♥ Three Things ♥

♥ Three things that have made me feel heart skippy happy today.... ♥

♥ Thing # 1 :: on my table ♥

Peonies.

♥ Five gloriously beautiful stems of pink peonies in my favourite pink button jug on my table. These flowers are such a treat, they are quite expensive for supermarket blooms but I find them irresistible at this time of year. They promise to deliver in spades as their petals oh-so-slowly begin to unfold in the warmth of home. I am beyond delighted to have them on my table and keep stopping to admire them this way and that. Such beauties.

♥ Thing # 2 :: also on my table ♥

Colourful crochet stripes.

♥ Despite sharing my fairly substantial hooky to-do list with you yesterday, it appears that I needed to add just one more thing. I am at that stage with all my projects where I need to either sit and count/concentrate (heel turn on a sock, working the handle on my basket) or photograph while I hook (granny bag, Yarndale project), so I needed something simple that I could take to the cafe for knit and natter. Despite the very strong urge, I decided for the sixty-seventh time this month to resist starting another blanket and instead I have started to make some new yarn bomb bits for Yarndale - lamp post covers to be exact. It's certainly made me happy today, these rainbow brights are a real tonic on a grey, drizzly-damp summers day.

♥ Thing # 3 :: in my memory ♥

A walk in the wood, with wildlife sightings.

♥ A quick jaunt into the woods this afternoon before the school run, to breath in the scent of damp earth and bathe in the lush, green, oxygenated air. We spent a while beside the dam pond, and were rewarded with some amazing wildlife - a pair of kingfishers darting in and out of the water and most incredibly a terrapin sunbathing on a log (yes, a real, live actual terrapin!!!!). Using the super-zoom on my camera I managed to get the above blurry shot when the kingfisher settled on the same log as the terrapin. A-mazing. We had heard the tale about terrapins living in this pond, but it was the first time we'd ever seen one for ourselves, honestly, unexpected nature-things always blow my mind just a little. 

Hoping all's well with you and that your day has contained some heart-skippy happy things too...

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Comments

[Angela- Southern USA]

How awesome that the king fisher landed right near the terrapin! I had a wildlife spotting from my front porch as I went out to feed my goldfish in my patio (porch) pond. A hawk dropped down from a tree and caught a frog on the bank of the creek that runs through our place, such a surprise first thing this morning.Have a great day! xxxxxxxxxxx

[Mary Milner]

Love how you get inspiration from the colors in nature! You live in such a beautiful place. (Where we live, on the upper Texas coast, you might see an alligator in a local pond!)

[Winwick Mum]

I've seen a terrapin in a pond before (apparently people get bored of owning them as pets and release them into the wild) but I've never seen a kingfisher! How fab to see them both! xx

[Elise]

I love having encounters with animals in nature as well! We recently were at the beach for a week (we are in the southern US) and I had the pleasure of rescuing a small baby turtle from the road! He was so so cute and I actually got a video of the event! Made me deliriously happy for days! Love your new project and the yarn bombing sounds like so much fun!!

[Kristine Schipp]

Dearest Lucy! Love your blogs - also love your "eye" which then turns into your brilliant gems on your blog... your beautiful area comes to life! I live next to a national park & I so wish I could take my dogs with me when I walk there (but they're not allowed :-()
Keep up the minutiae of your life, it's uplifting, to say the least!!

[Teresa Kasner]

What a wonderful photographic capture, of the turtle and colorful bird.. with the natural setting.. I could almost smell the earthy aroma of the forest and creek. So fun as I have a dozen stems of peonies on MY dining table as I type... just like yours halfway across the world. I love blogging.. and did you know yours was the very first one I ever read in my whole life? You have been inspiring me for so many years. I just love you. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
(Photo of my flowers on my blog, 2nd one down.)

[Mary W]

WOW the colors you're using in the lamp object are awakening! They make my eye lids flash open, my heart skip a beat, and my mouth open - drool! WOW

[kazzy]

wow thats such an impressive view to see a sunbathing terrapin and a kingfisher and at the same time! amazing...wildlife is just so rewarding. Myself and stevie often go for walks along the more unknown walking part of our local canal, often over grown but obviously where the kingfishers go...I love watching them dart across the canal water with a flash of blue sparkle. Love the Peonies! its around this time of year my local super market stocks up on them and sweet william!. I hope its less rainy where you are, we have had a funny old day weather wise with a mix bag of conditions, wellies and sunglasses hehe! ;)x

[Marcee Chown]

I do love how, much of the time, your inspiration for color is found in nature. Combining the two is the ultimate! Here in what is called “The Lowcountry” of South Carolina, we have lots of marshlands with beautiful birds.
Also, I do love all your projects done with colors of the rainbow, the happy colors.
I would truly appreciate the pattern for the “all blue bunting,” including the strip between the individual triangles.
Thank you so much for always sharing your wonderful photographs. I would love to see your part of the world someday.
Marcee

[Krista Bandy]

I live in california USA. Here we call them red eared sliders. Unfortunately,they have become a pest in our waterways. We have fish species that don't exist outside California. Since they are carnivores they are eating the young indigenous fish including baby salmon. For years the salmon population has been reduced. The turtles aren't the only reason for that.They say these turtles exist in every waterway.Unfortunately fish and game encourage to catch as many as they want. It comes down to irresponsible pet owner releasing them. They still sell them at petstores

[Leah]

We have red eared turtles and alligator snapping turtles where I live. They are amazing and yes they bite!

[Mitzi]

Wow a terrapin it makes you wonder if someone has released it when it’s got too big for their pond I certainly didn’t think you found them in the wild anymore.

Mitzi

[Hooks and Needles]

Beautiful Peonies Lucy, I love the crochet and the King Fisher, such beautiful birds. Thanks to you and your sorting projects list last time, I've also made a list of crafts that are needing completion. I've not blogged about any of it yet but am slowly working my way down my list. Thank you, we all need inspiration sometimes, have a lovely weekend, Cathy x