Attic24

Providing Inspiration

Morning all.........hope you likeee my photos today???? If I say so myself (and I am honestly a modest soul), I think they are quite gloriously fabulous :o)

All of the above hooky items reside in my downstairs living/dining room, spread about the place you know. Draping here and there, snuggling and nestling amongst the various bits of rather worn out furniture that we own. Because the room is large (and very untidy), I think I can just about get away with this much colour and pattern in one place, and like i say, it is quite spread about really. But it does give the room a lovely colourful, homespun, cosy vibe which I adore :: I just love to see handmade things in a room, things made with care and love and happiness. And if those handmade things are colourful and vibrant, then so much the better.

I had a great deal of fun taking these photographs, piling up my crochet creations on the sofa, seeing them all come together in one big heap of Colourful Hooky Happiness. It really made me smile to myself in my own little dizzy world, hopping about from foot to foot, arranging and styling my very own personal photo shoot. Such fun! Such delight!
There is a point to all of this though....yes, honest there is. I promise you this is not just eye candy for the sake of it (although nothing wrong with pointless eyecandy at all).

Today I wanted to chat to you a little about the business of Providing Inspiration. You know, the way in which us creative types use one another to spark and generate and create new ideas and projects. I think it's one of the most fabulous things about being a part of this online community :: the sharing, the inspiring, the creativity and the spirit which happens daily in Blogland and Flickrville absolutely knocks me for six. I think it's blooming marvelous, I really do. 

So are you all familiar with Flickr??? I just love Flickr. Absolutely Love it. For someone like me who cannot survive a day without drinking in some sort of visual inspiration of one kind or another, it is a godsend. And most especially for me in recent months, when I've been keeping very odd hours with myself, I know that Flickr is always there to feed my soul, 24/7. Like this morning, when I was up drinking tea and browsing through photos at 4am, I was so glad that I could tap into that place, could spend a happy hour or so perusing such inspiring pictures. The group pools are amazing resources, chocka-block full of ideas and inspiration. There are some fabulous group pools for crochet, if that is your thing. If you are not already familiar with them, please do go take a look at a some of my favourites ::

Granny Along

Granny Squares

Ripple Along

Crochet Afghans

Crochet Bags

The Happy Hookers

Attic24 Inspired

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you notice that last group pool there in the above list??? Did you see it???

"ATTIC24 INSPIRED" indeed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As the title suggests, it's a cololurful, wonderful little group for you all to come and be a part of. For you to share pictures of anything you've made that has been inspired by my patterns and crochet creations. So if you've been up to anything hooky that has Attic24 Inspiration behind it (bags, ripples, flowers, summer garden squares, garlands, cushions, blankets, jam-jar covers etc etc), I would LOVE for you to join this little group and share your hooky-goodness with us all.

I confess that this group-sharing thing was not in fact my doing, although I have been meaning to do it certainly. It was in fact created by the lovely Steph who writes the Lovestitches blog. Cos she obviously got fed up waiting for me to do it myself, she very kindly took it upon herself to do the job for me, and I couldn't be more grateful. I am honestly thrilled from the top of my head (around my big belly) to the tip of my toes. Thank you Steph.

I would also like to send a big hug and thanks to Kate, the Garden Bell, who wrote me this fabulous post yesterday, and I know has been very excited by the thought of all this lovely inspirational stuff coming together. Thank you Kate.

So.........am hoping you are gonna be as excited by this as I am. And I for one shall continue to Provide the Inspiration. Whether you want it or not haha.

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ps managed to add a little linky Flickr badge thingy for the group in my sidebar so that you can always find the group easily....oooo happy browsing!

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Circles Scarf

On Friday, amongst the various Bits-of-my-day, I showed you the above picture. It was just a quick snapshot of my crochet at the time when I took it out of my bag, and to be honest I didn't give the picture an awful lot of thought. It was only when you began commenting on this colourful "flower" of mine that I realised how ambiguous photographs can be sometimes.

Some of you even asked for my Flower Pattern, and awwww I feel kind of bad about this.......but you see....it isn't in fact a flower at all.

Although it certainly does look very flower-like when it's all rolled up like that.

No, this is not an elaborate multi-petalled flower after all, but a Scarf.

Yes, a Scarf.

It's my Circles Scarf.....see?

Some of you may remember the first crochet scarf I made at the beginning of last year, the Flower Scarf? Well as that scarf was made in the days pre-Attic24, I never actually blogged about it as such but it has appeared in various photos from time to time, and you can see some more of it over at Flickr, here and here.

