Attic24

Snowdrop Appreciation

On Monday morning I woke up feeling just a smidgeon brighter that I have done in quite a while. So after the school drop off I decided to try and manage a short walk, just a gentle stroll up the high street, past the castle.......

....and on past the small sheep field. All of a sudden the sun broke through the clouds and I was so happy to see those shafts of soft light making their way to me through the trees, oh so welcome on this rather cold, gloomy February morning. I carried on walking, slowly, slowly, only a gentle hill but my body doesn't really allow me to do hills at the moment. Shuffle, shuffle, not too much further.....

....destination Snowdrop!

I love visiting this little patch every Winter, it's a small wild area where the very edge of the woods meets the road into the top of town.

Snowdrops are such unusual little flowers when you stop to look closely at them, and the effect of them carpeting the leafy ground in the depths of winter is stunning.

Truthfully, I would loved to have picked a few little sweet flowers to bring home with me. I could picture them all dainty in a teeny tiny little glass jar, nodding their sweet white heads and bringing me oodles of pleasure. But I know these are naughty thoughts and so I made myself content with capturing them on my camera.

I loitered around the wild patch at the side of the road, at the edge of the woods for quite a while, walking this way and that, pointing my camera, trying to capture the beauty of snowdrops-in-the-sunshine. I leaned over the fence, crouched down and stuck my arms through the fence. And then I straightened up and stood very still for a while, working out how my body was feeling, trying to decide what to do. Turn around and head back down into town? Or walk onwards and follow the pathway into the woodland?

I turned my back on the pavement and chose the muddy pathway, following this gloriously mossy stone wall which forms the top boundary of the woodland.

I am completely, crushingly in love with moss, and when I see it growing so joyfully over every standing-still brown thing, my heart honestly feels like it might implode with gladness. These vibrant green mounds take the edge off the pervading brown-ness of the winter woodland, they are just so full of life! I love it when moss shoots up these ultra-cute little things (what are they? Moss flowers? Moss seedheads? I want to know all about mossy goings on!), well I love those little shooty-up things most of all.

Ahh, here is the waterfall in the middle of the woodland - please note that I appear to be up above it rather than down beside it on the path there like I normally am. That would be because I managed to get myself completely lost following the mossy path, neglecting to turn at the point where I should have turned. I walked on and on and on, and it was raining, and my beloved red boots became caked in mud. I do not possess any sense of direction, the place in my brain where there should be a logical compass is just an empty space. I think I walked around the edge of the soggy woodland for about an hour until eventually, I ended up at a point that I recognised. It was waaaaay off the pathway that I should have been on, but at least it was familiar and I was able to descend  down the steep bank and pretend that I was never, ever lost at all. Just taking the scenic route.

I was very, very tired by this point, my legs had decided to mimic the tree trunks and turn themselves into lumps of wood.

But it had been such a lovely little unplanned walk, and the memories of the snowdrop carpet and mossy walls and tumbling water stayed with  me as I made my way slowly home.

The homeward route from the woods conveniently goes right past the local Bakery which has a brass door handle in he shape of a croissant. I decided that the only treatment for Wooden Leg Syndrome is a soft iced bun popped into a paper bag, and carried carefully home so that it can accompany a mug of steaming hot coffee. It worked a treat. Whilst I was sipping my coffee and scoffing my bun, I thought about the snowdrops all over again, and it reminded me about the calendar that hangs next to my desk....

....this lovely calendar was a free gift last year with one of my favourite magazines - Country Home and Interiors. I've been a subscriber to this magazine for almost a decade, and I can tell you that in recent years it has consistently provided me with a huge amount of inspirational, seasonal visual pleasure. The free annual calendar has also given me a lot of pleasure over the years - those of you who've been visiting me here for a while may remember my years of "Calendar Posts" where each month I would share seasonal images from my various calendars? The Country Homes calendar was always known as the Bossy Calendar, as each image was usually accompanied by a command to do something or other. It did used to make me laugh.

This year, the theme is country flowers, and I thoroughly approve of charting the months in this way. How lovely! The photos are beautiful, and the text for each month is as charmingly bossy as ever.

So here we have January, which features the humble snowdrop and the following command >

"At the start of the year, bring bunches of velvety white snowdrops inside from the garden to display alongside glowing candlelight."

Oh, ok then! Excepting that I don't have  bunches of snowdrops growing in my garden. I don't have a garden which grows bunches of anything really. And I couldn't bring myself to steal even one single stem of a snowdrop from the wild patch at the edge of the woods. I shall just have to make do with pictures instead.....

....these beautiful pages are from last months Country Living magazine (Feb).

Oh just look at those delightful mossy pots! I really wish I had some mossy posts and pretty snowdrops of my own.

These sweet little flowers fill me with delight, and even though the colours on these pages are very pale and muted, they are just so right for this time of year. I do love a spot of seasonal colour.

I was inspired to have a little play with my yarn pegs and channel some inner winter snowdrop vibes. Mmmm...very restful and calming, wouldn't you say? A pretty Winter palette for January.

Mind you, seeing as we are now into February, I'll have to think up something floral and Februaryish to share with you now. You never know, I might even obey the Bossy Calendar this month, there is an instruction to go and look for paperwhite narcissus.......

