Attic24

This Week

 

This week I have to confess I've been feeling rather low, and not my usual self at all. Nothing monumental to report, nothing dramatic or traumatic has happened, it's just the predictable humdrum of returning to domestic routine after a rather fandabidozy holiday.

I spent aaaaaaaaages the day before yesterday uploading images of Bruges to the blog to share with you, then simply ran out of time to actually write anything. Then yesterday, I had quite forgotten that J would be working from home and would therefore be in My Attic. All day. So I was forced to remain at home but away from my Attic24 Comfort Zone, which left me prowling round in the Messy Zone (ie the whole damn house) feeling all cross and grumpy and out of sorts. 

In fact, yesterday I was compelled to confront The Piles.

Yes, I managed to sort through two small piles of clutter (a mere teeny-tiny tip of a very large Clutter Iceberg in residence at number 24). The above crate (containing Little People art/craft/school work) is just one example of the teeny-tiny tip yet to be dealt with. Clutter is monumental in this house I tell you. MonUmENtal.

Oh yeah, yesterday I also managed to clear the coffee table too. 

And I managed to wash, peg, unpeg, fold and stack two loads of laundry.

I am still working my way through the post-holiday laundry actually, and wondering where it will ever end. How did we manage to wear and make dirty (absolutely filthy in some cases) so many items of clothing?? How?

And then there is the outside stuff ganging up on me too.

Just like last year, I am suddenly aware that it is now June and sadly too late to plant many of the seeds. These are, of course, seeds which are left over from last year when I also forgot to plant them in time. I can see a sad, sad pattern forming here.

My lovely big blue pot which last summer contained sweetpeas, is currently growing a healthy crop of robust weeds. I have not yet bought any plantlets to fill my pots and am finding the prospect of it all a little overwhelming. Too late to plant seeds and no available funds to buy plants either. oh Poop.

Then there is the grass in my teeny front garden......oooo about 10 inches high would you say? In need of a trim then possibly. I'll add it to the list of chores.

 

Ahhhh you know what, I am missing my family quite a lot this week too. After spending pretty much 24/7 with them last week, I miss those 3 pairs of feet accompanying mine.

 

Awwwww I am so so sorry that this post has turned out to be a somewhat downhearted, self-indulgent whinge-fest. I am so sorry folks, I know you come here to feel uplifted and happy and probably don't expect to find me moaning and groaning at you. But hey, you know, I'm only human. And this blog is an honest record of daily life chez-moi, which mostly is buoyant and smiley and cheerful but very occasionally not. And today happens to be one of the Not days.

On a brighter note, this morning at the cafe, I finally finished frogging the white.

Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wanna see?

AAAhhhhhhhhhhh I am so relieved that the white has gone, it was most definitely the right decision to get rid.

And I've changed my mind yet again about the colours for the next rounds too :: not going to do blues, but random colours instead. After looking at the squares all laid out together, there is already a lot of control in the colour choices, and it all needs a little shaking up, a little more heat and zing. Yeah Heat and Zing, bring it on!

But for now I am slightly stuck because I have run out of yarn.

And I have run out of money to buy yarn.

And even if I did have the money, my car is caput and refusing to start so I cannot drive the eight miles to the yarn shop anyway.

So I have not been able to crochet for over a week now, which is not helping the mood around these parts.

Right, I need to scoot off now and go do more laundry, and try to work out what to cook for dinner with only tuppence-ha'penny in my purse and no food in the cupboards. What a pity you can't eat grass and weeds, this years crop is splendid don't you know.

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June

Hello, yoooohoooooo, I'm back!

Pheww what a week it's been! Such a full week I've had, so very, very Brim-Full of happy, exciting, memory filled outings, trips, jaunts and jollies! And now I am home again and desperately trying to regain my balance and catch up with myself :: not easy as it happens. J is reluctantly back to work with a sulky, downturned mouth, and the Little People returned to school today too. So I am all alone in the Messy Zone, missing my three buddies, and trying to tackle the chaos that comes after living out of a suitcase for a week.

