Attic24

The Here and Now

Last week I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine about the business of how to return to ones blog when one has been absent for a period of time. She was telling me she hadn't blogged since February and really wanted to find her way back to it. My advice went something like this ::

1. Don't get caught up in the reasons for your absence. Don't feel you need to explain if you don't want to, and definitely don't fall over yourself to apologise. Blogs belong to the blogger, and gaps in the narrative are a natural part of writing a genuine, truthful blog which follows the ups and downs of life. There is no need to say sorry, or feel guilty.
2. Jump right in with something short and current rather than trying to back track and create a hefty "catch-up" post. Your blogging voice may well be a little bit croaky after a break and keeping things short and of-the-moment will be a good way to un-croak yourself. Lengthy catch ups and more specific posts can happen when you get back into the general swing of things.
3. Let the photos lead the way if the words aren't coming easy.

So......this is me sliding back gently into blogland and taking my own advice. Hellooooo!! I've missed this space, and am very glad to be back. The above photo was taken this morning on my daily tramp into the woods. It's been a warm and muggy day today with a heavy feeling in the air, as if it needs to really pour with rain but can't quite manage to make it happen.

I found a beautiful feather on the woodland path today and had to bring it home to add to my collection - it's the super-tall dark black feather in the above photo. Actually, it's a very, very dark blue rather than being black but you only see the blue hue when it catches the light. Needless to say, even though I tried to be very stealthy about introducing it into the house, Tilly has already sniffed it out and had it onto the floor. I have no idea why I'm so surprised.

I've had a jug of white stocks on my table this week and the scent they bring to the room is heavenly. 

I took the above photo to share on Instagram this morning, for no other reason than to document the joy my dining room shelves are delivering to me at the moment. After a very long spell of them making me feel very frustrated and irritated, I finally decided last month to put some effort in and and sort them out. I performed a major declutter, re-organised all my things, and finally managed to tame the chaos. 

I had a long overdue clear out of my books and donated some huge bags to our local Oxfam Bookshop which felt wonderful. Owning less books has given me more shelf space and now that it's pretty tidy and clutter-free on those shelves I'm working hard to try and keep it that way. Daily diligence is needed, honestly, it's a full time job. I check on them every single day and make sure to re-home anything that lands there and doesn't belong. Who even am I??!

Funny thing, I took some before and after photos whilst this was all going on because I also tackled the twin Cupboards of Doom at the same time. I've just looked back at the photos and gasped out loud - it was really pretty bad here for a while last month when everything was in utter chaos. I might be brave and show you - is this something that you'd be curious about, the behind the scenes state of my messy home that you don't usually get to see? Would you like to see inside my cupboards which are no longer doom-filled? Let me know eh?

I'm currently dragging myself back into healthy eating after way too much over indulgence during the past few months. Artisan sourdough bread has a lot to answer for, as does chocolate. I've discovered that gluten and sugar are really not good for my body these days, both my mood/energy levels and my joints really start acting up if I eat too much of it. So I'm diggin' deep for some self discipline this week and thankful for our weekly trips to the market and the delicious fresh produce we can purchase. Natural fruit sugars are wonderful....I keep telling myself this, as I sit and fantasise about eating a piece of cake.

As well as daily shelf-clutter checks, I'm now also performing daily plantlet checks as I've got actual living things growing in my back yard that are making me so bloomin' happy. Lots of flowers are now in residence, and I'll show you some more photos very soon. For now, please do appreciate how healthy my sweet peas are looking - this is one of three big pots I've got going on out there, and I am mothering them to death. My plant babies. 

And in crochet news, my Yuletide blanket is slowly but surely growing and I am very in love with it. Coopers café re-opened a few weeks ago after being closed since the start of the year, and I am so happy to be back. It's not back to the full social group of old yet as we are still restricted to sitting in small groups of 6, but it's a step in the right direction.

This week I'm also working behind the scenes on the design of another blanket project but annoyingly I can't show you just yet. On the whole though, I've been enjoying some slow down time during the past few months and haven't done much crochet at all. I've been percolating some ideas though, and there is a list of things I want to make - an actual list written on paper, not just free floating inside my messy head space, so that's something. I very much hope that June will treat me better than May did, I lost my way for a while last month, it' was a tricksy, emotional month for various reasons. 

Well, I'm so happy to be back here and I promise to not be so quiet and croaky-voiced and will come back very soon to chat some more. Back soon...........xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Hello from the Attic

I thought I'd just pop by to say hello and to let you know that I'm doing OK, I know some of you have been worried and I'm so touched that you take the time to check up on me. Thank you, thank you.

I've just uploaded photos to my computer from the past four weeks, and the hundreds of images have reminded me that May was a very beautiful month all in all, no matter how scattered I've been feeling at times. 

It's half term week this week and J has also taken the week off work so we've been spending precious time with the Little People and thoroughly enjoying this spell of gloriously warm and sunny weather. It really has been wonderful this past week, the long sunny days and clear blue skies have made me feel soo good, just what I needed.

I hope you're all doing OK, and I'm sorry for the big gaps in my blogging story just lately. I'll be able to catch you up on all that's been going on with me very soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Life Lately

I've been on Blossom Watch during the past few weeks which is pretty normal for me at this time of year. I tend to get these seasonally induced obsessions throughout the year and they occupy my thoughts on the daily. I know from past experience that May will be a busy month inside my head because there is so much to obsess over - blossom, wild garlic flowers, bluebells, cow parsley, buttercups, asparagus season, tree leaves....oh my seasonal cup positively overflows in May!

Being that I live in the northern part of the UK where temperatures are cooler, I'd say we are about three weeks behind those in the south. Blossom is just starting to reach full froth this week and I am absolutely delighted by it as always.

I honestly don't think I could keep away from these beautiful trees if you paid me, they call to me so loudly each and every morning. Sometimes I'm content to admire them from across the grassy expanse of the park, but often times I find myself walking to them even before I've made the conscious decision. Standing underneath a blossom tree when it's in full tilt against the bluest of morning skies is one of life's great pleasures. 

On of my other favourite trees at this time of year is the Whitebeam, and I only found out it's name last year after being in love with it for a long, long time. The new leaves are a beautiful pale silvery green colour when they first emerge and I just love them so much. 

