photo challenge 2012...

How on earth have we got to the end of February already?!! This has sort of snuck up on me and only today I realised I was running out of time for this months pictures...in fact, make that have run out of time!

So much for making a concerted effort to get every one on the list...Feb has proved to be what my 14 year old nephew would call an 'Epic Fail' (imagine the emphasis that only teenagers can add to convey a million words!)

I have to confess to a slight heart sink when I saw Kathy's list for February...romance has been conspicuous in its absence in my life and there seemed an awful lot of that theme. But to be fair, I've also not managed to get pictures for music and food! Both of which have featured at times in considerable quantities! I've just been awful at remembering to take the camera out...

So here goes...

• music - fail!
• food - fail!
• love

• cupid - didn't manage this either, no cherubs with arrows evident in my neck of the woods...
• in the sky

I seem to have taken lots of pictures of sky, clouds and tree tops this month (do I have a problem with constantly looking up??? I have to confess to having gashed my shin open one day whilst walking along sky-gazing...)

This was a very quickly snapped shot across the supermarket car park, what a treat to come out to...

• black and white

• 5

A number of things came to mind, but I liked this image...

• leap year

No great proposals! This was the best I could think of...no relevance to year but they were leaping around! (by the way, have you any idea how difficult it is to capture leaping monkeys on a little point and shoot???!!! When I'm a grown-up I will have a Proper camera...)

• train

Norwich station, 6.30am...

...with the inevitable poor light effect :-(

Hadn't realised til much later that I was on platform 5!

• crowded - fail! haven't really been anywhere crowded (apart from work and its really not the done thing to go round snapping in a hospital!)
• empty 

Again...lousy light I'm afraid, but it was deserted on the station - empty platform, empty train...

• heritage

I think the old railway routes and canals count as part of our English heritage don't they?

8 out of 12...could do better, I think is all that can be said! Bit more effort required in March! Looking forward to seeing the new list!

Sx

blue skies and branches...

Last weekend I hopped on a train and headed up to Derbyshire. My middle son is living and working near Derby at the moment - this is his work placement year before returning to uni for his final year in the autumn. Generally speaking I would drive up there but now I'm living in the city it was just as easy to walk to the train station early on Saturday morning and then enjoy the train ride (I think I may have mentioned in the past the childish pleasure I get from train journeys - although it has to be said this can be a bit dependent on train companions/delays/purpose!). But as this was a purely social trip, with no real time scale (only one change at Nottingham so no real pressure of connections), I was able to just sit and look out of the window, read a bit, knit a bit, crochet a bit...bliss! None of that having to concentrate on the driving and arrive feeling overtired.

Norwich station was pretty deserted at 6.30am, straight onto the train after picking up a large black americano (I rather regretted this 2 1/2 hrs later - I have a bit of a mental block on train toilets!!!) and on with the Rowan silk twist knitting. I will have to show you progress on this at some point soon - haven't had a chance to take any photos in decent light - suffice to say the start that I had previously posted is going to be unravelled! I decided I didn't much like the way the 'do different' pattern (knitted around the body rather than in pieces as is traditional) was looking, so started again with the other free pattern I had found. It's a little experimental as I'm not entirely sure the tension is completely the same...! I know, this is a cardinal sin in knitting terms but I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping it is going to come out the right size! I've made a few adjustments along the way and I think it will be ok... watch this space...

Sorry this is such a long wordy start to this post! I have been a bit lax with taking photos of the stuff I have been working on; note to self - take some pics this weekend when I have some daylight!

But back to the Derbyshire trip! I did take photos there...

Stephen collected me from the station at Burton-upon-Trent and, after the obligatory trip to the supermarket to fill his food cupboards and petrol station to fill his car tank (hang on, am I being done here...!?!), we went for a walk at Donisthorpe Woodland Park. This is a former colliery site in the National Forest and although it was bitterly cold, the sun was shining and it felt good to be out.

The trees looked lovely, lit up against the blue sky...

I did spend quite a bit of time staring upwards and it is entirely possible that I took an unnecessary number of photos of blue sky and branches...I won't bore you with them all!

