Attic24

Sunday Vibes

Waking up slowly, no alarm, no reason to hurry, just a peaceful slide from deep sleep to light snoozing and then finally some time to just be awake and still in my warm bed. J is a very early riser and is always up before me, so I really luxuriate in those first moments of awakeness when I am alone and quiet with my thoughts. I eventually got up around 7.15 feeling well rested and very content to face a quiet Sunday with no plans. I made a coffee and took it back to bed, I really love climbing back into a still-warm bed, it's something I used to fantasise about when I was a parent of babies and an early rise meant that the day started at full pelt no matter what.

The morning unfolded at leisure, and eventually we headed out the door at around 11am. Just J and I this morning as Little Lady was on Planet Teen and Little B is in self isolation for 10 days following a positive Covid case in his class. Sigh. I am so over the home schooling, and yet here we are again. Still, I've made up my mind not to let it get me down any more, no no no. No more downward feelings. I am rising above it, and all will be well. Only one more week and then we at least get a reprieve for the Easter holibobs. It was sunshiny and mild this morning, warm enough to wear just a jumper and no coat for the first time this year. Along beside the canal.....

....then up this bumpy cobbled lane to the main street of town. Oh yeah, you can guess what was on the agenda here I expect...I'll give you a clue.....it begins with C and ends in EE. Yeah, hot, milky and hitting the comfort spot very nicely indeed. We strolled slowly up the main street of town in the morning sunshine, sipping our coffee and chatting. 

At the top of the town there are steps down to the pathway which leads into the woodland, and it always delights me how swiftly we can leave the cars and streets behind and suddenly be surrounded by trees and running water.

Don't be fooled by this apparently deserted woodland path, this was just a momentary lull as there were plenty of folks out enjoying the sunshine today.

There are a couple of benches beside the pond, so we decided to sit a while and finish drinking our coffees. Iit was so tranquil and really a lovely little pause to just breathe in and out and be thankful.

Our way home takes us down a long, steep residential street and every time we walk here I take a moment to stop and appreciate this hedge. It's a long one and runs along the boundary of a garden, immaculately kept with a very neatly trimmed shape. The special thing about this hedge is that it flowers in spring - it's a blossom hedge, how wonderful is that? As you can see it's just starting to bloom.....

....oh, such pretty, pretty pale pink flowers and fresh little coppery leaves. I love it so much - I'll try and remember to photograph it again in a week or two when it's in full bloom, it really is stunning. Spring is springing, and I couldn't be happier.

This afternoon, the slow Sunday vibes continued and I found myself drawn to my cross stitching project. I didn't manage to do very much, I'm finding it hard to settle down to anything since my Meadow Blanket finished, gosh I do miss the ease of those soothing, delicious rows. I feel the pull to be creative, but my concentration isn't always there.

Still, I enjoyed working those neat little crosses, and there isn't any hurry for this project to be finished. Summer still seems like a long way off.

I've got the most beautiful tulips on my table this week, they were an unexpected gift from my friend when we met to have our weekly walk around the park on Friday. They were pretty tightly in bud when I popped them into my rainbow jug but they've slowly begun to open over the weekend. Beautiful things, they really are.

I sat a while on the sofa this afternoon, browsing on Instagram on my phone, enjoying those inspirational little squares and catching up with the comings and goings of my online friends. I'm so grateful for our online communities, I know I say this a lot, but it really is important to me. There was no Instagram when I first started writing my blog, no Pinterest either. Things have changed a lot in the last decade and we've got so many more possibilities to interact and find inspiration, right in the palm of our hands. Aren't we lucky?

Hoping you've had a wonderful day full of good vibes - tell me something that has made you happy today, I'd love to hear.

See you tomorrow xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

First Day of Spring

Well winter is now officially behind us and today is the Spring Equinox which is when day and night are of equal length. I am very much in the astronomical camp when it comes to the changing seasons (more about that here) and I enjoy celebrating the equinoxes and solstices each year. They seem to me like a really good opportunity to pause and take stock, a gentle quarterly review if you like. We are now into my favourite quarter by far as our days lengthen and we start jaunting through to the Summer Solstice in June. I love these months very, very much.