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Twelve Days

It's rather odd, but here we are just five days away from Christmas and I find myself not doing anything remotely Christmassy. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to locate my festive mojo this year, it must be hiding somewhere very sneaky cos I have looked all over for it with no luck. I realised yesterday (when I pulled everything out of the linen cupboard) that am still not finished with gift buying, which I am rather miffed about as I thought I was pretty much done. I don't think I have much left to get, we are keeping things quite simple and on a tight budget for the Little Peeps this year, but having said that, I do appreciate the look of a nicely bulging stocking come Christmas morning.

I forgot to buy candy canes, (and the Little People LOVE to have them hanging in the tree) I've yet to buy wrapping paper, I haven't yet written my Christmas cards, but I did buy two nets of nuts and managed to locate our ancient nut crackers. Our tree is up, but no other decorations have made it out of the multiple boxes....yet. I may well go on a frenzied decorating spree next week when I am home and not rushing around like a loon trying to keep up with end of school stuff. It's been such a busy week and I am so glad it's over and we are into the holidays. I'm only just emerging out of the germ-fest that has been hanging around me for the past couple of weeks and I really do feel a bit worn.

I sat here at the table at lunch time eating a bowl of cold left over pasta for my lunch, and I thought to myself - I really, really, really wish that I was a tad more organised. I wish I could find a way to breeze effortlessly through my days, weeks and months without constantly feeling like I am about to trip and fall. I wish I didn't have to keep apologising for being late/forgetting things/losing things. I wish my home life didn't exist in such a clutter-filled mess all the time. I wish that somehow I could make my day to day practical life feel lighter.

And so today I made myself a promise that after Christmas, the wishing will be replaced with doing. I can do it. I CAN do it! I can be organised! I can write lists and make notes!! I can train myself to remember things, to make plans, to Write Things Down!!! I suddenly felt inspired today - honestly, it's as if an invisible someone had lit a fire under my backside cos I jumped up in the middle of eating my cold pasta and began a proper good rummage through the various piles of Miscellaneous Stuff around my desk. I located one wall planner, three calendars, two sets of organisational stickers, three notebooks, one set of pretty sticky notes and a recently purchased List Book.

I love calendars, diaries and notebooks very much, stickers too for that matter. I love to think about all the days stretching ahead, loaded with possibility. I've got three calendars lined up for 2015, two of them came free with magazines, and of course I have my beautiful Yarndale calendar which I am taking to hang on the wall in my studio. Talking of which, I'm going to be moving my studio in the New Year, and I'm excited about making a fresh start. I'm not moving far, just into the next door room at Coopers which is a bit smaller and more cosy for just me and my yarn stash to hang out in. 

There are only twelve days left of this year and then we have a brand new fresh one to play with, I feel ridiculously excited about the months that lie ahead. I've got so much to look forward to, and I'm busy making all sorts of plans inside my messy mind, which of course I WILL be writing down in my notebook(s)! I'm looking forward to sharing much of it here on my blog....I think a bit of high intensity Home Blessing will be happening here in the New Year, gosh I am even getting excited at the thought of de-cluttering and cleaning, I don't know what's up with me.

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 ps I would LOVE to hear how you organise your days, whether you write lists, use notebooks, diaries, journals, calendars, filofax etc? Or do you do it electronically (phone/apps/laptop etc). How do you keep a track of it all?

 

 

One Quarter

♥January♥

♥February♥

♥March♥

Can you believe we are already one quarter of the way through this year? I've really enjoyed looking back through my photos and recalling the dozens and dozens of fleeting colourful moments that make up my hours, days, weeks and months. So much colour, even in the Winter months, that has to be a pretty wonderful thing. Colour = Happiness in my world.

Here's hoping the next quarter will be full of good things, a multitude of happy moments lived in glorious full colour. Bring it on!

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♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥

Easter Wreath :: Ta dah!!!

Midwinter Shoots

Keeping On

Studio Furnishings

Monthly Mosaics

:: January ::

♥

:: February

♥

At the start of 2013 I made a private resolution, just between me and myself. I resolved to be On Time with my monthly mosaics this year, to make them happen bang at the end of each month like other organised bloggers do. Thing is, I have to accept that making schedules for my blog is pretty pointless these days. Everything happens quite spontaneously at Attic24, and I've grown to rather like it that way. So monthly round-ups may not in fact happen at the end of the relevant month, but they will happen at some unscheduled point in time. Usually at a time when I actually have time to pootle about with my photos and create the visuals.

It's a lovely thing to do mind you, to look back at the month that has just passed and celebrate it visually. It serves to jog the memory, to capture the essence of that time in the year, to be content with the look of life's Little Bits. After almost five years of writing about my life and making these monthly mosaics (yes five years, that's sixty months!!), I still really love to do it. It makes me happy, reeeeeeeeeeally happy.

I'm looking forward to the next sixty months.

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Ps you can view all sixty of my MM's in one place if you like....you can have yourself a colourful Attic24 slideshow. There is a link to the mosaic album in my right sidebar, or go HERE to see.

Sixty! Wowsers.