You can walk alongside part of the Ashby Canal...

Something very restful about waterways, I always think, even manmade ones.

The following day, with the girlfriend along too, we made our way across to Staffordshire to The Trentham Estate, where there are a variety of shops some with some very lovely things... 

The labels on these gorgeous glass baubles said that they were traditionally made by the glassblowers from the odds and ends of coloured glass at the end of the day and taken home to give to family and friends. I loved these!

(not easy to take a decent photo in a crowded shop...oops, clearly a bit of wobbling going on here!)

There was still plenty of evidence of Valentines month in the displays...

Including the edible ones...!

With some reluctance on my part, we progressed to The Monkey Forest (how much???!!! I would have been happy with a walk!) where 150 or so Barbary macaques live in 60 acres of woodland that you can walk through. 

Slightly bizarre to see these creatures running around in a native English woodland, but they certainly had space and were living in family groups and seemed pretty well cared for.

Bit odd to look up and see monkeys in the trees... 

It has to be said, these two looked a bit like I felt by this point! It was soooo cold!!

I'm sure on a warmer day, you'd want to spend a bit longer wandering around and just sitting watching the monkeys but, in the cold, we just managed an hour and a half or so. My plans for a cheap weekend rapidly disintegrating!!!

On Tuesday morning I went with Stephen to work, then walked from there the 9 or 10 miles into Derby to get the train home. The path is called the Cloud Trail and is a national cycle route along disused railway tracks and the canal tow paths from Derby to Worthington, to the site of Cloud Quarry. Apparently this is very beautiful and I suspect heading out of Derby into the lovely countryside is the better way to do it!

I headed towards Derby and the last bit was a bit of a mixture of industrial and suburbia - not quite so picturesque! But I did feel I'd had a good stretch of the legs before the train ride back to Norfolk.

Lots of bridges along the way, and some as you get into Derby with some great paintings brightening them up...

Sadly someone has added some additional decoration to this bit! I didn't even notice it until I put the photos on the laptop!!!

On which note...!

All in all, a lovely trip, good to see Stephen and get out and walk a bit. Quite restorative!

Crafty bits next time!!

Til then...

Sx

randomness...

OK, I decided today I should really get around to posting the random things about myself as instructed in the Versatile Blogger awards... I am very happy that people enjoy reading my little bit of mithering and pleased (and mildly embarassed!) to have been given this award twice in the space of a few days. So in the spirit of the award 'rules' (have already mentioned before how I feel about Rules...!) thanks very much to Shelley and Helen for their nominations...

The bossy rules are...

1. Add the award to your blog
2. Thank the person who gave you the award
3. List the rules on your blog
4. Share 7 random things about yourself
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers
6. Inform these 15 by commenting in their blogs

So having complied with the first 3 (I'm really much too conventional to not do as I'm told - most of the time...!) here goes with the randomness...

1. I wish I could wear hats. I see people in these funky hats and wish I had the head/hair/face to carry them off. I don't. I do have a few hats and in cold weather in the interests of warmth I do venture out in one. But I look a muppet. Always have and probably always will.

Image 'borrrowed' from here

2. I can't bear cockles/winkles/snails etc There is not much I won't eat and generally speaking I'll try anything at least once. But anything that has to be coaxed out of its shell with a pin and/or seems to have integral grit (yuk!) seems to be saying to me 'I'm not people food'! Even with liberal coatings of vinegar/garlic/butter/sauce... There are plenty of really yummy things to eat...

3. I am a closet poetry lover. Have always enjoyed poetry - even spent some time in my teens writing tortured angst laden stuff (doesn't everyone?!) which was truly awful and I really hope I've managed to destroy it all. God forbid that my poor kids should come across that one day... I have a particular soft spot for the miserable stuff - you know, the war poets, that kind of thing. Nothing quite like a bit of tragedy for bringing out creative genius. Not quite sure what this says about me...?!

4. As a teenager, I read pretty much all the Agatha Christie books. Formulaic - yes, bit dated - yes, but a good read and you have to admire the woman's work ethic. And for my birthday this year, a lovely friend has bought tickets to go to see The Mousetrap in London. Can't wait!