The weather today has been very un-spring-like (often the case on the Spring Equinox), but I thought you might still like to see how my hill view looked today. It was dull, murky, still and cold. But hey, no rain, so I'm thankful for that at least.

Being Saturday, J and I set off into town this morning for our weekly market and local food shop. It's less than ten minutes walk to the main high street so it's no hardship and I really look forward to it. Once we've gathered in our produce (fruit, veggies, cheese, meat and bread), we pick up a takeout coffee to drink sitting beside the canal. In our non-lockdown life we would visit our favourite little café and cosy up inside with our drinks, but right now we are making the best of our al fresco experience. It's cold though I have to admit.

I thought I would share my market haul with you today - everything goes straight into my canvas shoppers and often times we don't even bother with paper bags. Tilly was very eager to inspect the goods, she is always right there waiting for us when we come home.

The above selection is a typical weeks fruit and veg for us, although we usually end up needing to buy more fruit towards the end of the week. Isn't it so pleasing to look at? So satisfying to see it all laid out!

I love buying, cooking and eating fresh ingredients, it gives me a lot of pleasure to feed myself and my family in this way.

We also buy eggs from the veg stall and they are always these snowy white ones which have the most gorgeous, rich orange yolks. 

Ah Tilly, you are such a crazy little kitty! 

I made myself a late breakfast once I'd packed away all the food, then decided the time was right for some Equinox faffery on the mantel. Time to pack away Winter and welcome in the Spring.

I was a little sad to say goodbye to my Winter TreePeep, I've loved having her on my mantel. I can't remember if I've showed you my TreePeeps before? They're painted by my super-talented Instagram friend Lynn (@silverypaws) and so far I've collected Autumn, Winter and Christmas. Lynn is painting me a Spring TreePeep this week so I'm VERY excited for that (you can see some of her Spring peeps here), I'll be sure to show you when she arrives in the Attic. If you'd like to give a TreePeep a home, do get in touch with Lynn via her Instagram.

Once Winter had been collected and stored away, I gave the mantel a good clean and changed over my candelabra. As always, it was really nice to unpack the new seasons decorations and remember what I had collected - do you know I had actually forgotten all about the Spring garland that I made last year? It was a delight to see it again! You can read all about the making of it in this post, and I wrote up the patterns for the flowers if you would like to create your own.

You can also see the Spring cross stitch canvas I made last year from Cotton & Twine. I really enjoyed stitching all those beautiful bluebells, it was my lockdown project at the start of Covid almost a year ago. I've just started stitching the Summer design so that it'll be ready for June, I'll show you that once I've made a bit more progress.

Loving the look of my Spring mantel, most especially the garland. So pretty! By the way, can you see the bare twigs up there on the right hand side? I'm going to crochet some blossom flowers to decorate them this week, and I am really crazy excited for that to happen. I've not done any crochet at all since finishing my Meadow Blanket last month (my hands really needed a rest) so I'm more than ready to have my hook back in my hand again.

I bought myself a new scented candle this week as I've been without one on my mantel since the mulled wine binge over Christmas. I opted for "Quiescent" from the Botanical Candle Co (you may remember me going on about their "Late Summer" candle that I obsessed over last year)

Would you care to know how this one smells? Here's the official blurb....

"Eucalyptus is uplifting, cleansing and fresh whilst the floral notes of lavender soften this scent and provides a sense of calm. Frankincense delivers a resinous base note that's grounding, complex and earthy. Overall, Quiescent is comforting, pure and luxurious."

It is a delight I can tell you, well anything with eucalyptus in immediately gets my vote to be honest. It's the perfect winter/spring scent I think, and yes I would agree that it is cleansing, fresh and calm. Just the thing for pandemic lockdown life.

Spring may be here but it's still fire lighting weather in Atticland with single digit temperatures. At the weekends I light the fire in the mid afternoon as J and I are usually spending time together in our main living room. I just can't get enough of the cosy vibes at the moment, I guess winter comforts are still needed for a while longer until the weather begins to do it's Spring thing. 

Before I go, I wanted to say a huge big thank you to those of you who have clicked on my little "buy me a coffee" button just lately. I have been so humbled and deeply touched by the kindness that has come my way and have felt overwhelmed with gratitude. I appreciate you all so much, and I'm really happy to be back here in my patch having a chat with you. Your comments on my last couple of posts have been incredibly heart warming, so thank you for the hot milky coffees and for your kind words and all that you do to make me feel cherished.