 

 

 

 

October 2012

Mmmmmmmm, a bowl of steaming hot porridge with sultanas, chopped banana and a generous drizzle of golden syrup. That was my lunch today, I had such a terrific craving for it at lunch time and it was absolutely delicious, so cosy and warming, real comfort food on a cold, rainy day.

The light levels have been so, so low here this week, with heavy grey skies and intermittent rain. At the weekend our clocks went back an hour, so no more Summer Time and such an early close-of-the-curtains in the evening now too. Our lamps are working hard, both in the early morning and throughout the evening, and I have a makeover in mind for our old, plain cream Ikea job there. I'm thinking something decopatchy to match my dining table lampshade, but with extra crochet and button trim pizazz. I am also thinking about a stripy crochet wrap-around for the stick bit of the lamp, ha! It's gonna be a bit whacky! I can see it very clearly in my Minds Eye, so watch this space....

The blankets are working hard too, their workload goes hand in hand with the lamps. Which reminds me, I really must get round to finishing off the ripple. It just needs a bit of a border putting in place but I've been procrastinating over it and doing other things instead. It bothers me that it's over a year since I started it, and yet it hasn't had it's moment of ta-dah glory yet cos of the missing border thingy. So slack of me I know. Soon though.

One thing about this time of year that I really love is the way that the Little People come back to their indoor pursuits. The bad weather and dark evenings force them to play more indoors, and although this suits Little Lady very nicely, the boys struggle a little. But it's been a really nice thing about summer's end (for me anyway), and I've been encouraging all sorts of creative pursuits. Colouring books have come out, new sketch pads and pens have been purchased, spirograph has been given a whirl and recently the hama beads have been rediscovered. One very happy Mumma here, as I love to watch my Little Peeps busy with their creative fingers.

The Very Large Tub of Lego has been back in action too, much to Little B's delight. He's still a bit young to really build with the small lego, but he's not bothered so long as he can somehow be included. As you can see, he just tends to jig around on the periphery making lots of excited chatter, but it seems to keep him very happy. He is also very accomplished at Lego Demolition, and will dismantle a carefully built vehicle with alarming dexterity. All good fun.

Crochet is not in any way a seasonal pursuit for me as you well know, but I do really have a major crush with blanket making at this time of year. It just fits the Autumn season so perfectly, especially if there is a crackling fire nearby and a hot mug of tea to hand. I am still working slowly on my Granny Patchwork blanket, fitting a few squares in whenever I get chance. The funny thing is that I started this blanket as a way of de-stashing my Stylecraft leftovers, and of course the inevitbale has happened and I am running out of the stuff. Ahhh, shame, it looks like I shall have to restock in order to complete the de-stash project, does this count as a success or a failure?!

I am still wholeheartedly addicted to my monthly magazines, and have been enjoying the Autumn editions very much. Usually I find they get me down a little with all the brown and all the indoorsy stuff, but I am finding them inspiring and cosy this year. I particularly enjoyed Sarah Raven's write up about tulips in the November issue of Country Living...I am very inspired to try this exact planting scheme of hers in some big pots.

I've been thoroughly enjoying my little garden posies throughout October, such a sweet and colourful reminder of Summer. Sometimes I have them on the dining table, sometimes, beside my bed and sometimes (like now) in the bathroom. Wherever they end up, they bring so much joy to a room, even though the ink bottle is only small and the snips of flowers very modest.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago, the Prosecco cork a sweet reminder of a 4pm Friday celebration with friends when The Results were through. Very happy to report that Little Man passed the 11+ exam and will be heading to an extremely well respected boys grammar school next September. Happiness and utter relief all round. Silly 11+ system.

October often feels like a transitional month, with one light foot still in Summer camp, and one woolly-socked foot in Autumn camp. We did have a couple spells of bright sunny weather in October, although the memory of them is buried under the general damp mist and rain that hung around for much of the month. I stopped hanging out my laundry to dry in September when the window-fitting men dismantled my washing line, but my neighbours across the back street are still hanging theirs. The view of my elderly neighbours pyjamas and underpants is an oddly comforting sight, although I'm not sure I should really admit to that. A laundry-filed washing line just speaks of cosy domesticity, and I always delight in seeing it.

The colours of Autumn are very evident in my neighbourhood now.

Our walk to school has become a leafy affair, and on dry days we delight in much kicking and shuffling through piles of fallen leaves. I often think that when you are a parent of small children, it's quite wonderful to suddenly find you can legitimately do all these things again...running and jumping through leaves, splashing in puddles, singing as you walk, balancing along low walls. Little B has re-introduced this simple, physical fun back into my daily life which I am rather grateful for.

We are so, so lucky living here in that we have a really beautiful piece of woodland just a stones throw from the town centre. It's owned and managed by the Woodland Trust and offers a really wonderful reflection of the seasons. I think my favourite time to walk here is in May when the wild garlic is in full bloom, but October comes a close second. Many of the trees here are beech trees, and their coppery golden leaves at this time of year are beautiful.

We walked in the woods a few Sundays ago, a lovely family walk on a sunny morning. Little B absolutely loved it, striding out in his new wellies, enjoying the outdoors and his favourite pursuit of poking a stick into muddy puddles. I took some lovely photographs on this day, I'll share them with you sometime soon before the memory is lost.

