June is almost at an end and honestly, if it wasn't for the assortment of photos gathered on my camera, I would be hard pressed to tell you anything much that has happened during these weeks of early summer. Every year is the same, in that this month generally feels quite hazy and sluggish to me (I think maybe it's due to the onslaught of the hayfever season). I know I've spent very little time at my desk/computer and a lot of time outdoors enjoying the weather which has been beautifully summerish for much of the time. I adore this time of year and my summer-loving soul is very happy soaking up these lengthy, light-filled days. The warmth/heat we've had has been fabulous, but it's the light that I love the most. Oh, and the green, green lushness of the countryside too. It's just lovely.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already, but back in January J had the opportunity to change his job which involved staying within the same company but moving to a new role in a new department. Most importantly (and after much deliberation) he took up an option of cutting back his working hours and now only works a three day week. Although the days sometimes change, he usually chooses to work Tues-Weds-Thurs which essentially gives us a four day weekend. Every. Single. Week. It's taken us a while to stop feeling ridiculously guilty on Mondays and Fridays when it feels so much like we are bunking off from real life! But it's been the BEsT thing for us as a couple and for the family too, and I can't tell you how much I am appreciating this change to our lives.
Monday mornings now feel amazing, and if the weather is good then we nearly always choose to head out of town and into the Yorkshire Dales. Sometimes this might be a gentle pootle along the riverside and sometimes we might decide to take a longer walk with a picnic lunch. The photos above are from one of our Monday walks around the picturesque village of Grassington a few weeks ago. It was warm and muggy with a threat of rain which never came, and I loved being out in the green of the countryside eating a picnic lunch beside the river.
The Little People have been enjoying the long light days too and when the weather has simply been too good to ignore, we've taken to heading up to the park for an hour or so after dinner. This suits me just fine as I get to sit on a blanket with a little bit of crochet happening whilst the rest of the fam engage in more energetic pursuits. I sky gaze and watch the swallows swoop low over the grass, throwing out the odd words of encouragement to my frisby-throwing offspring when it seems appropriate.
Our eating habits have altered with the hot weather and easy-to-make meals with lots of salad have been the thing. I'm not sure why I photographed this pizza at the time, but I think it had something to do with the fresh Summery look of it. This is me loading up a basic pizza - basic thin crust Margarita pizza's which we always have in the freezer, with some extra goodies piled on top. Sliced tomatoes, crumbled goats cheese and rocket, drizzled with a little olive oil and seasoned with herbs....
....which makes for a beautifully tasty, quick and easy meal. We have buttery corn on the cobs and a mixed salad to go with it, and I can tell you the Little People thoroughly approve.
J and I have walked a lot at Bolton Abbey during the past month, well during the past six months actually. We have a season ticket which gives us access to the whole of the estate for a year, and we've really made the most of it. Some days we just take a short stroll and have coffee at one the cafes, sometimes we walk for a good 4 or 5 miles all along the woodland footpaths which border both sides of the river.
The summer when I was eight years old, I woke up one morning not being able to open my eyes and that was the start of my hay fever. Growing up in Dorset I suffered quite badly every Summer, but I seem to do a bit better up here in Yorkshire. Despite my allergy, I am fascinated with summer grasses (in a similar way to my moss obsession) and love to look at them up close. There is something so delicate and fleeting about these pollen laden plants, a reminder of how short our British Summers are and how fleeting the good weather generally is. Sigh. Right now it's pouring with rain and I want the sun to come back!
Sun-dappled woodland paths are just a delight at this time of year - this day was really hot (well, it was around 26 degrees which is considered sweltering in Yorkshire, borderline heatstroke you know). The woodland pathways at Bolton Abbey carry you quite high above the river level, but at times they do drop down so that you are right beside the water where the play of light and shadow is magical.
A couple days before the Summer Solstice last week, we decided to bring a picnic dinner to Bolton Abbey. As it was a school night this was seen as quite a treat and the Little People were appropriately excited for an impromptu jaunt out and an al fresco meal. I made up a big batch of chicken and bulgar wheat salad with a red pesto dressing (my own weird recipe, but surprisingly good), which we ate out of bowls with some crusty french bread. We had cherries and strawberries after, elderflower cordial to drink. It was delicious I can tell you, and such a lovely treat to eat outside whilst twiddling my bare toes in the cool grass. My crochet project is travelling everywhere with me at the moment, these Summer Harmony squares are super addictive and I cannot get enough of the joyful colours.
We stayed at Bolton Abbey until 8pm or so, then drove back over the top of the moors which were looking glorious in the early evening light.
Sheep roam freely up on the moors as there are no fences or anything to keep them in, so they wander around as they please. They are obviously used to people and don't seem at all bothered by us parking up and talking to them.