Oh I LOvEd that flower scarf so much! I made it in January 2008, and wore it continuously day in day out throughout that winter, and then again last winter too. And truthfully, as much as I love it still, it's looking a bit tatty now. It began to fall apart a little too, at the point where the flowers were stitched together with little crochet leaves. 

So, I thought to myself :: time for a new one.

I've had this design idea buzzing about in my head for quite a long time now, and as I had some of the deliciously soft and snuggly merino yarn left over after the Baby Ripple was made, I just knew it would be perfect for something scarfy.

And folks, this scarf is Made to Last.

I didn't want any stitching involved this time, as that was the weak point in my last design. So these circles (which are easy-peasy to make and suuuper-addictive) are joined-on-the-go, in much the same way as I join my granny squares.

And what a result! I'm so pleased with the way it turned out!

There are 25 connecting circles in total, finished off with a two-row border (one row of single crochet, and the last row of slip-stitches worked in the back loop only).

It was all looking a bit wobbly, tight and "stressed" yesterday when I'd finished hooking the borders, so off it went upstairs to have it's spa treatment. Ahhhh blocking out crochet is so super-satisfying. And furthermore, it works a treat. As you can see from the above pic, I blocked it directly onto the carpet floor (tut tut), pinning it out in one long line before spraying it with tepid water and leaving to dry naturally for 24hrs.

It turned out quite long, this string of twenty five circles (it measures 152cm / 5ft long), but thats the way I like my scarves. I like them to hang down and look showy-offy, with some length to tie them up if one fancies.

Here it is look, hanging in my hallway with my delicious Boden coat, waiting patiently for it's first outing.

There....looking bright and breezy against my red jumper today.

Incidentally, I do plan on sharing the love and giving you the pattern for this scarf if you might be remotely interested in hooking up some colourful circles to wrap around yourself this winter. Its a quick, fun project, and perfect for stash-busting.

I'll set to work with that as soon as I can.....well that'll be after the cushion-making tutorial you understand, oooooooooooo so much to keep my idle hands and muddled mind busy!

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ps for those of you who asked about my little flower brooch yesterday, yes I did make that too, you can read about it here.

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September Flowers :: Dahlias

Hello! I'd like to say a big ((THaNkYoU)) for your kind and supportive words on my last post :: it was fun sharing my snapshots with you on that day when my words and thoughts were too tangled to flow. Focusing on the images made me stop and look and appreciate the fact that really my life at this time is a very happy one, if a little muddled and befuddled.

I'm still feeling quite ridiculously muddled actually, but have sort of accepted that this is probably just the way it is for now, and that eventually I'll find my way out of the tangle and begin to get things accomplished. For now, I'm just taking my time with things and trying not to get too frustrated with myself. Easier said than done, but I'm trying.

So today :: more flowers. I hope you're not getting fed up with me shoving bunches of flowers in front of you week in week out? I just can't seem to get enough of them at the moment, the September blooms are just glorious.

When I was at the market on Friday, I managed to take a couple of quick pictures to share with you...they were really hurriedly taken photographs I'm afraid as the market was it's usual busy-bustly self and I didn't want to get in the way too much. But I so wanted you to see what I see when I visit Mr Plant Man's stall (I mentioned him last week when I bought the Asters, do you remember?). I just love love love this little bit of the market so much, I'm drawn to this patch each and every time, helpless to resist. Truthfully, I didn't need to buy any more fresh flowers this week as my asters from last week are still looking blooming marvelous.

But I just couldn't help myself. It was the Dahlias again :: they were calling out to me, just begging to be taken home and adored. And for a megre £1.50 a bunch, how could I possibly resist their colourful, flamboyant charms?

Usually Mr Plant Man bunches the dahlias up as single varieties/colours, but on Friday I spotted one single bunch which contained three different kinds of flower. It absolutely had to be mine. No question.

Carrying the bunch home was such a delight :: the stems were tall, so they were pretty much level with my face.

I kept snuffling my nose right into them as I walked along (not an easy thing to do as it happens)

Ahhhh they just captivate me, these flowers. Aren't they FaNtAsTic???!!!

When I got home, I decided they HAD to be put into my red spotty jug, which is quite short and squat. So I snipped the dahlia stems quite short and squat to match, snippety-snip-snip.  And into the little jug they went. Heart-a-flutter.

And there they now sit on my dining table, on the stripy runner looking beautiful.

I look at them each day and all feels right in my colourful little homely world.