I am declaring October to be the official Month of Cheese. Since returning from France, I've had a renewed love of cheese and have been eating it often at lunch time with a bit of crusty bread and butter. I am back with the English cheeses though (on the left is Five Counties, on the right is Wensleydale with apricots), but I think I need to be more adventurous with my Cheese Appreciation lunches. Tomorrow I am going to go and search out some gooey French cheese to remind me of my week away.

Been trying to counterbalance the Month of Cheese with some healthy snacking, especially as my jeans are only just do-uppable at the moment. I do need to shed a bit of excess weight that has accumulated during the course of this year, but darn it, it is baking season now (as well as the cheese thingy) so not sure if I am capable of any dieting malarkey till nearer springtime.

October has also brought about my seasonal candle obsession too, like the lamps and the blankets it's a natural reaction to the lowering light levels at this time of year. I love candles, they never fail to make me feel all sort of cosy and mmmmmmmmm.

Autumn love extends to my faithful hot water bottle, brought out of it's summer sleep sometime last month and now pressed into nightly service down by my feet. I cannot bare to have cold feet in bed, they keep me awake and make me fidget, but I don't like to be too overly hot in bed either (electric blankets are not for me). I love my hot water bottle ritual. Yeah, it's the cosy-mmmmm thing for sure.

Halloween yesterday, did you celebrate it where you live? We do, in a fairly low key way that involves a few spiders and some suitable chocolates. Oh, and definitely always a pumpkin too.....

....I wish I was showing you a picturesque pile of pumpkins on an organic farm or something, but have to admit that this is just the local supermarket. Still glorious though, aren't they?

J actually took it upon himself to purchase the pumpkin a few days in advance of halloween, and he chose a very sweet little specimen for us. He said he picked it cos of the shape and smooth skin (good, good) but the diminutive size of it seemed to have escaped him. I had a little laugh when he got it out of the bag, he was a tad offended I think. But still, we had a family pow-wow over the design, and I set to work.......

....very pleased. Scary but fun. I am not one of those Mums who can leave it to the offspring I am afraid. I did allow them to carry out a little bit of scraping-out (and in Little B's case, some experimental tasting of the seeds), but the carving fun was mine-all-mine.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo spooky! We had a fun but rather wet trick-or-treat outing around our neighbourhood last night, but it was really good. We taught Little B to say "Hap-py Hall-weeeeeen!" and he delighted all the houses we visited. Sweet, sweet boy (he was dressed as a skeleton this year), he is impossibly cute.

Octobers Attic view has seen Summer depart and Autumn arrive.

The moorland is wearing it's parched, dry grass look, and the bracken which covers the side of the hill has now turned brown.

Definitely Autumnal.....

....but the beautiful light at this time of year helps make up for the browness.

So that's October then, all done and dusted and behind us for another year. I'm hoping that November will be a gentle month of homely pursuits as my nesting instinct has finally kicked in (a little late this year, it's usually a September thing for me). So I shall be donning my apron and getting down to some serious housekeeping during these next few weeks. I expect that I will feel a pressing need to tell you all about it. Bet you can't wait.

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March 2012

Ahh March, you are no longer with us and I miss you! April so far is being completely vile, we're in the grips of an icy storm, the wind is howling and it is s-n-o-w-i-n-g, blasted weather. I look through these deliciously springlike photos and I want it to be March again, March was soooo beautiful. The sky was often blue, and we had warm sunshine for the first time this year. It was quite glorious for much of the time, yes March, you were lovely.

My organiser calendar went all green, sophisticated and Continental for March. Made me think of a carefree time in my past when many moons ago J and I flew to Paris for a romantic March weekend. Searching through my memory banks.......oh cripes.....yeah, waaaay back in my youth....March 1995,  seventeen years ago. Would love to go back sometime.

My ever lovely Ideal Homes calendar had this stunning image for March, it's been a true delight having this next to my desk to gaze at for a month. So beautiful, I find the sight of pink blossom really uplifting and good for the soul.

In my mind I associate blossom with May, as that's when the cherry trees in my neighbourhood flower. But in the past month I've noticed such a lot of early blossom flowering on trees all over the place, and it really is delightful. I don't have much blossom-knowledge so have no idea what sort of trees produce these gorgeous early blooms, but I love them very much. They are more delicate than the flouncy, frilly cherry blooms that come in May, I love their sweet simplicity.

My front patch crocus bloomed their little hearts out through early March, they were such a welcoming sight at the front of the house.

Forsythia sprang into action around here a few weeks ago too, there is lots of it around and about in my neighbourhood. I'm not mad keen on it to be honest (that particular yellow is a bit too shouty and acidic for me), but it's undoubtedly a real sign that Spring is well on the way.

In complete contrast to the indoorsyness of February, March was all about reconnecting with Outside. I love March for that very reason. I love stepping out of stuffy, cooped-up February and breathing in the fresh air of March, it's delicious. Lovely to start pegging out again too, it's a sweet domestic job that always fills me with gladness. Hooray for stripy garments flapping in the breeze!

