Something...March photos

I am loving the longer days and that feeling of everything coming to life again. The garden is growing and beginning to look like the hard work of trying to tame it is going to pay off, the birds are busy building nests and the bees and early butterflies are beginning to appear.

Long walks and beautiful blooms have been my happy places for March so this month's 4 photos are...

Unexpected	Feb	Free
Thought provoking		Important
Exotic		Yellow	Jan
Interesting	Mar	Valuable
Exciting		Old
Happy	Feb	Fresh
Rough	Jan	Smaller than a mouse
Golden		Purple	Feb
You love	Feb	Glittery
Tasty		Orange
Shiny		Dirty
Colourful	Jan	Fluffy
Light		Green	Mar
Tall	Jan	Alive
Black		With wheels
Smooth		Short
White	Mar	With hair
Special		Heavy
Soft		Pink
Wet		Noisy
That moves		Blue	Mar
Tiny		Hard
Sharp		Clean
Red		To eat

Something interesting...

After a very windy night, this was in the flower bed. I'm pretty sure it's an old nest from last year but what fascinates me is the intricacy the birds achieve. It is a complex weave of mud, twigs and grasses and this year the blackbirds have been back and forwards, helpfully clearing moss from the garden, so I assume they have lined their new nests with lovely soft moss. Amazing.

Something blue...

I confess I am never quite sure about hyacinths, the usual 'indoor' varieties always seem as bit top heavy and I find the fragrance overpowering. But every year I am so desperate for some early colour, I end up growing a few then plonking them out in the garden! And actually these less showy versions outside are just beautiful, with their bluebell like two-tone flowers.

Something white...

On a walk in the sunshine, hedgerows are bursting with blossom. I love this time of year.

Something green...

And in the woods, fresh, bright green leaves are almost translucent amongst the branches, bringing the monochrome of the winter woodland back to life.

Interesting that I have unintentionally taken photos that tick the colour boxes this month. I crave colour by the end of the winter and suddenly the natural world is full of colour, sounds and scents, lifting my mood and making me want to be outside. I am so glad to have a garden again. Looking forward to seeing how it fills out this year.

Enjoy every day!

S

Something...February photos

Belated photo hunt from February snaps...difficult to choose this month - partly because life is so busy and partly because of the photos I have taken, some were shabby and, of the others, it seems I have taken so many that represent the hope and promise of early Spring. I love this time of year and it seems the descriptors of something happy... or something you love... or any number of others could be applied to many things. Which I guess makes this a positive month!

Something...

Unexpected	Feb	Free
Thought provoking		Important
Exotic		Yellow	Jan
Interesting		Valuable
Exciting		Old
Happy	Feb	Fresh
Rough	Jan	Smaller than a mouse
Golden		Purple	Feb
You love	Feb	Glittery
Tasty		Orange
Shiny		Dirty
Colourful	Jan	Fluffy
Light		Green
Tall	Jan	Alive
Black		With wheels
Smooth		Short
White		With hair
Special		Heavy
Soft		Pink
Wet		Noisy
That moves		Blue
Tiny		Hard
Sharp		Clean
Red		To eat

Something unexpected...

I am always amazed and delighted by the resilience of nature. A lesson for us all I think. These aconite bulbs arrived from a mail order company last year looking for all the world like a rotten slimy mess. I figured I had nothing to lose from slinging them into a pot, fully expecting them to just rot away into the soil. Nothing last year, then to my surprise, early Spring these pushed their way through. Not the promised 20 but just a few determined little plants, so they have earned their place in the garden and will find a more permanent home soon, where I hope they will spread their early cheer.

Something you love...

Tea in a pot - what my mum would have called 'proper' tea, made with tea leaves, topped with a cosy. Add a perfect little jug that holds just the right amount of milk for the two mugs my little pot holds and this is morning bliss. Or afternoon, come to that! The teapot has an integral strainer for the leaves, which ticks my boxes on so many counts - no faffing about with a tea strainer or blocking the sink when you clean the pot, tea leaves for my compost bin, cheaper tea and no environmentally dodgy tea bags. What's not to love?

Something happy...

Well, strictly speaking, something that makes me happy. That first blossom against a blue sky. Sitting in the garden under the plum tree, enjoying just a hint of warmth in the early Spring sunshine. Somehow this speaks to me of hope and future and the beginning of everything bursting into life.

Something purple...

Pulmonaria. Or lungwort. At first glance this might appear to be a relatively inconspicuous little plant but it is so reliable, covers the ground in shady areas of the garden and early in the year provides a carpet of colour, often with different shades on the same plant. Up close, the tiny flowers are almost translucent and the buds, stems and leaf edges covered in fine hairs that make it look as though it is shimmering in the low light. I love it.

Roll on longer days, happy hunting.

S

something...