A few days ago I was reading back through my Blogtober archives and remembering how much fun it was to create a daily blog for a while, and I've decided that for the remainder of March I'm going to be here every single day to chat to you. Blogtober had such a cute ring to it, but I'm thinking Blarch doesn't sound quite so appealing?! Haha, well we don't have to name this thing do we, but I hope you'll enjoy a daily dose of Attic life during the next eleven days. 

Happy Spring (or Autumn if you're down on t'other side of the planet), I hope today has been a good one. See you tomorrow!

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ps my lovely friend Christine (she who knits alllllll the socks) has decided to join in with my Blarch adventure, so you're very welcome to pop on over to Winwick and enjoy her daily words and photos x

 

 

 

Last Day of Winter

One of things about taking a blog break is that it disrupts the continuity of my own personal story, and I've come to realise that I really regret when there are missing segments. For example, there are some fabulous holidays I've taken in the past which I never got around to documenting here and that means there are valuable memoires missing. You see, although I dearly love that you are here with me (and apparently you enjoy my words and photos), I mainly write my blog for myself. It's the best memory-keeping tool I  can think of, a truly priceless archive of my life that means the word to me. 

So although January and February aren't ever my best months, I think they still deserve their moment and I feel bad that this winter went by with nothing to show for it here. Well, there was the Meadow Blanket of course, but you know what I mean - the snapshots of everyday life are missing. So as today is the final day of winter before the Spring Equinox tomorrow, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to have a little winter catch up.

Before we head into that, I want to tell you a bit about the above photo. The print is by an artist called Jessica Boehman who lives and works in New York. I fell in love with this illustration years ago when I saw it on Facebook and it stayed lodged in my mind ever since. Sadly the image was being used on social media without any credit to Jessica, and it took me a long while to track her down as the artist. But eventually at the end of last year I did, and I was able to buy the print which I am really happy about. I found Jessica's Facebook page, and wanted to share something she wrote back in November which had a profound affect on the way I feel about the Winter Season.....

"It's mid-November, my favorite season, the time I was born. The nights are getting longer. I find I look forward to the months of the long nights, because they offer up their many gifts: a chance to rest, long, blue nights to take comfort with lovers, your children, or loved ones, wrapped tightly under blankets, and the quiet time needed for the mind to spark and grow. Turning inward, my mind lights up. I light a candle and read or draw, allowing myself to spend time in other worlds. It's a time for growing stronger. I think we could all use a healthy and restful hibernation from the ravages of this past year. Wishing you all a happy dark season, and wishing you health and safety as we continue to weather this storm together. May we come out of it kinder, stronger, and more willing to help each other in a time of need. This is my birthday wish for the world."

After reading Jessica's words I suddenly had the realisation that the winter season can be a positive time for hibernation and healing, and that we can indeed look forward to a "happy dark season". I tried SO HARD to take this onboard, and to find the joy in the dark, short days but of course it's not possible to make yourself feel happy, no matter how much you may wish for it. Having said that, I did take great comfort from this picture, so that even on days when I just wanted to stay in bed I was able to view it as being restorative and cosy rather than a failed day of doing nothing. 

One of the ways I embrace the seasons is by decorating my mantel and if you've been visiting with me a while then you will of course know all about this. My mantel was bare for a little while once Christmas was packed away, but soon enough I felt the pull to decorate for the Winter season. It's all quite minimal really, and yet I still get a huge amount of pleasure from unpacking these treasured things from previous years. The two stitched hoops were from previous Craftpod subscription boxes, and if you like the looks of them then you can now buy them as individual projects from the Craftpod Etsy shop ((here))

The Winter cross stitch canvas was from a Cotton & Twine subscription box last year (sadly no longer available)

The crochet garland was from a few years ago and I still love it, although I think next winter I'd like to crochet a nature inspired garland of leaves and berries.

The crochet robin was made from a pattern by Little Conkers ((here)).

I've enjoyed my mantel and fireplace enormously over the past two months, and have spent many hours sat on the floor right there by the fireside. It's one of my favourite places to be when all is quiet in the late afternoons.