Outdoor tea breaks also began again last month, oh the joy! I generally stop my outdoor pitstops sometime in October when my hands start turning purple with the cold. It's been lovely having enough warmth in the air to have the kitchen door propped open and a quick breather in the outdoors. In fact, I've really, really enjoyed all the domestic outdoorsyness these past few weeks :: the pegging out, the sunshine tea sipping, the seed planting, and the general feel-good brought on by warm air, blue skies and spring sunshine. I feel really excited about spending more time outdoors as the year progresses, about making my back yard into a haven of floral colour and greenery.

Floral colour has ben happening in abundance inside too, just look! Every Friday I stop by the market after picking up Little B from playgroup and treat myself to a modest bunch of fresh flowers. The tulips and narcissi that fill the pavement buckets at this time of year are brilliant, and represent great value for money. I can get quite a few bunches now for just a few ££, enough for me to fill a small jug for the table, pop four into my bathroom windowsill bottles, and have a few in a jar beside my bed. The roses above came from a surprise Mothers day bouquet. I don't wish to sound ungrateful, but I confess I am not a fan of commercial "mixed bouquets". If I am on the recieving end of one (not often), I tend to split them up, chop the stems short and arrange them into various small jugs instead of one over-the-top vase. Much more my style.

My photo album for March was full to bursting with pictures you know, it seemed like a very full-to-bursting kind of a month. When I'm putting my monthly round up posts together I like to try and capture the general feel of the months activities :: it was hard for March as there was so much! Lovely looking back and remembering the various outings we made :: local strolls, simple jaunts and proper full blown outings, it's been liberating to stretch our horizons beyond our four walls again.

Mind you, March also saw me get to grips with the Four Walls a bit, and I am so happy the Shelves of Doom were finally banished. It remains a highpoint of my year so far, truly it does. And that surprises me a bit, but it's true. I think it was as much about the way I was able to mentally and emotionally pull myself together to tackle this task as it was about the end results. A real Personal Achievement for a rather slovenly procrastinator. I really did it, didn't I? Still wearing ridiculous proud smile over that one, although my two crates are still there waiting, as is the pile of 51 books destined for the charity shop, so can't be too smug.

I had a hair chop in March, it was long overdue as I'd not been since the Blooming Flower cushion photos. That's eight months. I've got more grey hairs now, but I'm remaining true to my natural colour which is still pretty good. It feels lovely to have air on my neck again, I was looking quite shaggy and unkempt with my raggedy grown-out shoulder length do.

Hooky wise, not a lot to report for March, it was a quiet month on the hooky front. I kind of lost the will a little, I just didn't seem to want to do it for a while. I worked a little on my ripple through last month, but not a lot. I've got many, many ideas brewing for new projects though, it's quite tangled again up in my Creative Mind. I'll keep you posted.

So how's the Attic view been in March? Terrific, that's how. The light levels have risen dramatically, especially with the arrival of British Summer Time a few weeks ago, and I am so, so thankful for the extra daylight in my life again. Yeah, the view has been light-filled and lovely, take a look.................

I especially love that last photo, it was taken on 27 March at 18:20 after a day of the most glorious sunshine. I love the golden glow of the landscape at that time of day, I remember it made me want to rush out and frolic around in it (which I actually did, I took myself out for an early evening walk to watch the sun set and the moon rise, it was beautiful)

March was altogether a beautiful month. It was light and bright and upbeat, both indoors and outdoors. In March it became Springtime, and I was so ready for that change of season, was so over the winter.

Do you ever think of the year in terms of fractions? I do. I keep thinking wow, we are one quarter the way into the year now. Can't quite believe we're in the second quarter of the year already, but as this is my most favouritist quarter of all (April-May-June), I am more than happy with the progress. Bring it on, I'm ready to give it my all.

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Edit to add :: A Question.......do you think I go on too much? Should I make my posts shorter/less wordy? Interested to hear what you think as I never give much thought to my posts in terms of how they read, I just write what I feel like writing regardless. ♥ oh that's ok then, thanks so much for the feedback and reassurance...will carry on with my ramblin' ways. Not sure I could do any different anyways?! ♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 2012

Funny isn't it, that even though February is the shortest month of the year, it very much feels like the longest? I try not to struggle with this funny second month, try to remain immune to the sneaky, wintry blues that often descend like a damp cloud. But truthfully, it isn't always doable. Sometimes February days just suck, and that's all there is to it.

My February calendar pages were certainly not gloomy though, they told me to remember the good things about this time of year. The celebration of Love by way of disgraceful quantities of chocolate, and the celebration of Pancake, by way of errm, lots of pancake-eating. Both were good, sweet, edible events in our house this year, enjoyed by all five of us.

This is February Ideal-Home-style, beautiful and inspiring as ever. I love that the February image is content and creative and indoorsy, it does certainly make me want to go away and plan something stitchy. It's been an age since my old Bernina came out to play. Ooooooo, which reminds me, I do need to apply myself to finishing off Connievan's curtains which were started last year and not completed (re-making ten curtains was a far bigger job than I originally thought). Right then, that will be my March challenge, remind me in a week or two will you?

February here in the Attic was beautifully floral, oh I've had such a tremendous amount of pleasure and good value out of February's blooms. I mean, just look at them! True spirit lifters, that's for sure.