Ahh, Little B, he enjoyed this evening so so much, delighting in the fact that he was still prancing about on top of the moors after 8pm on a SchOOl NighT. His excitement matched my own!
I should probably have entitled this post "Summer is Happening at Bolton Abbey" as I realise now that so many of these images were taken there. We are getting some good use out of that season ticket aren't we just?! This was last week (Wednesday) when my lovely friend Christine was visiting for the day. Usually we spend our get-together hours at Coopers Cafe catching up over coffee and cake but last week we took our continuous chatter into the wilds and nattered our way along the riverside instead. We walked along to the Strid which was as spectacular as ever even though the water levels are ridiculously low here in Yorkshire at the moment.
I've never noticed this rock carving before at the Strid so maybe it's new? New LOVE.... it did make me smile :)
We walked for a good 5 miles or so (that's a lot of footsteps and a lot of chatter) so of course we were in dire need of refreshment by the time we returned to the cafe. I can report that the generous slab of homemade coffee cake hit the spot rather nicely, and definitely replenished the expended energy caused by walking and talking for two solid hours.
Ahhhh, sweet elderflowers, the very essence of a June Summer!
We went to gather in the floral booty on the day of Summer Solstice last week, which secretly delighted me no end. I didn't voice this out loud to the family (yes, it was a family affair this year, even J came to witness me getting all giddy over the free hedgerow gatherings), but I have this fanciful idea that somehow picking the flowers on the longest day of the year makes them extra special.
The flowers were almost, (almost but not quite) on their way out and many were already at the not-nice brown stage. Even so, we managed to gather fifty frothy white heads from a good number of trees which was enough to make 3 litres of extra special solstice-infused elderflower cordial this year. My, my, it really does taste like Summer in a glass.
In other summery tasting news, we are celebrating our very first allotment crop!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of excited exclamation marks for this event I can tell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, this row of greenery really has delighted us, and we are stupidly proud of our humble first veggie growing efforts. I was a bit confused for a while as I thought we were growing sugar snap peas here and have been checking on progress daily, waiting for the pods to swell and look more like pea pods. However, yesterday I was informed by friends-in-the-know that these are more likely to be mange tout which will stay flat and so I should be picking the things right now and not waiting for any swelling to take place. Righty-o then, I am beyond excited to go forth later today with Little B and gather in the harvest!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Allotment progress in general has been slow and sporadic, and I don't have much of anything else to show you just yet. We have a weird shaped yellow courgette which has grown round like a golf ball instead of long like a sausage. We have some baby cucumbers which are still very teeny tiny and we have some green leafy things which are still recovering from a savage slug attack. But we do have baby plum tomatoes, and I am chatting to them daily to encourage growth and hopeful progress towards colour change. I've got a whole set of progress photos of our little half plot which I will spin into an allotment story at some point, it's nothing much really, but we are getting there slowly.
I was chatting to a friend the other day about the whole business of being engaged in The School Run, and how this routine dominates our lives for so many years. For my family with an age gap between second and third child, my years of doing the primary school run will be lengthy. I'm talking fifteen years in total......currently with four more left to go.
But I am in no way complaining - I have come to LOVE this daily routine, especially as we have such a great walk to and from school, and I know I shall miss it when this part of my mothering comes to an end.
At this time of year, our school run is just beautiful, and I love to see so many boats coming and going along the canal. Only three more weeks after this one and we will break for our summer holiday, I really can't wait actually. That break from routine is so liberating when it happens and I am looking forward to it hugely.
Before I pop off and make myself a mug of tea, I wanted to thank you for all your lovely chatty comments about my Summer Harmony blanket in progress - ThAnK YoU! I'm so excited by the whole thing and it makes me beyond happy that you are also loving the idea of it too. It's coming on a treat, and I've almost finished writing up Part 2 to share with you, hopefully tomorrow if I can manage.
Thank you so much for reading my witterings, and for taking time to write back. I appreciate your words more than I can say.
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Just catching up with your lovely blogs on a very rainy afternoon in Wales. Really enjoying your sunny photos and hadn't noticed how hard it was raining.
Posted by: Marion Jones | July 28, 2017 at 05:11 PM
I know what you mean about the school run. When I dropped my youngest off at his high school, (he often drove, but this was the last day and I did for some reason), I realized I was dropping my last child off to school for the last time, it wouldn't happen again, and that was after about 28 years of doing so. It was a shock and I did get choked up. He laughed and said, are you having a mom type moment and gave me a hug (which is rather rare for an 18 year old). :)
Posted by: Cynthia | July 16, 2017 at 02:01 PM
I loved your comment about the school run, it certainly does take over your life and our lives are ruled by it!!! I have four children and there are two quite big gaps and I will have had at least one in our local primary school for twenty years when the last one leaves - currently 6 to go!!!