As I wrote in my blog post last week, I'm still keeping up with my morning wake-up-walk at 7am and I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying it. I guess it's like walking a dog every morning, except without the actual dog.

The cold weather continues, and when I say cold, I really do mean it. We are into early May now, but most days it's literally freezing out there when I walk in the mornings.

These bluebells were frozen solid this morning, stiff and icy but still looking very beautiful.

We've actually had a fair bit of rain during the past week, but this morning the sky had cleared and the air felt clean and crisp. It was zero degrees out there. Zero!! What is going on with our Spring this year?? I'd really, really like it to warm up now please. 

Walking back towards home along the side of the canal, there is often a blackbird perched high in the tree singing his heart out. Can you see him in the above photo? And do you know the song of a blackbird? It's so melodic - and loud too, I always forget how loud birdsong can be at times. It fills the air as I walk.

I'm back to my daily morning workouts this week after an enforced rest last week. I've been having leg trouble, it's something that comes and goes and is most definitely hormone/peri-menopause related so I'm not worried about it, but my goodness me it is super irritating. It's like a deep, dragging ache within the depths of my thigh, painful enough to keep me awake at night which is the worst part of it. Anyhow, I generally try to ignore it although I do make an effort to rest up a bit when it comes on, and after a week or two it slowly begins to fade away again, until the next time.

Been feeling much stronger again this week though, so I started out on a four week exercise challenge with my fave Lucy Wyndham-Read on YouTube. The programme is completely free, with short workouts all on the Tube (find all the info and links HERE) and I'm really enjoying it. I can highly recommend starting the day with a quick ten minute blast of outdoor fresh air walking, followed by twenty minutes of home workouts - half an hour is all it takes, and honestly it'll make you feel soooo good. 

Life continues to be very same-samey here, as I'm sure it is with most of you too. We haven't been anywhere much at all, preferring to stay very close to home for all of our leisure, pleasure and work time. At the start of last week we drove out into the Dales to walk around Grimwith Reservoir which we've not done for a long while.

It was a beautiful walk, and yes you guessed it, it was bloomin' freeeeezing! I enjoyed all the blues of water and sky so much, gosh I miss the sea something chronic. It's been nine months now and not a day goes by when I don't think about being beside the waves. Rivers, waterfalls and reservoirs are a pretty good second best though, especially on a clear sunny day.

After a very dry period of weather throughout March and April (not counting the snow of course), the start of May has given us some much needed rain. The first day that it rained after many dry weeks, the scent of petrichor was really intense. Ooooh, I've just been on a little petrichor search, and found an interesting article about it ((here)). 

Rain made the bank holiday weekend a bit of a wash out, but we still managed to visit the market and then sit outside our favourite café for an al fresco breakfast (huddled up and wearing allllll the layers). But mostly it was a time for relaxation and lazing about indoors keeping warm.

Tilly obviously got the memo about the importance of lazing about, it's one of her favourite pastimes. And yup, we lit fire. I was in two minds about it, mostly because I'd taken the time last week to Spring clean the hearth and put it to bed for the season. But the lure of having some cosy warmth on a holiday weekend when the rain did not stop falling was too much to resist. I honestly don't think we've ever had a May fire before, except for the very first fire we ever lit when we had the chimney repaired and the open grate installed in May 2008. Ah well, it was unexpected and unseasonal, but lovely all the same.

Firelight and candle light, this is all sounding very depressingly autumnal don't you think?! But whatever season we're in, I'm still enjoying the heck out of my little ceramic candle burner, and light it next to my bed most evenings. I was gifted this burner by a lovely friend for Christmas, but they are easy to find online and come in all different shapes and sizes (the one I have can be found on Amazon HERE)

I bought myself some eco friendly tea lights which have compostable cups (instead of aluminium ones) and are made from vegetable wax with no nasties in it.

But the stars of the show are the scented wax melts, and I just love swapping these depending on the season we're in. My current obsession is Orange Blossom, and Oh. My. Goodness. I am absolutely besotted by the smell of these. I buy my melts from the Botanical Candle Co who are a fabulous small business based down in Dorset and I can highly recommend them for all your seasonal scented candle needs. 

As soon as I sniffed these little waxy stars I was instantly transported back to two years ago when I was lucky enough to visit Portugal for the first time. It was springtime back then too, and I enjoyed a truly wonderful long weekend in Faro with Christine.  I'd always wanted to visit Portugal, and a few nights in Faro seemed like it would be just the thing in March when we didn't want a beach jolly, but didn't want a hectic sight seeing city break either.

I absolutely adored Faro, it was everything I had dreamed of and so much more, oh it's such a beautiful place! But the thing I remember the most about being there in March were the orange trees, they were utterly, utterly enchanting. Yes they had a tonne of very beautiful fruits in the branches, but the blossom....oh, the blossom!!!! The scent!!! the air was filled with the most ridiculously beautiful, intoxicating sweet perfume and I won't ever forget the joy of it.

Having this scent in the home is like taking a mini holiday and I couldn't love it more.

So, what else to tell you? This week I've enjoyed some lovely spring blooms on my table, although as you can see they are past their best now and starting to droop.

I also thoroughly cleaned and decluttered my dining room mantel which had gathered a lot of miscellaneous objects during the past year or two, as well as a good insulating layer of dust. In fact I've been doing a lot of decluttering here lately, working hard on the task of sorting, clearing and organising in areas of the house which had gotten completely out of hand over the years. It's been eye wateringly hard at times, but also extremely therapeutic. I'm still neck deep in the clutter zone mind you, with a long way to go.....the Cupboards of Doom are currently spilling their guts out onto the dining room floor and everything is in tremendous disarray. I've taken some photos to share with you at some point, but only once I'm safely out the other side and can offer up some satisfying "after" photos to be proud of. Right now, the mess is a bit overwhelming and I'm only just managing to maintain my equilibrium. It'll be worth it when it's done though, I keep telling myself this as I dig deep into years of accumulated stuff. So. Much. Stuff. 