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Edited to add :: a few of you have asked about the crochet heart garland hanging on my fireplace....yes I did make it (quite a while ago now), you can read about it in this post.

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Bits of my Day

Hello.....how you doing today?? Better than me I hope?! I'm having a bit of an odd-bod week to tell you the truth, feeling a little out of sorts with myself, a little jittery and all over the place. Its that ric-rac Tangle inside my head that's doing it, I have an unbelievable amount of ideas, thoughts, inspirations, desires, and things-to-do squiggling around up there at the moment, it's all in quite a mess. I need to find time to sit myself down and begin some serious de-tangling before I drive myself potty.

I'm sorry that I don't seem capable of being very wordy or coherent at the moment, but I can always do pictures. Yes, pictures do seem to happen more easily than sentences on days when the Tangle is bad.

Here are some simple snapshots from today, the little Bits-of-my-Day that have given me pleasure......

:: the early morning sky bits ::

:: the walking-to-school bits ::

:: the Friday market visiting bits ::

:: the coffee-and-cake bits ::

:: the pretty floral bits ::

:: the itty-bitty wooly bits ::

:: the creative hooky bits ::

:: the decorative baking bits ::

:: the inspirational booky bits ::

:: the stripy snuggly bits ::

Here's hoping you've enjoyed some happy, colourful little Bits of your Day too.

Happy Friday to you, see you next week....

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The Baby Ripple :: ta-dah!

Just L:O:O:K at those gorgeously adorable fluffy white clouds, don't they just make you feel happy and glad to be alive?? Sadly, this is not today's sky (think heavy-dark-grey for today), no, the above picture was taken on Sunday afternoon. I was sitting rather lazily on a deckchair by the side of the river at Bolton Abbey, gazing at the clouds and waiting for my barbecue lunch to be cooked and handed to me. Ahhhh, it was all rather blissful actually. Such glorious sunshine for a September afternoon too, I turned my face up to the sky and allowed the sun to warm my skin, it felt wonderful.

I confess I was extremely idle on this sunny, Sunday afternoon, allowing J to see to the hot coals and cook lunch, and my lovely in-laws to entertain the Little People while I sunned myself and thought fluffy thoughts about fluffy clouds. But I did manage a little Light Rippling in the late summer sun, and so felt quite industrious in my own, private, fluffy little world.

I continued to Ripple when I got home too. Well thats to say I continued to ripple after we had taken the Little People to cycle their bikes at the park, after we had scraped Little Lady up off the pavement following a nasty skiddy fall, after we had realised there was rather a lot of blood, after we had then driven rather quickly to the hospital, after her split chin had been glued back together again. Yes, after ALL THAT, when the Little People were tucked up safely in bed I finally flopped down on the sofa and rippled some calming, colourful waves. Just goes to show you have to truly appreciate those idle, fluffy, happy moments when they present themselves, cos without warning the day can so rapidly go downhill.

So :: on a happier note, the Baby Ripple is finished, yaaayyyyyyyy!!!

On Monday evening after deciding the colours and proportions/finished size were right, I declared it Finished.

Presented it to my family with a flourish and a ta-dah.

Forced them to take turns snuggling it and appreciating it's softness, its cosiness.

Danced a little jig around it.

Draped it around the furniture.

Laid it out on the floor to admire it.

Danced some more, jiggety-jig.

Scooped it up and cuddled it.

Wrapped it around my tummy and thought about the Teeny Person who will be cuddled and snuggled in these bright ripply stripes next year.

So..........want to see?

Ok, here it is :: I present to you the Baby Ripple :: ta-dah!!

It's turned out to be such a lovely thing, this baby blanket.

So completely Happy and very Ripply and chocka-block full of Love.The colours (thirteen in total) were chosen completely at random as I went along. No forethought or planning at all for this blanket.

Spontaneous I think you might say.

The Baby Ripple measures 75cm x 95cm, and it was such a pleasure to work on a blanket this size. To begin it and finish it within a month has been quite a dizzy pleasure.

And as you can probably imagine, there have been a great many emotions wrapped up in the making of this blanket. In the making and completion of this Perfect Project. 

I love seeing it neatly folded up with the Big Ripple, sitting patiently on the back of the sofa, waiting for the time when it can be put to use. The sight of it makes me simultaneously want to laugh with happiness and cry with gratitude. I am SO grateful to feel happy about this blanket and all that it means. I'm sure you get what I am saying, I don't think I can elaborate any more without bawling!

Annnnnyyyyhooooooooooow.....pulling myself together to leave you with a quick glimpse of something new on my hook........................