Posted by: Maxine Lesbirel | July 12, 2017 at 01:30 PM
Thank you for sharing your little bit of the planet with the rest of us. Beautiful countryside. The colors and the landscape are so inspiring. You have a lovely view of the world.
Posted by: Arlene | July 07, 2017 at 07:59 PM
Dear Lucy, it was strange hearing that you love being 4 days a week together with your husband.. the most part of my friends think that just 2 days are enough! You are a very nice couple which is the receipt?
thanks for your pictures I would like living there!
ciao! Laura from Italy
Posted by: Laura | July 06, 2017 at 03:05 PM
What a lovely post :) The english summer is so fleeting, I wish I'd had time to really enjoy it before it was over and we were caught in drizzle again. I was sure I was going to make some Elderflower cordial this year and when I went to pick them, they we all gone :( Where does the time go?
Posted by: Sophie | July 05, 2017 at 09:49 PM
Lovely post - I enjoy your walks vicariously as a sprained ankle has curtailed my walking for a while. Fortunately I had already collected some elderflowers and made one batch of cordial after reading your blog. I need to make much more next year!
Posted by: Kim Hood | July 04, 2017 at 05:50 PM
From someone in the Midwest of the USA I adore your blogs about your nature walks and mountain hikes in your lovely area. PLEASE continue to share as it is a way to escape the city and return to some bucolic scenery I so desperately crave. The skies, the water, the trees, the fields, valleys, stone walls and vistas are just breathtaking. Thank you.
Posted by: MChicago | July 02, 2017 at 07:24 PM
https://theacornssmallholding.wordpress.com
Glamping at Acorn Ponds
Posted by: Roslyn Hill | July 02, 2017 at 06:41 AM
I pop by Attic24 occasionally for a snippet of the moors and dales. I am a Yorkshire lass now living in beautiful Shropshire.Your fabulous photography never fails to bring back my childhood camping days Lucy.
I have injured my calf muscle and I have to keep the weight off my leg for a while, so I have taken the opportunity to indulge in my Freeform Moorland Blanket.
I am finishing off wavy edges and making my way around the sides with a few scrumbles left to do. I will come back and post a picture when completed.
We are busy with our adults only glamping site, and now I think of it, it would be just your kind of thing Lucy , for one of your long weekends!!! ( lots of exclamation marks, as I think it would tick lots of your boxes!!!) we have planted a woodland, dug out a wildlife pond and we have three secluded glamping areas, all with their own quirky kitchens ,BBQ and fire pit. We have a quaint gypsy wagon, a bell Tent and a very unusual silo cabin. Our latest project is a 1974 safari little caravan. I think you might like my craft hut on wheels too Lucy!!
Posted by: Roslyn Hill | July 02, 2017 at 06:39 AM
If you are obsessed with mosses Lucy then you must read A Signature of all Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's all about a woman who studies moss. It's rather a strange kind of book but interesting and different.
Posted by: Dora Berenyi | July 01, 2017 at 05:39 AM
I got a good laugh when I heard about your "heat wave" of 26! I live on the gulf coast of Texas and by the time you factor in the heat index due to the humidity, it is a sweltering 40 degrees here. If you ever get a chance to visit here, I would suggest skipping summer. Love your blog!
Posted by: Carolyn Allison | June 30, 2017 at 04:38 PM
Aw I so understand what you mean about collecting flowers on the longest day 💕 What a lovely post, it really made me smile. Seeing the Dales is just beautiful and one of our favourite places to visit, so feeling a little envious lol but thank you so much for sharing :) xx
Posted by: Fi Sharp | June 29, 2017 at 02:38 PM
Stunning photos Lucy and you are so eloquent I can almost smell the summer air from Sydney in winter.
Posted by: Aleta Randall | June 29, 2017 at 12:32 PM
Oh! Lucy.
They were literally the words I spoke out loud when I looked at the first photo.
Those BEAUTIFUL Yorkshire dales, how I love them. 💕
Such a special part of the world, and where my mother and her family was from.
Posted by: Brenda | June 29, 2017 at 12:21 PM
So enjoyed your post today with all the nature pics and stories. You have a way of finding beauty in so many areas - such a delight. Thank you, Lucy!
Posted by: Little Quiltsong | June 29, 2017 at 11:57 AM
Such a lovely catch up Lucy. It's always wonderful to hear your news and see your beautiful photos.
Can't wait to see more of that cheery blanket as it develops.