More on that journey another day......for now I'm going to love you and leave you as I need to be horizontal now, cosied up in my bed with the scent of orange blossom doing it's thing. I hope you're doing OK  and that you're enjoying the season you're in, whether it's Spring or Autumn depending where you are.

Tell me how your days are feeling, and what's making you happy, I'd love to know xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

April Ordinariness

Hello my lovelies, it's me, the one who's been ruminating in her little Attic nook of late, keeping quiet because there has been a lot to think about and some changes afoot. I find that when I have these very introverted, overly-thinky kind of times, there is always a point when I know for sure that I need to snap myself out of it. And the best way I know to do that is to come here,  open my Attic window and reconnect with the world (that means you).

So....here I am. Helloooooooo!!!!!!!!!! 

Truthfully, the past few weeks have been really good for me, if a bit on the ordinary side. I've not got a huge amount to share with you, but as always I've continued to take photographs every day and practice gratitude for life's small pleasures and simple daily routines.

I'm really enjoying my morning routine at the moment and absolutely loving the return of the school run. My gosh, I sure did miss it for the three and a half months at the start of this year when it was removed from my life.

I think I mentioned in a post recently that I listened to a podcast about the benefits of getting outside as soon as possible after first waking in order to set our circadian rhythm and help us sleep better. Ideally within the first hour of waking, we would all benefit from allowing some daylight to enter our brains, and I am all for this idea. I've been trying it out for about a month now and absolutely LOVE the way it makes me feel. My alarm wakes me at 6am, and after a ten minute sleepy drift I am usually pretty awake and ready to get up at 6.10. I head downstairs, do a few jobs (feed the kitty, empty the dishwasher, straighten up the downstairs living room if it needs it) and then make myself a small mug of coffee to bring back to bed. After about half an hour of gentle wake up with my coffee I get up for a second time, pull on my workout clothes and get myself out of the door and into the fresh air at 7am.

It's a truly wonderful time of day to be out and about, especially at this time of year. The sun has already risen above the hill and those first slants of soft sunlight and shadow are really beautiful.

Can you see me standing there, in the frosty cold early start of the day? April has been dry, bright and devilishly cold, and many mornings I've been walking over crisp, still-frozen grass as the temperatures sit just around zero degrees. 

It's been breathtakingly beautiful at times, literally stopping me in my tracks and stealing my breath clean away. The stillness in the air is so acute at this time in the morning, it's like the very day is holding it's breath and waiting to begin. 

In the chill of the morning there is a mist that swirls over the surface of the canal, and I find it absolutely mesmerising to watch. I literally crouch down and just stare at it, drinking in my fill, delighting in the extraordinary ordinariness of it all.

A couple mornings a week I turn the other way out of my door and take my walk down the street and along the canal to the bakery to pick up a loaf of fresh bread. It's a five minute brisk walk each way, and I feel incredibly lucky that I get to do this. It's one of the many, many things I enjoy about living in a small rural market town. 

The bakery sourdough isn't quite as good as the artisan bread we buy from the market on a Saturday, but it's not half bad. And now I'm just showing off with all the bread purchasing options at my disposal, so I shall stop with the bread bragging.

I'm aware that this post is not showing you anything new or exciting, as we are still living a very restrictive locked down life and daily routines are extremely repetitive after more than a year in place. J and I continue to take our daily mid morning walk together, mostly around the woods but every so often we do stride out a bit further afield.

We walked out to a neighbouring village last week, strolling the narrow lanes until we eventually reached the canal. The walk home is along the tow path and takes about an hour or so - I sometimes find this walk a bit of a drag if I'm perfectly honest, is it ok to admit that to you? I prefer footpaths and field tracks, or winding woodland pathways, although I do get a kick out of the endless possibilities for gazing at reflections which I think might be a hobby of mine. 

One of the most exciting things to happen last week was the reopening of one of our favourite little local cafes. Its doors have been closed since December so it was absolutely lovely to walk past one morning and see the little wooden tables and chairs outside on the pavement and the coffee garden all spruced up and open for business. If you followed along with my Blogtober posts, this is the café that I often talked about, the one that serves the "outrageously good coffee". Oh, it was SO GOOD to be back with that cup of deliciousness in my hands and the sun on my face, chatting to J about how happy I was to be there.

We have another couple weeks until we'll be able to sit inside again - it's outdoor seating only at the moment at cafés, pubs and restaurants, which of course is extremely weather dependent. And as I mentioned earlier, it's been very cold this past week or two with a return to very wintry temperatures, which isn't ideal for al fresco dining. Soon though....hopefully soon we'll have some true Spring warmth and all will feel right and good again.

When the sun shone last week, I took myself out into the sheltered warmth of my little back yard and enjoyed some quiet afternoon crochet time. Hooking al fresco is one of my all time favourite pleasures and it's been lovely to have that back in my life again. It reminded me of last year when we were first in this lockdown crisis and I was working on my Aria blanket then. What a blessing it is to have yarn and colour running through my hands and quieting my emotions. I honestly don't know what I would do without the therapeutic benefits of blanket making, I love it to the moon and back.

By the way, thank you so much for all the delightful comments you wrote for me on my last post where I introduced you to the ideas behind my Yuletide blanket. Thank you, thank you! I appreciate your enthusiasm and support more than I can put into words, it really is something special.

I have to confess it is a little strange working with these particular colours in Spring, but despite the oddness of thinking winter thoughts in springtime, I'm enjoying it very much. The pattern, the richness of the colours, the way the rows are now becoming delightfully long and engaging. It's all so joyful I have to say. I've had a few hiccups along the way as I'm learning about how the colours like to work together and the contrasts that are needed to make the pattern work its magic, but a bit of ripping out from time to time never hurts. It's all part of the journey, and like I say, I'm enjoying it massively. 

It's a funny thing, but even though I'm madly into my Yueltide blanket, there is still a near constant pull to start something new. I keep looking at my overflowing tubs of scrap yarn and fighting the uprising urge to make another happy scrappy picnic blanket. Just simple granny squares joined in a delicious patchwork of colour that will make my heart sing when I see it slung on a bench, or on the beach later in the summer. Maybe it's because I'm craving a holiday (rather badly) that I'm dreaming about summer picnics and all. Remember the colourwash granny? And the patchwork granny? I do have a history of this sort of thing......what do you think the odds are of me resisting this temptation?? Slim to no chance?!