5. I have an irrational fear of tunnels. The sort you drive through. Hate them. Not quite sure why other than I think they make me feel a bit claustrophobic. I think it might be something to do with the fact that there's nowhere to go if someone else does something stupid. If you are on an open road and some idiot pulls out in front of you, you can swerve away. Not easy in a tunnel. Although, to be fair, I've had plenty of occasions when scary things have happened on the open road and none that I can recall in a tunnel. I've probably over-analysed this. See, irrational.

6. I have the most appalling sleeping habits. Or rather inability to sleep. I have always been a light sleeper and not needed loads of sleep. But, for years I've not managed very much more than 3-4 hours per night. I've tried every which way to get round this - going to bed early/late, stopping drinking coffee/eating late, little drop of something 'medicinal'/no alcohol, evening routine - bath, book etc... None of which seems to make a blind bit of difference. If I go to bed early and manage to get off to sleep, I will wake in the wee small hours, if I stay up to the early hours I will still be awake by 6. Mostly I get by, sometimes it catches up with me and I feel rubbish, have a migraine and have to sleep for several hours during the day. It has wiped a few Saturdays out over the years!

7. I have no cousins. My parents were both 'only children' so not only no cousins but, obviously, no aunts and uncles either. I have always slightly felt I've missed out on something. Which is probably why I love that my sons have good relationships with my sisters, brothers-in-law and their cousins. And I love being an auntie - special bond with those children that I can't explain even to myself.


So thats it! Hope you have not nodded off yet...


And now the really tricky bit. I have to pass this on to 15 other bloggers. 15! Eek! The trouble is I look at a whole lot of blogs, some I follow regularly, some I just come across and enjoy. I've kind of stopped adding extra ones to follow in the interest of my life not being completely swallowed up by reading everyone's posts so I'm not even sure that some I would nominate I could easily find just now.


But these are some I do look at regularly and enjoy... and to all of these people, if blog awards are not your thing then feel free to pass this by. To be honest, I have decided I'm not going to do it again so I really won't be offended! And if I have missed anyone whose blogs I visit and commented on, please don't be offended either! There are so many I enjoy and my brain can only cope with looking at a list and picking a few...

1. Apples and Pears - Andrea's blog is full of colour, crochet and lovely photos
2. Baa-me-kniits - Jenny's blog is a little snapshot of her family life, with a bit of crafty stuff thrown in
3. Chaos, Kids, Crochet and Cake - its all in the name really! Great photos (and I am just a little bit envious of where Sandra lives...!)
4. Crochet with Raymond - just gorgeous woolly colour, and a 'proper' cat!
5. Everday Life - Lyn takes lovely photos and shares her crafty makes (are you getting a theme here?!)
6. Grateful 4 Crochet - this blog always makes me smile
7. Little Tin Bird - I'm sure one of everyones favourites, Heather takes lovely photos and does some beautiful crochet and writes in a really 'welcoming' kind of way - if that makes any sense at all...
8. Sandiart's Blog - Sandi is a lovely lady, who has inspired me at times!

Oh, I'm really sorry but I think thats about all I can manage! There are loads of great blogs out there - I could nominate a whole lot more, but this is taking forever and I'm on reserve battery now! So time to switch off and get on with my day. Thanks again, but no more awards please...! I'm happy just to read your comments :-)

Til next time

Sx

PS Forgot to say, thanks so much for all your kind words after my last post, clearly family pets mean a lot to all of us! xx

end of an era...

I was going to try to write 7 interesting things about myself tonight in the spirit of the blog awards that I have been very kindly given of late...

Then this evening, I had a call from my biggest boy to say that one special cat is no more...

I have had a few cats over the years and this one really was something else. Particularly with Ben (top left) with whom he seemed to have a connection that was at times a bit bizarre - they would look for each other, talk to each other and he would allow Ben to play with him like no-one else.

I suppose he was getting on a bit, he would have been 15 in September (geriatric in cat years apparently) but he hadn't really been ill, then just suddenly faded in the last few days. On the plus side, he hadn't been in any pain and didn't have a miserable time at the end. But its very surreal to think that he won't be around anymore.