As tomorrow is the first day of Spring, it'll be all change on my mantel this weekend, so I'm glad I've had a chance to share the winter version with you before it gets packed away for another year.

This winter the weather has actually been fantastic, as it's been the coldest season we've had in quite a few years. I'm not bothered by the cold weather at all, and I LOVE when we have ice, frost and snow in the depths of winter. What I'm not keen on is the damp, grey, drizzly, dank parts of winter, those days can just go away for ever and ever as far as I'm concerned. So yeah, the weeks we had in January and February when the temperatures sat below freezing, I was actually pretty delighted by it.

I loved that even with our very shortened days, the start and end of each day often delivered the most beautiful skies.

I loved seeing my hill view coated in a layer of white ice....

...and I love love LOVED visiting the meadow in the crisp early mornings to see the magic of winter. 

On the morning when these photos were taken it was 9am, just as the sun was rising behind the hills.

It was also a very chilly -5 degrees, oh-so-cold, but my goodness it was incredibly beautiful out there.

During these weeks when the temperature stayed below zero, the canal stayed frozen. It looks beautiful don't you think? It was a little bit treacherous on the footpaths but as we were in lockdown and home schooling, we often didn't leave the house for days on end when the ice was very bad. 

This winter also brought us quite a bit of snow, and I think this year we had four separate snow falls.

I always went out to walk in it, there is something compelling about a snow-filled landscape and I had some fun walks with the Little People. It was actually Little Lady who built the snowman (the twiggy arms were my addition), it was a very spur of the moment playful streak which I hadn't been expecting from my mature teen!

The snowy part of this winter was really wonderful actually, and looking back at these photos has reminded me how much I appreciate the four distinct seasons that we get to experience here in my corner of the world.

I've been so thankful for the clear, bright, blue-sky days of winter, oh deep joy right down to my soul when the sky is that colour!! We haven't had all that many clear days, but you can be sure I've made the most of them when they've been gifted to us.

Our daily walking has happened in all weathers and has become a permanent fixture in our days since lockdown started almost a year ago. This routine has made a huge difference to my wellbeing - we walk for just over an hour each day (about 5 km), around the neighbourhood and through the woods and I absolutely love it. The best kind of self care I'd say.

On the home front, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, life has been slow and uneventful. Aside from crocheting my beloved Meadow Blanket, I haven't felt especially creative to be honest. But really that's OK - it's absolutely OK to have quiet times when life is slow and there isn't much doing. This past week I've felt an uprising of inspiration and I've begun working creatively again, so I figure the rest must have done me good. 

Spending extended time within the four walls of home hasn't always been easy this winter, but I really have tried to make the best of it. I learnt to recognise when I needed to retreat to my bedroom and close the door, and I learnt to make the very most of the rare times when our one downstairs living room was quiet except for me and the cat. 

Daffodils have been a constant on my table this winter, a weekly essential purchase along with the groceries. At just £1 a bunch, they are such a bargain, and I love watching those tight buds slowly open in the warmth of home.

And there we have it, a mini round up of my slow winter days. Nothing terribly exciting, although we did have the drama of a broken finger a few weeks ago, thanks to the Big Teen falling off his mountain bike in spectacular fashion. I'm not going to show you photos of that mess though, even though it's still an ongoing drama. He goes back to see the plastic surgeon on Monday I think. But yeah, broken bones aside, all has been low key and quiet. 

I'm looking forward to stepping gently into the next season now, I really am ready for the change.

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It's Been A While

Hello my lovelies, it's been a while and I hope you are all keeping yourselves well and that life is good in your patch of the world. I've been through a tricky few months where I have struggled with my days - please just know that I am feeling very much better, and that I'm so thankful that you wait patiently for my Attic window to reopen.

Here's a funny thing - I had an email from my dear blogging friend Teresa a few days ago, concerned that my last post had the comments closed which is something I very rarely do. Honestly I had no idea this had happened, it was a complete accident! And there I was feeling quite disheartened that no-one was commenting on my lovely Meadow blanket border, I thought you were all fed up with my CAL posts and I was all sad about it! Haha, silly, silly me.