My Amaryllis burst into flower in February too, I watched day after day as the green shoots made their usual speedy ascent. This year, for the first time, I placed it on the windowsill behind my desk, so I really was very aware of it's daily progress. It's been lovely watching the first bud unfold......

.....the light shining through the petals has made them almost appear to be glowing. Such beauty and such intense, glorious colour. When I chose the amaryllis (I bought it when I was in Ilkley in January sometime), I really did deliberate over which colour to go for. In fact, at first I picked up one that was the palest pinky white with delicate pink stripes running through the petals. I thought perhaps it would be good to go with something a little different for a change. But I just couldn't bring myself to go through with it in the end. I put the pale pink variety back and predictably plumped for good ol' Amaryllis Red Lion, always guaranteed to pack a punch with the colour. Pale pink? Whatever was I thinking?!!

The focus of February has been very much on indoors, keeping warm and occupying our time with cosy, feel-good pursuits. Baking, crocheting and fireside pleasure. Early nights tucked up in bed, good, wholesome home cooked food. Keeping the Little People happy indoors whilst allowing time for my own creativity. When I look at these pictures I think cor! What a lovely, happy, homely, cosy, warm month February was! Yet I recall that there was often an underlying feeling of discontent. Bad weather. Restlessness. Gloom. Germs. I guess that if you jumble up all the good things with the not-so-good things, then overall the month evened itself out. It was just right. It was a slow, winter month spent doing indoorsy, winter things.

Some good things certainly came my way last month though, and the above is one of them. I was incredibly chuffed to pick up a copy of Inside Crochet magazine (the March issue) to see the results of the Blog Awards in print. Such lovely words were written, so complimentary and flattering. I slurped my latte as I read (I was in a cafe with Heather at the time) and felt like my cheeks had gone pink and my insides had gone all tickly. Thank you SO MUCH, all of you lovely people who took the trouble to vote for me back in November. You really made me feel super-duper, if a little flushed and tickled.

Do you recognise the photo above? Know where it is?

It's the little village of Craster in Northumberland where we've had numerous summer holidays staying in the white house at the very end of the row. We were last there in August 2009 when I was carrying Little B around inside my rather large, round bumpy tummy. Last week, I booked the same cottage for us to re-visit for a holiday this summer, and I am soooooooooooooooooo happy about that fact! As soon as I had made the booking and paid the deposit, I went straight into my photo archives and pulled out this image to make a print. It's sitting on my desk like a postcard from the past, reminding me that in less than six months time we will be back there again. I think planning and booking a summer holiday in February is ace, I can highly recommend it.

 

Weather wise, February here in Atticland has been pretty dire on the whole. It's mostly been a month of wet grey yuckiness. Of course, there have been some good weather bits here and there. The snow was good fun. And the odd bit of sun and blue sky that peeked through the gloom was incredible and very memorable.

My February attic views are mainly shades of grey..........

Oh! Not so grey! That last picture above was 24th February, a time when the sky finally cleared after the rain and for a wee while there was some colour back in the landscape. I'm hoping March is going to be very much more along these lines, I've SO had enough of the wet grey stuff. So over it. Need Spring to come now. Anytime as from tomorrow would be good.

So that sums up February 2012. Not really so bad after all. In fact, it looks pretty good I'd say.

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January 2012

So we are now one month into the New Year, I wonder how it's been for you all? I hope you've all had a bright and happy start to 2012 and that you've managed to keep those sneaky January Blaaaaahs at bay. I've had a pretty fabulous start to the year, lots of creativity here as you know which has been a lovely way to launch into 2012. You can't beat a good dose of happy colour and creativity to keep the spirits up.

I'm going to be continuing my tradition of monthly Calendar Appreciation throughout this year, I can hardly believe this will be my fifth year of doing this funny little thing. Wow, how time flies.

I've got the ever wonderful Ideal Homes  calendar on the wall next to my desk here.....

....and a rather scrumptious new Planner type calendar in the hall to keep me on track with family life.

The Ideal Homes calendar does not disappoint, not ever. I love love love it. I stopped buying the magazine a while ago as it no longer appealed (some very iffy interiors with waaaaay too much funky wallpaper and horrendous colour choices for me to stomach). But the free calendar which appears with each December issue remains a true gem. Twelve incredibly beautiful, seasonal photographs which I truly look forward to gazing at every month.

My family planner calendar was  a last minute buy when I suddenly realised after Christmas that I needed one and didn't have one. I really love it actually, but it does make me feel peckish for cakes every time I look at it. I could just do with a cupcake or two right now, mmmmmm.

Isn't January always a super-long month? It seems to me that it contains maybe eight weeks instead of four. I can hardly believe that the beginning of January still contained the tail-end of Christmas, it seems soooo far behind us now.

We haven't had many crisp, bright winter mornings here as it's mostly been a very wet, grey sort of a month with low light levels. But there were a few times when we did get some beautiful skies in January. Oh and I did appreciate them!