With the remaining yarn, I've already started out on a new little project. It's an idea thats been caught up in my tangled ric-rac thoughts for quite a while, and yesterday I finally managed to unravel the idea and straighten it out, show it the light of day.

And OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! i am SO Excited by it!! Dinner nearly didn't happen last night cos I was so In-The-Zone with this new idea!!!! I just love it when that happens, it was a  complete heart-flipping delight. More will be reveled in due course.

Finally before I go, please would you mind indulging me and taking another look at my Baby Ripple??? Oh, thanks, you are so good to me.......here it is again......

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! ((big pleasure-sigh))
Have a happy day everyone, see you tomorrow..

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ps Emily, if you are reading this, I am sending you heart-felt Love and Hugs and Gratitude across the ocean. Your woolly gift to me was so precious, I can't thank you enough xxx

Edited to add :: sorry, I should have mentioned that Little Lady is quite recovered after her fall, thanks for your concern. It's amazing what they can do with some magic superglue, her chin was quite literally glued back together again and is already healing nicely. xx

September Flowers :: Asters

I bought this modest bunch of Asters on Friday from my favourite plant stall on the market. I love buying flowers this way. I mean, I do often use the supermarket to provide me with my weekly floral goodies, but much prefer the whole experience of buying from the street market. I love perusing the small selection of buckets on the pavement, love selecting a bunch and pulling it out of the water, love seeing the stems tied up with brown string instead of elastic bands, love that they are then wrapped in paper with no plastic packaging involved.

And I love the Plant Man too. Well, you know, not in that way, but he's just soooo nice! He smiles alot, he obviously adores his plants and flowers, and he always seems so genuinely grateful for my very modest purchases. 

And oh yes, they are modest indeed :: One pound and Seventy Five pence I paid for this charming bunch of homespun flowers tied up with string, and ohhhhh they are so worth it. Every. Single. Penny.

In fact, I've really been loving these flowers over the past few days. Really enjoying the colours and the very Septemberyness of them.

I often use the above duck-egg blue jug for my flowers, in fact, thats all this jug is used for. Its a Flower-Jug. I don't happen to have a great many vessels for putting cut flowers into,  which is something I would really like to remedy in the future. I think flower-vessel-retail-therapy could be a huge lot of fun.

Something I always try and do with a bunch of fresh flowers is Spread Them About. Why have them crammed into one single jug in one single room when with a little thought and snippety-snipping, you can spread the flowery love? In particular, I do love to have Bathroom and Bedroom flowers.

Just a few small stems can be really effective in providing a little daily heart-skippy happiness, and is not to be underestimated in my opinion. Heart-skippy Happiness is pretty damn important on a day-to-day basis. It's good for the soul.

Of course, nobody else in my household is in any way bothered about having flowers in the bathroom. Nobody has ever, ever commented on it when flowers appear in this small room. It's my own personal little indulgence, my own little eccentricity.

In fact, now I come to think of it, I don't think I've ever ever seen fresh flowers in anyone else's bathroom. Ever.

Do you do it? Do you put flowers in your bathroom?

If you do :: yeeeehaaaawww, if you don't :: please try it.

My bedroom gets the floral treatment too.

Just a couple of short snipped stems in a recycled glass mustard jar on my bedside table.

Instant pleasure, morning and night.

Life's Little Pleasures...where would we be without them?

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Weekend Intentions....

:: I'll be admiring my fresh flowers, some beautifully seasonal asters from the market ::

:: I'll be baking apple crumble, using apples from my friend's tree ::

:: I'll be going to bed early, loving my new CK pillowcases bought last week ::

:: I'll be taking it easy, in my favourite comfy-faded jammies and snuggly socks ::

:: I'll be love, love, loving my attic view of the hills, as always ::

:: I'll be browsing some new books, and dreaming up some new projects ::

:: I'll be rippling, and enjoying those exciting little baby-kicks happening :: 

:: I'll sitting by the fireside, warm and cosy ::

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Whatever your Weekend Intentions, hope you enjoy yourself enormously.

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Wooly Happiness

Ahhhhhhh what a HApPy Morning I've had! I've been at my favourite cafe in town for my weekly "knit and natter" session, and oh I'm sooooo glad to have these precious mornings back in my week again. It generally becomes too hard for the majority of us to meet during the school holidays due to our Little People, so we didn't get together over the summer holidays at all. But now that school has started again, the weekly cappuccino+crochet mornings are back :: yyyaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! I've soo missed it.
I added a few more deliciously bright stripes to my growing baby blanket, sipped my chocolately frothy coffee, nattered and rippled the morning away and found myself almost squeeeealing with the pleasure of it all.
Delicious.