In the spirit of being observant and wanting to give myself something to focus on through the year, I have made myself a photo hunt list. I have done these before and stressed about doing them to time etc, which rather defeats the object, so this time I have just picked a few descriptors and given myself a couple of loose 'rules' (and I'm not going to stress if I break them!) - I will aim to find 4 things from the list each month, from photos I have taken during that month and post them at the beginning of the following month. The descriptors are up for interpretation and, interestingly with so many to choose from I found it hard to decide which category to use for this month's selection - I imagine it will get a bit harder as the year goes on!

So, my list is..

Something unexpected                       Something tasty

Something thought provoking           Something orange

Something exotic                               Something shiny

Something interesting                        Something dirty

Something exciting                            Something colourful

Something that makes you happy      Something fluffy

Something rough                                Something light

Something golden                               Something green

Something free                                    Something tall

Something important                           Something alive

Something yellow                                Something black

Something valuable                             Something with wheels

Something old                                      Something smooth

Something fresh                                   Something short

Something smaller than a mouse         Something white

Something purple                                 Something with hair

Something you love                             Something special

Something glittery                               Something heavy

Something soft                                    Something pink

Something wet                                     Something noisy

Something that moves                         Something blue

Something tiny                                    Something hard

Something sharp                                  Something clean

Something you can eat                        Something red

And in January I photographed...

Something yellow...

Waymarkers standing out brightly through my woodland walk...

Something colourful...

My rainbow stash buster blanket...

Something tall...

Although this was almost something unexpected, because this was such a straight path with that one random tree in the middle!

Something rough...

Which I was also undecided about because in the light it looked glistening white and smooth, but to touch and through the distance of the lens it seemed most appropriate for rough.

 

winter walks...

 I confess to having rather had to force myself put in the cold wind yesterday but, wrapped up well, I set off...I am trying not to drive when I don't really need to so I just walked from home and 9 miles later, cobwebs blown away and significantly warmer, I was glad I'd made the effort.

Picking my way through the leaves, softened by weeks of wintry weather...

Early snowdrop spotting...

Realising that the OS map I've probably had since the '90s may no longer be up to date as I find the footpath rerouted via a laminated 'follow the white posts' sign (past two enormous bulls!!)

Appreciating that even in our flat county, the fields undulate away from you gently as the sun tries to shine just a little...

Back in more woodland, pleasingly called Hundred Acre plantation (fans of Winnie the Pooh will understand me keeping a half eye for Piglet and Eyore...), this time zig-zagging across to avoid the worst of the mud...

More open fields and beautiful cloudy, if a bit grey, skies...

Then back home to a cup of tea and a few rows, enjoying the fact that this is 'blankety' enough now to snuggle under whilst I hook away...

I am not a winter person and can't wait for the days to lengthen a bit more and be brighter and warmer. But the older I get, the more conscious I am that these days of whatever colour and temperature are increasingly numbered, so making the effort to get out and enjoy is more important than ever.

sand slipping through your fingers...

I started this blog back in January 2011. At that point, almost exactly 12 years ago, I hadn't quite acknowledged that life was slowly unravelling but I felt that if I tried to 'notice' life, instead of just getting through each day, I would appreciate the positives and that would make things feel better.

Over a decade later, I am still trying to figure it out. In that time divorce, 3 house moves, the marriage of two sons, the death of my Mum, the birth of a grandson and unexpected surgery have been the stuff of life.  I have been living alone for over 10 years and have come to the conclusion, at least for now, that loneliness is the most challenging thing to deal with. It was loneliness within my marriage that finally drove me to seek a new path and I am certain that was the right thing to do. I think even my ex would agree - he is happier, remarried now and living the life he wants, and I no longer feel that I am walking on eggshells all the time. But if you had asked me if I had anticipated spending so many evenings and weekends alone for the rest of my days, I think the answer would have been no! Of course, we fill life with family, work, 'stuff'... but I do frequently feel that life and opportunities are slipping away from me and, looking back at my first few posts, the feelings that were behind those attempts to find happiness in the everyday remain.

Looking back to the resolutions I made in the New Year of 2011, some things haven't changed - I still love climbing to the tops of mountains, walking on windswept beaches, sunshine on my skin and flowers. I am not much closer to sorting the work/life balance! But I am probably fitter than I was then, I did finish my masters and progress my career and I have completed dozens of crochet and other projects. 

I still have umpteen more 'on the go' projects too! The latest being an attempt to make something without buying more yarn...😂

So...this year, no resolutions but I need to start reminding myself of the positives again. Not sure how yet - maybe I'll start posting a bit more regularly again - if only to document the good things and achievements, to give the walks and projects some purpose. And, maybe, in 10 years I will reflect and think I've come a long way towards a happier place.

I started the year with beautiful flowers from a friend who lives the other end of the country and I miss so much.

With blue skies and long shadows in winter sunshine...

With late afternoon and early morning walks...

So...still here, reminding myself I am lucky and the world is beautiful.