I'm glad I saw him yesterday, because, of course, I've hardly seen him in the last few weeks. And my heart goes out to Ben, who is going to miss his buddy more than anyone. Doesn't matter how grown up you are, very hard to say goodbye to a well-loved pet.

finding colour in the snow...

The sun shone today and although it has been bitterly cold, what remains of the snow from the weekend glittered brightly in the light.

Anyone glimpsing me taking these must have thought I was barking - picture me, mid-work day, in uniform, crouched down in the car park trying to capture the sparkle...

Up close, it was as though a tube of multi-coloured glitter had been sprinkled over the ground... (was sooo wishing I had a decent macro lens!!)

I am revising my view that this is 'white stuff'!!!

Sx

white stuff and other things...

This weekend we have had snow. Quite a bit of it. It started with a very light dusting yesterday morning which looked as though it wasn't going to come to anything but by yesterday evening there was a good covering and by this morning my little garden looked like this...

That little splosh of yellow on the left is one poor, very confused rose. It has been trying to flower and now its bloom is freezing and wilting fast.

If I'm honest, I'm not a big fan of snow. Can never quite understand the excitement. I'm a bit rubbish in the cold and there are times when it seriously gets in the way of whatever it is you need to be doing.

But it does look beautiful. And today was a day off, with no particular pressures to get anywhere. And this was very lovely, white white stuff, powdery and squeaky underfoot. None of that horrible wet, slushy brown stuff.

So I wrapped up warm and went for a walk with friends...

Their garden looked really lovely, and somehow the red berries on the trees seemed more vibrant than usual against the almost monochrome background. I have to confess to really missing son 2's DSLR which he took back to Derbyshire with him before Christmas; my little Kodak point and shoot just doesn't have the capacity to capture the same detail and any close ups require willpower to overcome camera shake (I never realised I can't hold a camera still!!).

Honestly, I had to hold my breath to take this photo!

Of course, if you keep stopping to take pictures of snow, your friends begin to disappear into the distance...

The temperature hasn't risen above freezing today so the snow has stayed on the trees and hedgerows and the surroundings had a kind of muted quality.

Very pretty. We had a lovely walk with lots of chat and laughter, and the odd 'Good King Wenceslas' moment...!

And the bowl of hot soup with warm bread went down a treat after this!

Back home, after a bit of experimenting with needle sizes and patterns, I made a start with my Rowan Silk Twist yarn...

This is a bit of a leap into the unknown. I found a pattern on knitty.com  which I thought was a bit unusual. Instead of knitting the back, front, sleeves etc separately then sewing up, the body is made in one piece and then the sleeves sewn in. This had appeal (I hate sewing up!) but I am just a bit apprehensive that I have got the right number of stitches so that it comes out the right size. The site assures me that this is a very versatile pattern and you work out the number of stitches to cast on and off based on a tension gauge swatch. So I dutifully knitted up a sample with a couple of different sizes of needle, picked the one I thought worked best, did the maths and went for it! Fingers crossed!

Finally tonight, a huge thankyou to Shelley who has very kindly given me a Versatile Blogger award. This is the second time I've received this, last time from Andrea last June. I don't think I realised there were Rules last time - I just had an idea I was supposed to say something about myself and pass it on. But apparently, the rules are:

1. Add the award to your blog
2. Thank the person who gave you the award
3. List the rules on your blog
4. Share 7 random things about yourself
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers
6. Inform these 15 by commenting in their blogs

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about awards really. Don't get me wrong, I'm very flattered that someone feels that what I post on here is enjoyable enough to be worthy of a mention. I just slightly object to the 'bossiness' of the whole rules thing! I'm happy if people like what they see here, but I don't actually write it for anyone else other than me really. This space is kind of my place to express what's in my head (sometimes a bit of a sanitised version of what's in my head to be truthful...) and to give me a chance to record the things that matter to me. So being told what to post about goes a bit against the grain (and I have never been very good at being told what to do!). But...I have to confess that I quite like reading other bloggers interesting snippets of information that give us a glimpse into their lives and personalities (or at least, what they want us to see!) so, thanks again Shelley, I will give it some thought and if I can think of 7 things that I want to share about myself (or can make 7 up that make me sound more interesting? ha ha!) then at some point I will. I am obviously not that rebellious as i've already complied with 1-3 of the rules...