I have missed my regular blogging these past few months, the CAL took up all my energy (and really my energies have been very low this winter), but here we are approaching a new season and I'm delighted to be back. It's the Spring Equinox in two days time and I am so so so so so ready for it......bring it to me! I snapped the above photo on Tuesday, an unexpectedly sunny late morning when for the first time it felt like Spring was in the air. It was glorious.

Our daily woodland walks continue, and joy of joys the very first signs of greenery are appearing right now. The trees are still bare of course for another couple months, but on the woodland floor the first bright green wild garlic shoots are pushing through. This morning when we walked there I could smell it for the first time this year, it's just the most delicious fresh scent and it makes me very happy indeed. 

Last week Little B and Little Lady returned to school for the first time this year and my goodness I was sooooooo ready for it. This latest nine week lockdown has felt like the longest slog, even though to be fair the Little People have been incredible and have worked hard each day joining in with online lessons. I have been so thankful for their easy going personalities, and the way they quickly adapted and accepted the situation. So proud of them. I just found the whole time very invasive somehow, like I couldn't settle, couldn't find any natural routine or rhythm to my days. Our house felt too small, no where to retreat to, no way to rest, recharge, find peace. It was a struggle for me, and yet I feel so stupid admitting to it because really on the surface of things, everything was just fine. 

Anyhow - yeah, that's over now, and I am so thankful to be out the other side. I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to be walking along the canal in the dull, cool morning, back to the old familiar school routine. Deep gratitude.

During this latest lockdown we have been doing our bit and staying very very close to home. A walk in the woods every day, same old, same old. On Friday last week we drove out of town for the first time since the New Year to walk - it's only a 2 mile drive to the next village to walk around the reservoir so we were still local but it felt like the biggest excitement.

It was oh-so-muddy and wet, crikey, the mud was of the thick oozy variety that tries to suck your wellies clean off the end of your legs. We also really mis-timed what we thought was a sunny break in the clouds, and half way around the reservoir we got caught in a heavy hail storm. It was deeply unpleasant, the hail was painful! But still, it felt good to be out and about and walking beside water always makes me happy.

As you may well know, this latest lockdown that we are still living through has been pretty restrictive in the UK with mostly everything closed. We have a few local cafes which have stayed open for take outs and for me personally this has really made my days feel just about on the right side of OK. When everything else has felt so out of kilter and when all my usual routines have gone to pot, my daily coffee has kept me grounded. I hope that doesn't sound too ridiculous?! I actually switched over to decaff coffee a month or so ago as my sleep has been so dire, so it's not about the caffeine fix for me any more. There is just something about the comfort of a hot milky drink on a cold winters day which brings me deep happiness. I treat my daily coffee as a luxury, this is something that costs money which I choose to indulge in for a daily dose of pleasure, and I appreciate it every single day.

Often times J and I have combined a coffee with our daily woodland walk - having the two things together is pretty great I have to say. Having said all this though, I do desperately miss the times when cafes were places you could sit in and chat to friends. I am longing for that to come back again - all being well then we should see that happen sometime in May. I cannot wait.

In the past few months when my sleep has gone haywire and my energies have been low, I've tried hard to look after my physical wellbeing. The temptation to comfort eat has been great (hello hot buttered toast, ooohh, and hellooooooo all things chocolatey), but I have really made an effort to keep myself on track. You might remember my post last year about my 2020 wellness journey? I am still on that journey, still nurturing myself as best as I can and prioritising my health. And honestly? I'm rather proud of myself for sticking with it.

I've had days during the past few months where I have felt very low. As you may know, I struggle in the dark winter months, and adding in some insanely spiky hormones and months of sleep deprivation, well, I had to really take good care of myself. Some days I found myself sneaking back into bed in the afternoons, telling the family I was practicing self care and closing myself off for a few hours. It was needed, and I always felt better afterwards.

I've spent a lot of time just recently caught up inside my own mind, sorting through a heap of deep memories and trying to find my way into the clear. It's been such a strange time.

Anyhow......all I want to say really is that I'm here and I'm doing OK, feeling better this week than I have in months. Brighter spirit, new energies. I'm happy to be back and looking forward to sharing more with you as we edge slowly out of Winter. Thank you so much for being here with me - my blog celebrated 13 years last week, isn't that something?

See you all soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx