Beautiful bluebells...

Today has been one of those 'just lovely' days. On a whim last night a friend and I decided to go to some woods a few miles away, famed for their bluebells. One of the ridiculous things about life seems to be that you rarely visit the beautiful places under your nose. I must have driven past the signs to Foxley Wood hundreds of times but have never actually visited before. The forecast last night was a bit mixed but we woke up to bright sunshine, the lightest breeze and a real bit of warmth in the air.

I have to confess, for the first few minutes of the walk I was just a teeny bit disappointed and we wondered if we were a bit early for the bluebells, but it is very beautiful ancient woodland and the birds were singing so we just decided to make the most of it. Then...our first glimpse of the bluebells...

So delicate and pretty in the sunlight...

It was pretty damp underfoot and everything seemed so fresh and bright. I love this moss...

and the light through the trees which are still getting their leaves...

...these dainty violas...

...and, oh my goodness, the bluebells...

Its fair to say, I may have gone slightly mad with the camera, so feel free to look away now if you are about bluebell'd out but they were really lovely...

A few other things caught my eye too; this fern about to unfurl...

...my first bumblebee of the year, dozy on bluebell nectar...

...and some pretty red campion (I think!) in amongst the blue...

When we were almost back to the starting point we came across this sign which made us smile; who knew bluebells were such sensitive souls?! And why just these we wondered?! 

We tiptoed quietly back to the car... Foxley Wood, beautiful.

S x

Time out...

Life is too busy. I don't seem to be able to slow it down. The last couple of months have brought a whole new set of challenges and, without really making a conscious decision, I bowed out of blogland for a bit. There just hasn't been time even to browse what other people are writing about and the camera has been pretty much out of action. Add to that a few 'IT issues' (my ageing mac will no longer recognise my phone...) and the whole process of blogging has felt like too much effort when I don't have much to say or much energy to do it!

But I have just spent an hour or so having a peek into all the lovely lives out there and feel I've just caught up with 'friends', so thought I'd just drop a few lines in to say I'm still here and doing ok, just not making the blog my biggest priority just now.

The best I can do for photos is email them from my phone! Bit of a chore and the quality suffers a bit I think. I am still enjoying the courtyard view from my kitchen window - the plants out there have grown like crazy and filled the beds. It seems to behave like a little microclimate with everything a bit ahead of what I would expect - there are fuschias in flower and roses not far off. And we have a family of blackbirds nesting in the holly bush. It amazes me that in the middle of a city courtyard there can be such a flurry of bird activity. I put up a bird feeding station and my regular visitors are the blackbirds, a robin and a whole range of tits. They are just a couple of feet from the window and provided I stand still they are happy just to snack away. I just snapped him just before he took off...

I did manage a family day over Easter with my sister and family over from the midlands. Their distance from the seaside contrasts with our proximity and we usually try to make time to go, so Easter sunday we headed up to the North East Norfolk coast. It was a beautiful day and lots of people had the same idea. Not that you'd know it from the beach...

There was a sharp Easterly wind blowing off the sea which practically took your breath away and whipped stinging sand into your face, so most had stayed the land side of the sand dunes. But we had come for a walk on the beach, so we were very British about it and kept walking! Although I have to confess we walked back just the other side of the dunes. I am constantly delighted that these cousins, who range from 14 to 25 and don't see so much of each other these days, still get on so well and really enjoy each other's company. They are all interesting young people now and I hope they will always have that special relationship. I had no aunts/uncles and so no cousins and I think its a great bond to have. I do find myself looking at them and wondering how they got so grown up though!

Seems only five minutes since that young woman on the left in the picture above was this little girl...

Somebody slow the world down, its going way too fast for my liking...

Til then, will pop in when I can...

S x