Off to try to reinvent myself... ;-)

Til next time

Sx

walks, woolliness and equipment overload...

I have made much more effort to go out walking in recent weeks. In part, because it gets me out of the house and also to try to improve my fitness a bit! I don't mind walking alone - sometimes its nice just to go at your own pace and not have anyone mind you stopping for photo opportunities!

I live very near the Norfolk Broads but for some reason, I rarely go across to the heart of the Broads. Somehow because its on your doorstep you don't think to go there in the way that people who holiday here do. I wonder if the same is true for other regions - I can't imagine taking the Welsh or Scottish mountains for granted, or not noticing the mountains and lakes in the Lake District or the hills of the Peak District or the Yorkshire Moors? But maybe its easy to let the beauty of our surroundings just become part of the background to our lives.

Anyway, I am making a conscious effort to appreciate what's around me and the next few photos are the last of my 'catch-up' pics from when I was unable to get onto the net for a while.

Salhouse Broad was always a favourite with my boys when they were small - it has a sloping 'beach' area and space to run around. You reach it via a short walk through woodland, past marsh plants until it opens out into the broad itself. At this time of year there are no boats and very few people (just a few hardy walkers!) and it is very peaceful.

The light was low in the sky and golden on the tree trunks...

From the edge of the broad you can walk up through gorse bushes towards this lovely viewpoint...

...and then you can walk back at a slightly higher level overlooking the broad from a bit of a vantage point...

By the time I was heading back to the car park the sun was dropping fast in the sky...

The nearest broad to me is Whitlingham Broad - on the edge of the city, this has been turned into a leisure facility and is well used by families, walkers, runners and cyclists all year round. Although it doesn't have the peace of the less accessible broads it is a lovely place for a walk and the place I go to if I just want to walk without having to think about routes etc

The sky was deceptively blue on the day I did this walk...

There was no warmth in the air at all and a really strong breeze that made the broad choppy, nearly took me off my feet and by the time I was halfway round, brought dark clouds across the sky...

It was lovely but I was frozen by the time I completed the circuit!!!

There are a couple of city parks that I can walk to from home. One of these, Eaton Park, was the source of a couple of my scavenger hunt photos for January and I am enjoying early walks there at a weekend, with the frost still on the ground plants...

Eaton Park has a rather grand formal layout which I rather like...

On the woolly front...this just fell into my hands today...

When I say 'fell'... it would probably be fairer to say 'required some serious rummaging' in the bargain bin :-) but it is so soft and such a lovely colour, it just had to be done! I managed to find 10 balls at just about half the usual price which felt like a good deal. I just have to decide what to do with it now! I have found a couple of free patterns so am having a play to see which I think will work best. Will let you know!

And finally... I have to admit to having something of a problem in terms of equipment...

Whilst trying to have a bit of a sort out last weekend, I realised that I probably have a bit of an issue with needles! This is most (but not all!!) of the knitting needles I have acquired over the years! It's not entirely my fault; I accept that I have, probably more than once, been known to buy duplicates but the black bag was passed on from my Nannie, the tartan bag contained my Mum's cast offs. The end result being a serious excess of standard, circular and double point needles (both imperial and metric sizes) plus a few other random bits and pieces!

I didn't even know these were in here! The wooden gadget is for cutting even lengths of wool for rug making and the gauge is a handy little device (although the needle sizes are all in 'old money' so to speak).

I think I'm going to sort this lot out and try and rationalise them a bit so that I just have one of each size. Maybe I need to make one of those nice needle rolls I've seen on various blogs? And perhaps offer the extras to anyone who needs them? or charity shop them?

Right, enough waffling on tonight! In the time I've been on here the world has gone white outside! We have a layer of snow on the ground and more promised for overnight so may be going for a snowy walk in the morning!! Til then, going to curl up in bed with a book as its so cold!!!

Sx