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Yuletide Blanket :: Inspiration

Even though I've designed and crocheted dozens of blankets over the years, the excitement of starting out on a new blanket journey has in no way diminished. I still get sooooooooooooooooooooo excited, like I can hardly contain the feelings as they fizz and bubble and make me feel like I've got ants in my pants. 

I've been pondering on the idea of making a Christmas blanket for the longest time (many years, on and off) but have always managed to talk myself out of it. I think I was simply too indecisive to commit to a colour palette, being that my own personal Christmas colours are "jewel brights" and this probably wouldn't work out for various reasons. As you may well know, I also have a real problem with incorporating white into my blankets and that became a massive stumbling block for me. I got all caught up in the idea that a Christmas style blanket would absolutely have to include white, and yet every time I tried to work something out it all went horribly wrong.

Eventually after much faffing (and finally deciding that white simply had to stay on the shelf), I settled on the idea of using nature as my inspiration. I made my brain forget about colourful baubles and tinsel, and began to think about the natural world instead. It seems so obvious now, but it was a real lightbulb moment at the time!

Photo Credit : Arcade Flowers

I thought about Christmas wreaths and all the beautiful natural elements that we associate with this time of year - holly, ivy, eucalyptus (my fave scent of the season), pine, orange slices, berries and cones.

Photo Credit : Schwartz

I also began to think about the flavours of the festive season - mulled wine, gingerbread, nuts, cinnamon, clementines, cloves. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, this set me off on a wave of craving and fondness for this cosy time of year which surprised me because I am truly a summer-loving girl. 

Although I was super happy with my ideas and inspiration, the colour palette came together in very slow stops and starts. I spent quite a few weeks tweaking and messing with it, adding colours in, taking colours out and fine-tuning the balance until it suddenly felt exactly right. I always know when I've got it right because I feel it right in the pit of my stomach, a very deep, visceral reaction which is full of emotion.

Once the colours were in place, the design for my Yuletide blanket came together surprisingly quickly.  I had it in my head that I wanted to make a square blanket - one big giant square so that those rounds would grow out from the centre. I've never made a giant square blanket before so this is a first for me, and I can tell you that it is ThRiLlInG!! As the rounds get bigger and bigger, there is less stopping and starting (and darning in ends) and more rhythmic, soothing, wonderful repetitive crochet. I'm currently up to round twenty five I think, and so far it is giving me the hugest amount of satisfaction and pleasure. 

I've designed a simple three-row pattern repeat inspired by the spike stitch border I created for the Dahlia blanket. Oh-my-gosh, it is such a neat design to crochet with just enough thought needed to prevent boredom setting in, but simple enough to provide that relaxation factor. I can't tell you how much I'm loving it.

The Yuletide blanket will be available as a yarn kit with a printed pattern in early September. The timing means that you can crochet it through the Autumn so that it'll be ready to adorn your sofa for the festive season.

I'm not sure yet how big the finished blanket will be, but I'm thinking something between 4 and 5 ft square. I want it to be big enough for a snuggle, but compact enough to easily throw over the back of an armchair.

Incidentally, are you familiar with the word "Yuletide"?? It's quite old fashioned and refers to the time around the Christmas season, usually from around 21 December until 1 January. The celebration of Yuletide dates back centuries, and was originally a way to commemorate the winter solstice — the shortest day and longest night of the year. 

I hope it's OK to talk to you about this right now - I know it's a long way in advance and it does feel a bit weird to be talking about Christmas as we are just at the start of Spring! But I wanted to give you a glimpse into my creative life and to share the journey with you in real time. I always feel much happier when I'm sharing. 

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ps while we're talking about blankets and timings, I also wanted to mention that the Yuletide blanket won't be run as a crochet-a-long. My annual crochet-a-long will be happening at the same time as in previous years (yarn packs in November, with the CAL weeks running through January/February).

x

 

 

 

Wild Garlic Season

Wild garlic grows in shady damp woodland and I'm lucky that here in my local area it grows in absolute abundance. It's an easy leaf to forage for, partly because it is so distinctive that there is no mistaking what you are getting, but also because you can pick a huge handful from a small area without having any impact on the plants at all. So long as you just pick/snip the leaves without disturbing the bulb in the ground, the plants will continue to grow and spread for years to come.

Right now is a good time to gather wild garlic as the tender young leaves (before the flowers bloom) are full of fresh garlicky flavour. I finally went on a foraging expedition last week and collected some to bring home to eat.

The exciting thing was that I didn't need to go tramping about in the woods with the general public as I had a personal invitation from a good friend to go rootling around in her private shady borders. So I was at my friends a week or so ago, a really great few hours where I was able to sit in a sheltered sunny spot in her garden with my flask of coffee and crochet and catch up with a few of my yarny friends at long last. I was thrilled to be let loose to forage to my hearts content, and oh my goodness, the scent of this stuff is just out of this world. It's the very definition of Spring Green in smell form.

As soon as I got home I whizzed up some fresh wild garlic pesto - I only made a small quantity as it was for my own personal consumption. I looked at a few recipes online and worked out that the ratio of ingredients seemed to be roughly along the lines of 1:1:3. And by that I mean one part parmesan, one part toasted pine nuts and three parts wild garlic.

For my small dollop of pesto (which was about four portions), I used :

20g parmesan

20g toasted pine nuts

60g wild garlic

A generous squeeze of lemon juice

Olive oil - just enough to enable the blitzing to happen without it being too oily.

The whole lot gets whizzed up in a mini food processor to make a wildly green chunky paste which smells intoxicatingly of garlic. 

I tossed a small dollop through a bowl of spaghetti for my lunch, adding in some sun dried tomatoes as well as some fresh baby plum tomatoes. The whole bowl was utter Spring deliciousness. 

This pesto is pretty powerful stuff and a little went a long way so I ended up making a few similar lunches last week, sometimes adding a crumble of feta to the top, or a bit of shredded cooked chicken. It will keep in a jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks, but be warned, this is veeeeeeeeery garlicky!

With the remainder of my foraged bounty I made soup. I concocted the recipe myself, and it was absolutely delicious I have to say.