I took the above photo when I came home at lunch time :: I'd dumped my bags down in the hallway before making a hasty dash upstairs for the loo, crikey I nearly peed my pants, I was that desperate. When I came back down, the sight of my three bags there at the bottom of the stairs made me stop and smile, they looked so....well HaPpY! Yes, Happy Bags, thats what they are.

Aside from my wooly ripples this morning, I'm very happy to report that some extra Wooly Happiness came my way today too. On my way home from the cafe I popped in to a couple of the charity/thrift shops, still on the lookout for a suitable wooly jumper to back my two crochet cushion covers (do you remember them from earlier this summer?) I've been looking most weeks as and when I've been in town and had time to spare, but nothing had appeared until today.
In the second shop I went into, I suddenly spotted it :: the Perfect Wooly Jumper.
I can spot a true woolen jumper a mile off, they look totally different from acrylic or cotton garments.

The colour of this one is just perfect for what I want. It's a slightly deeper purply pink than the above photo shows, and looks and feels fabulous. Its originally from the Edinburgh Wool Mill (always a good source of Quality Wooliness), and is a lovely blend of lambswool and angora, with a small 10% nylon added. And best of all, it had been reduced in price, so only cost me £1.60 :o)

Just to remind you, these are the two crocheted covers that I made with the left over Rowan Pure Wool yarn after I'd completed BB.....

...and here they are nestling with the new/old wooly jumper. Don't you think that this jumper looks as if it were just made to be chopped and stitched and turned into Cushiony Goodness? It matches my crochet colours beautifully.

 

And of course now I get to play with my buttons too...oooooh my heart is all fluttery and jumpy at the thought of button-arranging and cushion-making.

I've already made three cushions using recycled jumpers for the backing, and I think it works out really well. So I thought I could use this opportunity to write a tutorial for making up cushions this way, as I've had several requests for this information just lately. Hopefully I'll be able to do it over the next few days ready to share with you next week.

Seems like a good thing to do :: I want you all to enjoy some Wooly-Buttony-HaPpiNeSs!!!

How could you NOT want to give it a go?!!!!!!

:o)

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Edited to add :: the felted pink/purple bag that I use as a handbag (top photo) was made by textile artist Laura Brittain (Laura Brittain Handmade Originals) and is one of my favourite things...I tried to search for her on the internet to give you some more info about her lovely bags but could find nothing, I'm sorry, I did try!

 

Family Walking

 

We went walking on Sunday.

It was decided on Saturday evening that we would do a Family Walk if the weather looked half way decent when we woke up the following morning. So sure enough, after breakfast on Sunday morning we packed a picnic lunch, gathered boots and raincoats and headed up into the Yorkshire Dales to spend a day out in the open.

 

It wasn't an especially glorious day weather wise, kind of overcast and breezy, but quite mild and fresh all the same. And it felt oh-so-good to be out in the midst of the countryside, breathing it all in :: great lungfuls of fresh air, and great eyefuls of nature and scenery. Sooooooooooo good for the soul!

 

J and I have done this beautiful walk many, many times, it's one of our favourites. It's a picturesque 6.5 mile circular route, and in fact, I remembered just yesterday when looking at my photographs that J and I did this exact same walk at almost the exact same time last year. But this year, we had the company of the Little People, in their little walking boots, carrying their very own little rucksacks.

This was Family Walking.

Walking with the LP (as I think I've mentioned before) is alternately fabulous and frustrating. It's fabulous to get caught up in their excitement and exclamations over the things they see. It's frustrating to daaaaaaawdle so much of the time. But all in all, I would say the faulousness outways the frustrations. I think it does?? Yes, yes it does, of course it does.

 

Alongside the river Wharfe there are many horse chestnut trees, looking alarmingly Autumnal for this time of year I thought. The branches were already beginning to wear their Autumn colours, and it was beautiful but slightly melancholy to see the fallen leaves littering the grass.

 

But where there are horse chestnut trees with Autumnal looking leaves, there are also conkers to be found.

 

And oh! The Excitement!! This was certainly a huuuge part of the fabulous/frustrating walking experience with the LP. Such huuuuge excitement over the discovery of immaculately shiny brown conkers in their little padded cases! And such a daaaawdlingly long time spent searching for them under the trees. And then came the inevitable arguments over who had the most, who's were bigger/shinier/more conkery.