Jacquie xxx
Posted by: Jacquie | June 29, 2017 at 10:26 AM
As always, I feel beautifully hygge reading your posts! I'm not on the blog very much at the moment, between work and writing, but I love catching up. I approve heartily of your new blanket, love the pictures of your days and evenings out, I am ABSOLUTELY jealous of your 4 day weekends and I can't wait to see you again at Yarndale!
It's raining at the moment so summer seems a long way away. I'm hoping the weather breaks back to beautiful sunshine soon!
And... btw.... how is Connievan doing?
Posted by: Jo Kneale | June 29, 2017 at 09:51 AM
Nice to read your story full of happiness.
I hope this comment will reach you , because the last ones I wrote didn't shown up.
I hardly can refuse to order the new harmony blanket , but Í'm still working on the hydrangea , which I crochet in double size.
Happy summertime!
Posted by: Astrid | June 29, 2017 at 09:21 AM
What absolutely *stunning* pictures & commentary, Lucy! A visit to your blog is always such a treat.
Enjoy those 4-day weekends! :) My husband has 5 weeks vacation coming every year & finds it difficult to take a week at a time, due to all the issues & problems that are waiting for him when he gets back to work. So for the last several years he's taken every Friday off for the last 5 months of each year. We're not vacationers but rather "stay"cationers, so the 3-day weekends suit us just fine.
Blessings upon your new day~Andrea
xoxo
Posted by: Andrea | June 29, 2017 at 09:20 AM
Dear Lucy thanks as always for sharing your lovely pictures and chat with us. It really makes a great start to my day. X
Posted by: Pamela Wilson | June 29, 2017 at 08:24 AM
Lucy, I have so many thoughts tumbling through my head just now . . . I love seeing all your country and village photos! I think my favourite is of the woodland walk close by the river. I have walked in similar sites and it makes me so nostalgic! But in a good way. :-)
I'm wondering if you have ever read this poem (it's an old classic, so I expect you have); just in case you haven't, I'm including a link: http://www.vanyamelda.com/poetry/what_%20is_so_rare_as_a_day_in_june.html
And I checked just to be sure; mange-tout seem to be the same as what we in Canada call snow peas (the sort that you eat whole, pods and all). If you are interested, here is a link explaining the three types of peas. I didn't know that sugar snap peas are a cross between snow peas and garden, or English, peas: http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-snow-peas-sugar-snap-peas-and-english-peas-ingredient-intelligence-205118
If you want flowers, consider planting some climbing nasturtiums; they (and the regular nasturtiums) are edible, flowers and leaves - they are spicy in a way similar to garden cress and I like them in salads and sandwiches, as well as nibbling on them while in the garden. Mine were planted in early June, but are a couple of inches high already and I'm restraining myself from 'taste-testing' them too soon.
Have a wonderful summer, Lucy. I'm glad to see you sounding cheerful, but I know from my own experience it's an up-and-down road, that one. Lots of time outdoors is very healing, I've found, especially when I get time around trees. Take care of yourself. You are remembered dd
I'm glad for you that J now has a three day work week; wouldn't it be nice if everyone could have that? Then there would be enough jobs for everyone and people would have proper lives as well as jobs. Ah, well . . . one can dream . . .
I love the sheep, too, and the moorland photos (always!), but even more the pictures of your projects. This latest one is intriguing.
I'm glad to hear you sounding more cheerful, but I know from my own experience that this road is up-and-down for a while. Spending time outdoors, especially near trees, is what's helped me the most.
You are remembered daily, Lucy, with love and blessings sent your way. Have a good summer. ~ Linne
Posted by: Linne | June 29, 2017 at 02:57 AM
Wow, that was such a lovely post & now I have that lump in my throat, with all those gorgeous photos of Bolton Abbey, the Dales & canal at Skipton. I've many pics & memories of time spent there, especially last year when we had short trip on one of those narrowboats, but didn't manage to see Skipton Castle from the canal due to work on a landslip. Oh the good times we have when we visit. Here you are ready for some harvesting on your allotment & I'm just thinking of what to plant (soon)in my new raised beds. It is still winter here & only expected to reach 11deg today. Chilly!! Thanks again Lucy for your wonderful blog. Enjoy your summer vacation days & take care.
Posted by: Susan Smith | June 29, 2017 at 01:37 AM
What a nice post! It felt like a mini vacation reading it. I have a small vegetable garden, too, and I love to check it out first thing each morning. Rather a miracle.
Posted by: Caroline | June 29, 2017 at 01:35 AM
Glorious pictures! I want to eat at your house! I'd love to visit this are and see all that beauty for myself!
Posted by: Kaholly | June 29, 2017 at 12:48 AM