Here is my recipe, should you wish to try it - you could always substitute spinach if you can't get your hands on wild garlic, adding a crushed garlic clove to the celery and leeks instead.

WILD GARLIC SOUP

2 x celery sticks, finely chopped

2 x medium leeks, finely sliced

a knob of butter and a glug of olive oil

2 x white potatoes, cubed into small pieces

600ml vegetable stock

Large handful of roughly chopped wild garlic leaves, maybe around 100-120g (I didn't weigh what I used, so guessing on the grams)

A splash of milk (again, I didn't measure, but I would guess 2 tablespoons/30ml)

And here is the way to go forth into soupy heaven....

1. Melt the olive oil and butter  in a frying pan and sauté the celery and leeks over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until softened.

2. Add in the potatoes and veggie stock and simmer for 20 minutes or so until the potatoes are soft.

3. Add in the wild garlic leaves and simmer for 2 minutes more until the leaves wilt but stay nice and green.

4. Lastly, add a splash of milk , season well with salt and pepper, then blitz until smooth and creamy. 

Ooooo, I've just found another really yummy looking recipe - white bean and wild garlic hummus which is right up my street. I think my early morning wake-up walk may well involve some wild garlic foraging tomorrow.

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

Wintry Springtime

Last week was the second half of our stay-at-home Easter holiday and honestly it's been the nicest time. I can't get over the difference in the general ambience of the house when the Little People are home and on holiday as opposed to home but home schooling. The reality is that they're spending the vast majority of the time in their bedrooms absorbed in their own pursuits whether it's school work or leisure time, but somehow the air feels lighter around here when it's the latter. I am definitely waaaaaaay more relaxed when we are officially in holiday mode that's for sure.

The week was lazy and we did very little of note other than our usual local pottering. We had a cold, breezy walk at Bolton Abbey one morning, ending with hot take-out drinks slurped in the car because it was just too chilly to actually sit outside. We had a trip to a nearby retail park to visit a DIY chain store for the first time in over a year, and my goodness it felt strange. I had almost forgotten what real out-and-about shopping feels like. The purpose of the trip was to purchase a tin of paint so that Little Lady could create one sage green wall in her all-white bedroom. She had a very clear idea about what she wanted and picked a particular shade of green from the two thousand shades that you can get specially mixed up by the magic paint-mixer machine. She was so sure about it we didn't bother with a tester or anything sensible like that, and fortunately it was a resounding success. She is now on a mission to amass a collection of houseplants for her bedroom, and I must say I'm really enjoying watching her find her own style and recognising so, so much of my younger self in her. 

One of the things I managed to do last week was to pop into Coopers Café (where I have my studio) to collect my mail. I've not been there since October, and I'd been meaning to go and collect a couple of packages that I knew were waiting for me as well as the monthly crochet magazines that get sent there. Of course the café is closed because of this never ending lockdown situation so it was a bit strange being there when it was so quiet and calm. I've not been able to use my studio since the first lockdown in March 2020, and I've really, really missed my precious space.

Anyhow, one of the packages was from a lovely lady who lives fairly local to me and reads my blog. As well as some beautiful and very thoughtful gifts, she had packaged me up a stack of old magazines to read and I was so happy to receive them. As you know I adore magazines and even better when they are passed on once they've been read so that the pleasure can be spread a little further. Do you know this magazine, "the simple things"? I've come across if before but it's not one that I've ever bought myself - oh, I've clearly been missing out! What an absolute delight this magazine is! You can take a little peek inside some previous issues online to get a feel for the content ((here)) - the photography and styling is stunning, and I really love the overall message which promotes slow living and celebrating life's simple pleasures. 

I spent some blissful hours across a few afternoons snuggled up with the kitty, drinking in the articles, recipes, musings, photographs and seasonal feel good in these pages and I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. If you are reading this Rosie, thank you SO MUCH for this gift which really did make me very happy. And....I've still got three magazines left to read, which I'm saving for this coming weekend, I can't wait (they are summer issues, my fave). Magazine heaven.

We continued to walk in the woods pretty much every day, and I was happy to see that the willow Huntress was wearing a new skirt. She's been looking a little unkempt over the winter with most of her bottom half missing, so Anna must've been called in to restore her dignity. Actually, as I was looking up Anna's website just now, I decided to write her a quick email telling her how much happiness her willow sculptures bring to my daily woodland walking experience. I think it's a wonderful thing to practice gratitude, but even better to express that gratitude to the people that contribute to the goodness of our days.

The woodland is very slowly beginning to wake after it's winter sleep and every day I search for signs of green things happening. 

The wild garlic carpet continues to grow, and I continue to observe it and love it just a bit more every day. That vibrant green is really uplifting when everything else around it is still so brown. I finally managed to collect some to bring home and cook with this week and made some pesto and also some soup which were both really good. I'll share my recipes here on my blog in the next day or so as I like to have a record of these things for future me, I know I'll be glad of it next year when wild garlic season comes round again.

It's been a cold start to April here in Atticland with temperatures remaining firmly in the single digits and falling to below freezing at night. On the positive side we've been treated to many bright clear days and I've really appreciated the undiluted amount of sunlight that has filtered through to my brain. I've spent quite a bit of time outdoors either walking, sitting and chatting with friends or pottering in my front gardening and I feel so good for it - I'm definitely happier outdoors than in at the moment.

On Sunday we woke up to an unexpected winter white out, and the shock was real. It's not unheard of for us to have a final snowy surprise around Easter time (my very first Easter here was spent making a snowman instead of the easter egg hunt I'd planned) but it was still a shock to the system. Every year I tell myself that the Spring Equinox does not actually mean spring weather for us here in the north of England so that I don't expect anything warm and springlike until May rolls around.

At around 8.30 I took myself off for a morning stroll through the park, just to experience the uniqueness of April Snow.

It really was beautiful out there.

The sky was an incredible, intense shade of blue, and the treetops looked gorgeous with their dusting of powdery snow.

The poor flowers though, oh my goodness, they looked so forlorn. The blackthorn blossom that I've been admiring in the meadow was literally encapsulated in ice.