But hey-ho, it was not so bad, and soon the conker trees were behind us and we were all ready to stop for a picnic lunch break.
 

After lunch, and after the dawdling first part of the walk along the river, it was then time to get up into the hills. Time to properly walk, to stride out and climb.

 

I find this scenery so incredibly serene and uplifting, I just love it. Not quite as much as I love being by the sea, but a damn close second.

 

On this particular day, I really loved seeing the little patches of sunlight moving across the hillsides, I was mesmerised by the play of light and shadow.
 

I say to the Little People :: Look at how the sun is lighting up the hills, isn't it FABuLous????!!

They humour me, but really and truly, I think they prefer conker hunting and fish-spotting by the riverside. And chocolate.

They dutifully look at the sunlit hills and tell me their little legs are getting tiiiiiiiiiired, and their little feeeeeeet huuuuuuuurt. And they really neeeeeeeeed chocolate for energy.

Luckily I have come prepared for this eventuality and I begin to dish out little nuggets of chocolate at regular intervals to help with the tiredness and the hurting.

 

We are now in the mid afternoon and have been walking/dawdling/conkering/lunching for about four hours. And at this point, walking up this quiet country lane, the chocolate suddenly totally fails and Little Lady stages a sit down protest. She sits down in the middle of this road and declares that she can absolutely walk no further.

Its tricksy this, cos J and I know full well that we still have about another 2 miles to walk.

So we do what only Parents can do, and we lie.

We say it's SO not far, only just up the road and across a few fields, that's all, we'll be there before you know it and you can have an icecream at the village shop.

And so with the idea of icecream, we finally persuade Little Lady to stand up and carry on....we play a game pretending that I am a steam train and she is the carriage, and I begin to physically pull her up the hill behind me. Now bare in mind that I am also pretty shattered by this point, I think I do rather well. I huff and puff (for real) and sound like a very impressive steam train. But we make progress, and the train game is kind of fun.

Eventually, after many fields, many stiles, many more ups and downs, and quite a lot more complaining we chug back into the little village where our car is parked. And I for one am exhausted. Desperate to sit down and rest. Well, we all are.

But oh, I did enjoy our family walk very much, so very much. Even with all the dawdling and conker-induced arguments, even with all the tiredness and hurting and protesting, even with all the huffing and puffing and exhausting steam-training.

Yes, the Fabulousness did outway the Frustratingness.

It really did.

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Afternoon Pondering

 

This afternoon I was thinking about you all.

I was thinking that I would really like to find a way of sending you all my Heartfelt Thanks. Thanks for everything you have said to me of late, thanks for all the warm words of encouragement and reassurance you've sent my way. But I can't think quite how to send you my thanks, the words just don't seem to be enough. But words is all I have to give you right now. Well, words and pictures that is. So the above picture is for you, by means of a humble Thank You. Please accept it with my love and gratitude.

 

I've had a quiet, reflective kind of a day today, and it's been rather lovely to have time and space to sit and ponder and kind of take stock of things a little, if that makes sense. I find this time of year makes me instinctively do this, I remember the feeling well from last September. I have a lot of things on my mind right now, practical things, creative things, oh ooooodles of things! My thoughts feel rather like a big tangled ball of ric rac :: quite pretty and with potential, but completely useless in it's tangled state.

The weather has been bright and breezy today and I spent a little time sat in the Attic window seat earlier, watching the sunlight moving across the hills. It seemed to me to be an especially beautiful afternoon, and distinctly Autumnal it has to be said.

The sunlight in the back yard this afternoon was also rather lovely, sort of low and slanting and golden. Due to the weather, this little outdoor space of ours has not had a great deal of use throughout the summer months. Well thats to say we've eaten very few meals at the outside table, but oh I have enjoyed my pots of flowers very very much this year. I've loved popping out there most mornings, chatting to my modest little blooms and enjoying the glorious colour.

I'm continuing to deadhead the flowers and hope to be enjoying them for another month or two yet. I'd also like to plant up some pots of bulbs this Autumn time, which is something I always have great excitement for every year, but am rarely organised enough to actually do it.

We shall see if I manage it this year, I'm not making any promises you know. Depends if I can untangle the ric-rac-ness of my thoughts and actually turn those thoughts into a reality. You know, Make Things Happen. I'm not very good at that on the whole.

 

I am rather good at sitting and pondering and drinking tea in the afternoons though. I can certainly Make That Happen.

And rather lovely it was too.

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