But hey, today is the first day of June, and its absolutely glorious in my neck of the woods. I don't know about where you are, but up here in North Yorkshire we're having the most amazing azure blue cloudless skies at the moment, and some heat happening too. It truly feels like the tentative beginnings of the Summer Season, and oh I'm happy about that!

Up in the Attic, I have two windows :: there's a cute little front window with it's own little pointy roof which faces East(ish) and has the above view out across town to the hills. The photo from this window was taken at around 9.30am or so, and because of the sun shining so brightly from this direction in the mornings, the scenery often looks quite washed out. But I also have a back window which faces west(ish) and in order to take in this view I have to balance rather precariously on a chair and stick my head out of the sloping velux roof window to look out. So I don't tend to do it very often, but I do enjoy this view of the cobbled back streets, of the roofttops and chimney pots and most especially the sky look.....

.....ahhhhhhhhhh that sky!! Isn't today just perfectly June-ish? It's Gorgeous, isn't it?

 

The calendar pages were ceremoniously turned from May to June this morning, and there is a distinct Summery feel to the images. Can we really, honestly be heading into Summertime already?? It seems to me hardly a heartbeat ago that we were welcoming Spring in. Yet I am ready for Summer, ready to enjoy all that these long, warm days have to offer.

 

I was really intrigued to find out what the Bossy Calendar would be carping on about for this month, and was really delighted by it actually. So much more relaxed than last month thank goodness (an order to Spring Clean, if you remember?) Our bedlinen (duvet cover and sheet) remains the same all year :: plain, crisp white egyptian cotton which I love. But I do like to add a little colour with some pretty pillowcases. Actually I only currently have two coloured pairs (Cath Kidston roses and Designers Guild stripes), the rest are plain white. So yes, I think that this month I shall shop for a new pair of sweet summer pillowcases. Gosh, you know what? The very idea of buying new pillowcases has made me feel absurdly happy! I can't wait!

Ahhh.....the Ideal Home calendar is, as always, so beautiful this month. I have this calendar hanging in my small kitchen and it really does flutter my heart on a daily basis. June's page is quite simply beautiful, and the absolute essence of summer. Love it.

 

I have a great many photographs to share with you from last week as we really did get out and about a great deal, both in this country and abroad. I still need to ponder how to post about our jolly-holidays, but oh we did have a wonderful, wonderful time! At the beginning of last week we went to Belgium (Bruges to be precise, well done to those of you who guessed) followed by a trip to the English Lake District at the end of the week. Both beautiful, both memorable.

But for now, a few photos taken yesterday, back on familiar home turf.

 

This is the picturesque Yorkshire Dales. About 15mins drive from home and an hour or so walking and this is where we found ourselves :: somewhere quite remote and high up and very, very beautiful. Green green fields and blue blue sky. Noone else but us four, walking and chattering, enjoying the the last day of May.

We walked a seven mile circular route yesterday which took us almost the whole day (9am-3pm) with plenty of stops for a leisurely picnic lunch and icecream/pub beer garden refreshments along the way. The Little People are turning out to be amazingly good walkers and for J and I, it's opening up a whole new Walking Chapter. After many, many years of us enjoying walking together as a couple, we are now enjoying walking as a family. And it's great!

I spent a little time looking back through last month's photo album this morning, and made up my Monthly Mosaic for May look. I do enjoy creating these little collections of images, it's just the sort of frivolous activity that pleases me enormously.

But now I must reluctantly remove myself from my cosy attic and my frivolous activities and go and attend to some household duties. Yes, I think I might be able to manage a bit of pegging out, nothing too strenuous for a Monday.

See you tomorrow folks, I think I'll take you to Bruges, if thats ok with you?

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ps Good to be back, I missed ya last week!

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