Every time I walk in the winter meadow I think of my blanket and try and remember what the colours of summer look like. Some days, the meadow is so far from summery that I have trouble believing that the flowers will ever return. The buttercups should start to bloom golden at the end of May which is only six weeks away from now......nature honestly blows my mind sometimes.

Monday was the last day of the holidays for us here, and on Tuesday the two Littlest Peeps were finally back to school.

Yaaaayyyyy-hahahaaaahhhhhaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trying not to cheer too loudly when they are in ear shot, but you know it feels like so bloomin' long since we had any sort of normal school routine around here (Little B has only been in school for two weeks since the start of the year). For the first time in an age I set my alarm for a 6am wake-up on Tuesday, my goodness, that was a shock to the system. But it felt good, like a bit of a reset and I felt ready to embrace this new season of routine.

After a leisurely coffee and some quiet time to slowly come around to the day, I was out the door and into the park by 7:04 for my brisk wake-up walk. I recently listened to a podcast called "just one thing" with Michael Mosley which sets out to explore ways in which you can easily improve your health and wellbeing by adopting small daily habits. Episode two was all about the benefits of taking an early morning walk (I'm waaay ahead of the game there Michael), with the idea that getting out into the daylight within 2 hours of waking can have a very positive effect on our bodies. It strengthens our natural circadian rhythm (or something like that), and helps us to sleep well at night as well as boosting our mood. 

Well I can certainly say that this routine of taking a brisk 10-15 minute walk at around 7am feels marvellous and I am all for it. Having said that, I'm not one hundred percent sure if I would feel the same doing it in the rain....hmmm, most likely not. As I mentioned earlier, although the weather recently has mainly been blinkin' freezing, the crisp dry air and bright sunshine has made it feel very energising.

My walk takes me up the hill, down through the park, then a short stretch along the canal before the steep hill climb back to home. I deliberately walk at a fast pace to get my circulation going and warm my muscles up because I do a short 20 minute workout as soon as I get back home. I really do love the way it makes me feel to do this and can highly recommend it. 

Longer daylight hours have opened up the possibility for evening walks again, and last week I took a few evening strolls with Little Lady.

We mainly like to head through the woods then a slog up to the top of the huge grassy hill where we can catch the very last rays of sunshine. The above photo was taken at 7:46pm, such beautiful, golden glowy light at that time of day which really lifts the spirits.

Two other things of note last week - number one, I had my first covid vaccination on Friday which was something of a relief. I faired pretty well afterwards with just a bit of a headache and the overwhelming desire to lay down and sleep at a moments notice but other than that (and a very, very sore arm) I was fine. I know I'm really looking forward to the time when all this is behind us and life begins to return to some sort of normal again. I'm so tired of covid-19 taking up valuable brain space. 

Number two, I started my new blanket, oh, happy day! I will definitely be sharing it with you once it's well under way, but in the meantime, I figured you might enjoy a little bit of a teaser re the inspiration behind the colours. 

Greenery and pinecones, bright berries, orange slices and spices, also mulled wine and gingerbread cookies (why didn't I have those to hand when I needed them?) Winter solstice vibes and festive flavours - a celebration of the Yuletide season. Can't wait to show you more!

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2021 :: First Quarter

:: JANUARY ::

:: FEBRUARY ::

:: MARCH ::

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At the end of March when I'd finished my fortnight of continuous daily blogging, I decided to make a little montage of photos to capture the essence of the month. I used to make these nine-square monthly photo montages all the time and I've many years worth of them here on my blog and in my photo archives. I started them right at the beginning of my blogging journey in 2008 and continued them for five years (you can find these "monthly mosaics" in my right hand side bar →, or click here). I always featured a photo of my hill view as seen from the Attic in the centre of each collage, a beautiful record of the changing seasons and weather each month.

Eventually life got too chaotic to keep up with a review at the end of each month, but for a few years I did continue creating monthly collages at the end of each year for my annual "yearly review" : {2014} ♥ {2015} ♥ {2016}

Anyhow, after creating the March square, I remembered how much I love doing them and how there is something very comforting and consolidating about reviewing a month in this way. I went on to create squares for January and February and then had the idea that this year I'll create four Quarterly Review posts as a way to remember 2021. I feel ridiculously excited about doing bloggy things like this again, especially seeing as I'm now into my fourteenth year of old school blogging. I still get such a buzz from creating my blog posts, the pleasure of it hasn't diminished at all across the years it seems. 

So...January, February, March :: Winter giving way to Spring.

Looking back, I honestly did enjoy this winter because to me it felt properly seasonal for once. It was cold (bitterly so for much of the time) and we were gifted some beautiful icy, snowy wintry weather. I LOVE when the weather plays out according to the seasons, it makes me feel as if all is right in the world somehow. I found this year I didn't suffer with low mood as much as I have in the past, and the times when I did feel low I think it was due to pandemic life and the severe lockdown we were (are) living through rather than the fact that it was winter time.

I had my Meadow Blanket CAL to keep me creatively busy through January and February, and as always that really went a long way towards keeping my sprits up. Having that sense of purpose and the weekly postings to concentrate on was such a blessing and without it I think I might have fallen into a bit of a dark hole for a few months. In March I felt my creativity begin to really return, and I enjoyed my flowery crochet project and some cross stitch too. 

There were zero outings in this quarter due to the fact that the whole of the three months have seen us in lockdown. We took one or two walks at Bolton Abbey, and one walk around the reservoir and that was literally it. Extremely uneventful, but it's not like we had any choice.

I tried hard to shift my mindset this winter and think about the time as being restorative and replenishing as I hibernated a little and kept myself introverted for a while. I made sure to prioritise self care, keeping up my daily exercise and gentle routines and resting/retreating when I needed to. Even though we celebrated the Spring Equinox in March, it's a month that still feels very much more like winter than spring here in the north of England. But I've loved watching the wild garlic emerge in the woodland, and the first early blossom appear in the hedgerows. I've also really enjoyed having daffodils and tulips on my table throughout these past months. I've appreciated the cosy warmth of the fireside and many (many many) cups of hot milky coffee - little daily pleasures that have felt so good in these strange times. It's been a gentle period of rest for me and quiet homely days, and now I'm more than ready to dance through this next quarter which is my absolute favourite by a country mile. Spring giving way to Summer.....oh, yes, yes, I am so so ready for you!