And throughout the past month I've certainly noticed (with a glad heart-skip) that our days are slowly but steadily lengthening again. We are still eating our breakfast with the curtains closed, but the evening is arriving almost an hour later than it did in December. I live in a very housey neighbourhood with only small glimpses of the sky (excepting the attic view of course) but I do really  love to star and moon gaze up through the chimney pots and rooftops.

My usual healthyish diet went completely to pot over the Christmas period and continued to be rich, extravagant and naughty well into January. I kept trying to curb my sweet tooth, but my sugar cravings have been extraordinary. I'm looking now at those two mugs of deliciously topped hot chocolate (a New Years Day treat for Little Lady and myself) and I honestly feel like I want to eat my computer....ahhh fond memories.

I love baking in the winter months, and my January photo folder is full of the evidence. Scrummy pictures of jam laden victoria sponge, all-butter shortbread and moist banana bread have been sending me into a spin of craving. I'm pretty much back on track with myself now though, back to snacking on fresh fruit with just a weeny daily quota of sweet stuff.

That's altogether how January has felt really....an effort to get oneself Back On Track. Back to routine, back to the daily business of ticking over. I found it quite a struggle when the Little People went back to school after Christmas, they are especially excellent at keeping their Little Brother happy and we both felt a bit adrift when it was just down to the two of us again. But it didn't take long and we soon got back into enjoying the gentle rhythm of our days together.

I've been managing to maintain my enthusiasm for Keeping House so far this year, and am still diligently carrying out my daily swishing and swiping, laundry duties and hot-spot control. My weekly Home Blessing hour is still going strong too, and I've come to look forward to my Friday mornings, more than I ever thought possible. I carried out a little bit of extra decluttering and tidying around my desk area too in January (including the windowsill above, which is directly behind my desk), and I felt so great when I'd done it. I really MUST apply myself wholeheartedly to the Shelves of Doom next as they are beginning to cause arguments. Stuff keeps getting eaten by them, which makes J Very Cross Indeed, cos getting the shelves to spit stuff back out again is not easy. Near impossible actually.

Anywaaayyyyyyyyyyy.....lets not get bogged down with Bad Home Vibes. I want to show you some freezing cold January pictures now. Icy cold, brrrrrrrrrrrr. We've had low, low temperatures here of late. No snow yet this year, but quite a bit of frost and ice.

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago in mid January, and it's the same scene at the moment too. The canal is frozen over and the poor ducks and swans are slip sliding across the ice.

There are still a fair few canal boats coming and going when the ice thaws and they can travel the waterways. It always looks so cozy when you see a boat with a steady plume of wood smoke rising from the chimney. That smell of icy air and woodsmoke will forever remind me of this town in wintertime, I've come to love it very much. It smells like Home.

And the Attic view in January? Some incredible golden-pink morning light.....

.....and some welcome low afternoon sunshine.

Oh, and lots of white frosty stuff too. Mind you, for many days in January there has been no view to speak of as the hill has been completely obscured. It really has mostly been a month of damp, wet and grey.

My January mosaic isn't damp and grey though, it seems I've been subconsciously combatting the weather with lots of colour, warmth and coziness inside.

Fresh flowers, green shoots, colourful yarn, delicious baking, snuggly socks, roaring flames, cozy blankets, sweet creativity. January goodness.

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October 2011

Isn't this October calendar page sooo atmospheric and Autumnal? Little B (who LoVeS ducks) has enjoyed this month's picture and has regularly been found quacking at the calendar. 

So...October has been and gone, it's felt like a long month! I've been looking back through my photo archives to remind myself what I've been up to during the past 31 days. Honestly, my memory is seriously shot through, I can hardly remember yesterday let alone weeks ago. I just realised that I've slipped out of the habit of making my monthly mosaics, no reason for it mind you, it's somehow just not happened. However, I felt inspired to create a visual summary of October, so here it is.......

...doesn't seem quite as colourful as usual, but it does perfectly sum up the month for me, most especially the change of seasons. September still felt very much like it had it's feet rooted in Summer, whereas October most definitely swung itself into Autumn.

We've had some incredible skies throughout October, with some awesome bright and clear sunshiney Autumn days.....

.....some incredible early morning sunrise colours.....

....and some magical early evening sunsets.

It makes me smile to notice how many of my photos each month are taken with the camera pointed sky-wards! I never tire of observing the weather, the light, the clouds, I'm continously enchanted by the rhythm of the seasons played out in the skies.

Last week as I think I mentioned, the family was roosting at home for half term hols and during this time I tried to take a few pics of the way we spent our at-home days. One of the things I adore about blog writing (more so the longer I stick at it) is the way it allows me to capture a tiny bit of the Little People's childhood. I look back at my blog writing over the years and I am incredibly grateful to myself (!!) for taking the time and effort to photograph and write about our Ordinary Life. It allows me to peek back through a small window into the past if you like. Posts like this, this and this. Just plain ol' family life at home, but oh so precious for their Ordinariness.
So in no particular order, here are some visual snips from last week's activities....

