

Looking forward to what June has to bring, including the prompts for photos.......

April in Photos

It has been a month of contrasts.  Quiet times, busy times.  All seasons of weather, but most definitely April showers.  We have soaked it all up and noticed: 

Orange

Lichen on a rock in a drystone wall.  I haven't been able to identify it............

Feather

I have to admit I struggled with this category.  We didn't find a single feather during the month, or something that resembled one.  Taking photos of birds is really difficult and not something I am particularly good at.  I then had the idea of taking some photos of our bird feeders when this little Robin came visiting.  You would be forgiven for thinking, given my difficulty with this category,  that I took this photo months ago and have sneaked it in here but I can assure you that this was taken yesterday afternoon (28 April) it snowed on and off all day!

Something Fresh

...as a daisy, which have grown in their wonderful carpets this month.  Did you know that Daisy's get their name from day's eye as they close their petals up at night and spread them during the day?  Hence the expression as a fresh as a daisy, you have had a good sleep and are a full of energy just like the flower.

Horizon

The view from the spot where our singing/nature group meets on a friend's farm.  The hills in the distance are the view from my house (I live on the other side of them).

Wet

I could have used this for feather but it was much more about wet, a scrape at a bird reserve we visited for the day when my parents came for a visit.  The Avocets were back for the summer and feeding in the water.  They were one of 53 species we saw during our visit. 

Craft

You are probably wondering what on earth it is?  A craft on two counts, a canoe shed built by my husband in our front garden.  It is empty at the moment but will eventually house two open canoes (scroll to bottom).  We have a large garage/workshop at the back of our house, but with two open canoes, two sea kayaks and a general purpose kayak the garage bit was getting a little full (not to mention a chest freezer, seven bikes, scooters and all the gardening equipment) we have been doing some building work at the front our house and decided that part of the garden would make a good place to store some of our boats.  It will have a green roof, we also have one on our garage roof (again scroll to the bottom), hence the slight tilt so that it can be viewed in all its, eventual, glory from the house.

Growing

My garlic is shooting!  I planted this in mid January, normally I plant in late October/ Early November but it was so wet then and for the rest of the year I decided to wait.  I am not sure whether they would have survived the 9.3m of rain we had in November and December!

Memories

April is the month when the wild garlic is ready for picking in my area and a huge carpet of them grows in one of our local woods.   We lived in the village nearest this wood when we got married and would visit often for a short walk at the weekends.  It was the place I took both of my children for the first big walk of their lives it took about six hours with lots of stops, now we can walk round in a couple.  We have spent two years, one when Alice was a baby and last year visiting every month to observe the changes in nature.  We always visit a this time of year to pick the wild garlic to make pesto.  It is one of my favourite places to take a walk and is close to where I live now.

Sticks

A stick lady puppet made at our singing/nature group.  She has a rather Barbiesque waist which was not intentional I can assure you, luckily my children don't know who Barbie is.

Flower (my choice of category)

A beautiful camellia flower from a small tree, covered in these wonderful blooms, in the grounds of a the buddhist temple we visited with our home ed friends.   I will hasten to add we didn't pick it, we found it on the ground next to the plant.

Joining in with the Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Hawthorn Spellweaver.  I have really enjoyed this challenge.  I have seen photo scavenger hunts on other blogs but the categories didn't pull me in to take part, but this one did.  I loved that all these categories were a catalogue of our daily lives and I wasn't take pictures for pictures sake if you get what I mean?   I am looking forward to seeing the categories for next month.......