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Easter Weekend 2021

Hellooooo!! I thought I'd come and chat to you at the end of what has been a beautiful, relaxing Easter weekend, and to share some of the things that have been making me feel really happy the past few days.

Firstly, these daffies on my table, oh-my-gosh they are incredibly beautiful. I picked them up from the supermarket on Friday when they were still in bud and had no idea they would be this way - the petals are kind of a mix between pale yellow and a very subtle blush colour, they are so lovely. They have a sweet scent too and I'm having the biggest crush on them (can you tell?)

The weather has been mostly bright and sunny but very chilly, so we are back to winter coats and woollies it seems. On Friday morning I met with five of my yarny friends for a walk through the park and a long over due catch up with a take out coffee. It was honestly so good for my soul to have female company for a few hours, I'm very thankful for my friends and have missed them terribly.

In the afternoon we went for a quick walk, mainly to get Little B out and about for some fresh air, daylight and exercise. He's become very teen-like of late, spending most of his time hunkered down in his bedroom with the curtains closed, playing games, chatting to his mates and watching insane videos on YouTube. I sometimes find myself missing the younger Little B, but this more mature version is certainly very low maintenance. Just a bit of a walk every now and again and he's good.

I'm delighting in this new season we're in, soaking up every little scrap of fresh green growth that I come across. Every day I see more signs of Spring emerging, and it honestly makes me so happy.

Saturday afternoon saw us walking out again, this time the four of us. I really love having Little Lady with us because she keeps me company when the boys are chatting boy-stuff. Without her I'm a bit of a lonesome straggler on our walks as Little B is very much a Daddy's boy at the moment and I don't really get much of a look in.

We walked over the fields on Saturday, it was a bit squishy under foot still, but nowhere near the mud fest that we've had during the winter months. This pussy willow looked incredibly pretty against the blue of the sky....

....and as you can see it was in full-fluff mode. I stroked it (of course I did), and I can report that it did indeed feel as soft and fluffy as it looks.

This circular walk takes us across fields and along quiet country lanes, and it felt good to have the sun on our faces and some wide open views to drink in. I love waking in the woods, but on a bright sunny day I definitely feel the pull to be more out in the open.

I wonder if you can guess from these photos that I really quite like walking?? Can you possibly tell??!

The above photo was taken Saturday evening just after 7pm. Little Lady was feeling restless and asked if I'd like to go and watch the sun go down. She is SO like me in so many ways and I recognise huge chunks of my personality traits within her. Plus, there is this part of Mummying-me that just swells with joy when she seeks out my company. She is almost seventeen and the fact that she likes to be with me is just the most heart warming thing, I feel very lucky indeed.

We walked up into the park just as the sun was lowering down to the horizon, all golden and dusky. We decided on a whim to walk up to the farm shop to see if they had any little flowering plants. Re-planting my doorstep pot has been an item on my to-do list for far too long now.

The Easter display in the entrance was really lovely - possibly the biggest Easter tree I've ever seen. They also had a decent selection of potted bulbs for sale, so I bought three small pots to bring home.

It's such a treat to have daylight in the evenings now, and although the temperature has been very wintry, the lengthening days more than make up for it.

It's about 8.15pm in the above photo and we are crossing the canal bridge on our way back from the park and farm shop. Ready to climb up the hill and back into the cosy warmth of home.

Sunday morning now, and despite the hideousness of it, I'm showing you my doorstep pot with deceased cyclamen still in residence. You can see what it looked like back in October when it was at it's peak - to be fair the flowers did last much longer than I thought they would and they were lovely right the way through the Autumn and early winter. However, the above sight has been making me feel miserable for the past few weeks so it was high time for a little Spring makeover....

........ta-dah! I spent about £7 at the farm shop on these bulbs and they've made me so happy. I must gather some moss and cover up the earth I think, heaven knows I've got the mossiest grass at the moment in my front garden. Not complaining though, you know how much I adore moss. In fact I would be quite enchanted if the whole of my grassy grass was in fact moss.

I'm looking forward to coming and going in and out of the front door in the weeks to come and watching these flowers bloom. 

Sunday afternoon, and the very chilly weather meant that we decided to light the fire in the middle of the afternoon. Although I wasn't impressed with having near freezing temperatures for Easter, there is nothing nicer than lighting the fire at the weekend and settling down for some cosy fireside loafing. 

I think I told you during Blarch that I spent some time having a bit of a tidy up, and that I had some magazine reading on my to-do list? I already managed to read and pass on the March issues to my friend, and on Sunday I had the perfect opportunity to spend some time swooning my way through the April issues.  

Oh it was delightful, lots of Spring inspiration and Easterish feel-good, I drank it all in and felt very uplifted I have to say. Sometime these aspirational magazines make me feel a bit inadequate and needy/greedy (I want more!! More space, more garden, more beautiful things, more holidays, more freedom, more, more). But mostly I can flick through the pages and feel inspired by the gorgeous images and seasonal narrative.

Four pm, and I decided that a cheeky little glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc would go very nicely with my fireside daydreaming. I just recently bought these new glasses and am so in love with them. They were only cheap from the supermarket, I think they are called "stemless wine glasses". I love the weighty curviness of them, they're a pleasure to drink from and not nearly so tricky as a tall wine glass when you are lounging on the sofa with a magazine.

We were forecast s.n.o.w. today, can you believe that? In fact we woke up to smattering of the icy white stuff on the ground this morning but not really what I would call a snowfall as such. Still, it was blinkin' freezing (literally, -1 degrees) but the sky was oh-so-blue and I couldn't wait to get out in it. Eight o'clock and I was heading up the hill to the meadow, to walk around a bit, stretch out my muscles and breathe in the freezing cold spring air.

Interestingly I had company this morning as J came with me - I didn't really think it through when I invited him along to be honest. He kept saying "where are we going?" and I said well we're just going here, right here, this is the meadow and we're walking around it.....he definitely didn't seem to feel the magic like I do. 