:: chalking pictures on the road outside the house ::

:: Little Lady, bubble blowing for her wee brother ::

:: Little Lady's Knitty Suitcase after a knitting spell on the sofa ::

:: den-building. The sofa was pulled forward and a long, thin hideaway was created behind ::

:: Little B loving the Brio train track, inherited from his big brother ::

:: Little Man, hanging on the street with four of his buddies, all on their wheels ::

:: helping Little Man to master simple origami boat building (instructions here) ::

:: me, working on some ideas for new Christmas decs (tweaking still needed) ::

Sigh. They grow sooo fast don't they? Heart warming to see that some simple things are remaining constant across the years (bubble blowing, chalking, den building with blankets).

Cripes, I am sighing a lot writing this post, I'm glad you can't hear me!! I'm feeling quite reflective I guess. It's good though, to look back and view the patterns of one's life. Good in a sighing sort of a way.

Right, lets view some Views shall we?? A selection of October vistas from the Attic window then....

Lovely.

Last week we finally felt the cold creep in and lit the fire for the first time, more than a month later than last year. It was absolutely wonderful I have to say. Makes the Autumn season Official somehow, when the first frost has been and the first fire's been lit.

Only sixty one days left of this year you know.

*Sigh*

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September 2011

First day of October today?????? Is it really?????? Crumbs. Who'd have thought it?!

We are experiencing an extraordinary late summer heat wave here in the UK this week. The skies've been summer-blue and there's been real heat in the sun these past few days, very unusual for this time of year. It's felt absolutely wonderful actually, like a precious and unexpected gift. It was my heart felt wish for summer to linger just a little longer, and it feels like my wish came true, I'm sending up my thanks to the Cosmos!

September in general has felt decidedly Autumnal though, and I've noticed some beautiful seasonal colours around and about.

The trees are very slowly losing their fresh summer greens, and there has been the crisp scent of Autumn in the air. 

The light has been incredible too, very mellow and golden.

As ever I continue to enjoy my calendar pictures, they deliver a very sweet and seasonal message.

They say :: Harvest and Make things! Gather and preserve!

I love the idea of making preserves, of gathering produce and brewing up jars of tasty condiments. But truthfully I am not one of those people who does kitchen stuff involving dough or thermometers. I avoid things that have potential to Fail Miserably. Failing to rise, or failing to set, nope, better not to go there in the first place.

However, when one is presented with Natures Harvest one is morally obliged to do something with it don't you think? It would be so rude and wasteful not to. So when blackberries and windfall apples were given to us I bravely swallowed my fear of jam making and got stuck in. And, dear readers, it was a resounding success and I magically produced two jars of bramble and apple jam.

These weeny crab apples were given to us when we were down in Dorset and for a week or two after our return they sat in the kitchen making me feel burdened. But after the jam-making success, I decided to have a go at making some crab apple jelly from a recipe I found on the internet (and I am very sorry I've just tried to search for it but cannot for the life of me find it). The recipe seemed easy enough and basically involved apples, lemon juice and sugar. Oh, and a muslin bag thingy for straining the juice from the apples.

It worked out just fine, and lo and behold I produced a jar of beautiful golden jelly. I felt ridiculously proud of myself I can tell you, and even had some stirring thoughts about aiming to conquer my fear of yeast products in the near future. Maybe that'll be Octobers challenge.

September has seen me very busy within my four walls as I continue to work on my newly established Home-loving routines. This past week I've been concentrating on the living room, just one hour a day and no more. I've been pulling out all the furniture, re-arranging shelves, cleaning windows, de-cobwebbing the coving, showering my houseplants (!) and generally giving this much-used living space a good dose of love. I am really enjoying this new approach to keeping house and I'm finding the one-hour-a-day thing suits me very well. It's just enough time to achieve results without it taking over or becoming a chore. I can highly recommend it.

But with the sky being soooooo blue this week and the sun feeling sooooo warm, I've been relishing my outdoor Morning time too.

I've enjoyed not one but two trips out to Bolton Abbey with various friends this week. Taking Little B to explore the dappled sunlit woodlands has been sooo enjoyable, he loves to walk and explore and you can fair see the happiness radiating out of his little body as he potters about making discoveries. He learnt about the sneaky tripping-up nature of tree roots the hard way. He also learnt that Bolton Abbey Ducks are not afraid of little children and will come and steal food from their hands if they don't pay attention. He also learnt that splashing in cold river water can be lots of fun once one acclimatises one's little feet to the temperature. Thank goodness for baby crocs.

We went to visit the Money Trees, and made our secret little wishes on the ancient coins. Well that's to say that I did, I'm not sure a one year old is capable of making financial wishes.

The trees at Bolton Abbey were still looking remarkably green and lush for September actually, still very much more Summer than Autumn up in the canopy.

The view from the Attic Window throughout September has really looked very Autumnal though. There's been that subtle change in the light and colours that defines the Autumn lanscape.

Take a look......................................

The second picture from the end was taken one afternoon following a very heavy rain storm, I remember how incredible the light was that day. September did see a lot of rain mid month, and I was even forced to dig out my wellies at one point. But overall, it's been a wonderful transition month, a kind of Summer-Autumn-backtoSummer hybrid. It's allowed me to ease gently out of Summer mode and step gently into Autumn mode. In fact I feel rather excited by Autumn this year which is very unusual, me being a Summer Girl through and through. 

Yes, I think October's going to be a terrific month. Bring it on. I'm ready.

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