I'm trying to make better choices for myself with regards to what enters my mouth now, after a long weekend of wine, chocolate and buttery hot cross buns. The over indulgence is over, and I am hauling myself back in line. Yes, I really am. I'm feeling a bit plumper around my middle again and the heaviness doesn't feel so good. The saying "you are what you eat" is so simple yet so true, and I always do feel so much better in myself when I'm eating good things.

This morning's coffee was taken down by the sunny canal side, wrapped up in many layers against the chill of zero degrees. The coffee was superb, and honestly really cheered my day along. Such a pleasure as always.

Fuelled by sunshine and good coffee, I came home and spent many hours sat with my crochet hook today. During this past week I've been working on a new blanket design - lots and lots of sampling to work through colour palette decisions and then pattern ideas. I think I'm finally there with it, both the colours and the design and I am sooooooooooooo excited by it. It's something different for me, and I absolutely cannot wait to get going now that the nitty gritty design stage is complete. I'm working a long way in advance for this one as the launch date isn't until early September, but I'll be showing you some of my progress as I slowly work on it during the next few months.

Well I think that brings us to a gentle close for now, I'm suddenly hearing my flowery pillow calling to me and I think I'm ready to be right there in my comfy bed as it's almost ten o'clock. I hope you've enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend full of things that have made your heart sing...

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March End

A cup of frothy coffee enjoyed in the cosy warmth of my bed is how I really like to start my mornings. It's the perfect way for me to gently adjust my mind to the new day and to process what I want to try and do with the hours stretching ahead. I don't meditate, but I am very good at just sitting and being in the moment. Often I wake up and my mind is so chockablock full of stuff it's hard to think straight, so I've been meaning to try and do a mini morning brain dump but I keep forgetting! I'm sure there is a lesson to be learnt there.  I was chatting about this with my bloggy friend Rachell who was telling me that taking just five minutes to empty your mind onto paper in the mornings is hugely beneficial. I'll try and remember to do it tomorrow morning, and I'll report back on how it goes. Do let me know in the comments if this is something you have tried or do regularly, I'd love to hear.

I was on a real go-slow this morning after another poor nights sleep, and as today is the first day of my monthly cycle I was not feeling the best. I know I must have been feeling low because even though the sun was shining I really didn't feel like taking my morning walk. I just didn't want to expend any energy, so I simply decided to stay put. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to make these decisions for myself I have to say, and I do really appreciate that fact. My Little People are at an age now where they sleep in late and are self sufficient in the mornings so I'm at liberty to please myself when there isn't a school run to do. I've had many, many years of very full on parenting, often starting my days at 5am as all three of my littln's were very early risers. This is my time now, and my goodness I'm grateful. 

After a very slow start, I eventually got myself together and went about my morning chores - emptying the dishwasher, putting a load of laundry in the machine, feeding the kitty, a quick tidy up of our downstairs living space. We had a family dentist appointment in the late morning which involved a drive to another town, oh, huge excitement to be leaving the boundaries of our local area and seeing Fresh New Scenery for the first time in months! It was a thrill, honestly. 

I get very nervous going to the dentist (even though this was just a check up, and my teeth are pretty good on the whole), so I wasn't able to eat very much this morning. By the time I got home at 1pm I was seriously hungry so I made myself a healthy lunch bowl. Yesterday I got a new gadget to play with and I'm pretty sure I'm about to become a little bit obsessed with it. The gadget in question is a spiralizer, but not one of those huge machines with a handle that takes up half the kitchen, oh no, this is the most amazing low-tech little hand held gizmo and I am so impressed with it. You can find it on Amazon ((here)), and I tell you it works a treat for making courgette noodles.

I made a simple salad dressing for my courgetti today (olive oil, lemon juice, wholegrain mustard and maple syrup), and tossed them in with cucumber, tomato and a bit of left over cooked chicken, then crumbled some feta cheese on top. Oh my goodness..... sooooooooooo good. I've been reading up on courgetti recipes (courgetti puttanesca, or a garlicky pesto - yes yes, I could make wild garlic pesto courgetti!) and I am most definitely going to be spiralizing my lunch on the daily for a while.

Lunch time rolled around into mid afternoon and I felt restless but weary at the same time. I couldn't decide what to do with myself, so in the end I decided to do nothing much. I made a coffee (all my coffees are decaff at the moment because of the rubbish hormonal sleep sitch), and sat myself in a sunny corner of the back yard to absorb some of the warmth and light into my brain. I think the sunshine must have helped recharge my batteries a little because once my coffee was finished I felt ready to do some work.

I spent some time caking up my Meadow blanket leftovers so that they can be neatly added to my yarn stash boxes. I needed to do this to free up my big baggy yarn bag because I'm starting out on a new blanket project and I've been sampling for it this afternoon. I'm still in the very early stages of working out the colour palette but I'm very nearly there with it I think. I'm beginning to get that fizzy feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me that this blanket is coming in with alllll the feels, so I know I'm close to nailing it down. There is a teensy clue in the above photo - two shades of red. Tis VERY exciting! 

It's taken me an age to write this blog entry (it's now gone ten o'clock and I've been sat here for hours, literally), so I hope I've not written a huge pile of gibberish. As you probably know, I don't faff my posts at all (other than a quick check through for typos) so what you read is the actual unedited stream of words that pours forth from my brain. Some days it pours in a flowing torrent, and other days it's a slow trickle, but at least it's always the true essence of what I'm thinking/feeling at the time.

Ah.......see that above?? Now that is partly why this blog post has taken me so long as I spent an AGE choosing and editing photos for my March round-up. Ha, I had forgotten all about that, honestly, my poor brain is so thick with fog sometimes, it's a wonder I can get anything done. 

Today being March End and all, my two weeks of daily blogging have come to a gentle finishing line. Thank you so very much for joining me and for all the delightful comments you've written for me too, I really appreciate your company. I don't plan on disappearing so you can expect my blogs to keep on coming, maybe not every single day but I'll do my best.

A new month begins tomorrow and I'm so excited for it, the start of my favourite quarter of the year. I'm ready for all the light and sunshine and greenery and flowery things.

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ps huge thanks to my two friends Christine and Kate who have kept me company with my daily blogging endeavour this month, it's been wonderful to have them with me xx