Attic24

Ticking Along

❉ It was our half term week last week and we spent our days being as slow, lazy and uneventful as possible, which was rather blissful following the last few weeks of underlying stress. We pottered and pootled, idled and lounged, and occasionally we got dressed and ventured out into the cool damp Autumn.

❉ We walked a little in our local neighbourhood, visiting the shops for food supplies and stopping in at our favourite cafes for the comfort of a hot milky drink.

❉ The farm shop is especially good at celebrating the seasons throughout the year with it's plants, flowers, produce and decorations, and there is always a lovely display of some sorts in the front entrance. Last week it was all about the pumpkins as we prepared to celebrate Halloween. 

❉ I love the flower section of the farm shop best of all (although the bakery also makes me swoon) - at one time when I was much younger I had dreams of becoming a florist, well, that's to say I loved the idea of faffing with flowers and calling it a job. I occasionally buy single stems from here when something especially appeals (eucalyptus stems are a favourite), but it's quite a pricey way to acquire flowers for the home. Pretty though, isn't it?

❉ On Friday I sat for a few hours in the cafe with my yarny friends and finished attaching my latest mandala to it's hoop. I really really love the serene colours in this mandala, they came together quite by accident and remind me a little of my Harmony blanket colours (blues and purples with a dash of pink and green). I followed the Bougainvillea Doily pattern by Zelna Olivier using around a dozen colours of Stylecraft Cotton Classique DK. I added two additional rounds to make it the right size for attaching to a 45cm hoop and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I've got it hanging against the blue/grey wall in my studio at the moment and it looks especially lovely against that colour.

❉ Sampling for my Sweet Pea blanket continues, and I've been working on the colour order for the stripes during the past few weeks. It takes slow, consistent time and effort to work through this part of the design process, but I absolutely love love love doing it. I spend hours and hours (literally) crocheting up a series of thin stripes to represent the whole blanket, getting a feel for how the colours like to play with each other and how my floral colour story is choosing to tell itself. The above photo is the result of the first sample being all wrong - sometimes I keep the wrong ones as a reference and sometimes I decide to pull it all apart and start again from scratch.

Yesterday I finished sample number four and it made my heart skip a beat, so I think I'm pretty much there with it - so happy about that! I've been doing the nitty gritty sampling too  - weighing out yarn and working tension samples so that I can gauge how many stitches, how many pattern repeats, how many rows etc. It's all good fun and makes me ridiculously excited for the blanket journey to actually begin. Sweet Pea yarn packs will be available in about four weeks I think, the week commencing 3rd December. Bring it on, I can't WAIT!

❉ On Monday the Little People returned to school and J and I went to have a leisurely, unhurried coffee followed by a trip to purchase a modest box of fireworks for the evenings entertainment (for those not in the UK, we light fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th November). It was the usual fun - as you know we don't actually have a garden so we make do by using a flower pot filled with earth on the wall of our back yard. Fortunately the fireworks were just the right level of noise and crackle to entertain the Little Peeps without being too scary dangerous - there were only a few which made us run for cover!

❉ The sparklers were a hit, ahhh, so nostalgic! I love the smell of them, they instantly transport me way back in time to my own childhood. We had fun prancing about in the back street with our neighbours, the Little People dancing and twirling and lighting up the night.

❉ It's been very stormy today, wet, grey and howling. The trees are clinging on to their leaves but I feel sure there will be bare branches before long. It's that strange time when the seasons are merging - still Autumn but with the edge of Winter making itself felt. I don't mind it too much, but the low light levels are hard going I have to say.

❉  I bought a new candle on Monday, oh it smells soooooo good! It's Orange & Star Anise and just right for these cold, dark Autumn evenings - warm, fruity and comforting without being too Christmassy. I'm not mad keen on the gold patterned glass jar, but I'm loving the scent so much that I'm willing to overlook the glitz.

In other news, I've started making a smaller companion paper toadstool to go with the one above that I made last week. I've gathered some moss (real moss which I'm air drying), some thin copper wire and some gorgeous paper butterflies to create something of a mini Autumn sculpture thingy. I am stalling with the sticking of all the little toadstool gills though, I need to really be in the mood to get all gummed up with glue.

❉ And so the days are ticking along, a sweet combination of creative energy and slow, nothing-much days, of gentle parenting and the juggling of yarn and time and responsibilities. It's all good, more than good actually, and I am so grateful that I can say that and feel it too.

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A Week of Taking it Slow

So this has been the sloooooooow week following on from the rollercoaster week, and to be completely honest I am very glad it's over. There has been underlying stress to our days as J took the week off work to recover, which in itself has felt rather strange. He is very rarely unwell and the concept of time off work with enforced rest and recovery didn't especially come naturally to him. Luckily I was able to gently help him ease through the days as he took some necessary time out, and I think we managed pretty well all things considered.  

One of the things we did last week was make sure that we took a walk every day - nothing too strenuous, just some gentle strolling around our neighbourhood. We would drop Little B at school, then off we would go to stretch our legs and breathe in the Autumn air.

I know I talk often about the woods in our town as it's one of our favourite go-to places when we don't want to take the car out. It's absolutely wonderful to have this place so close by as you can literally access it just a minute or two from the high street, gosh I do so appreciate it!

The Woodland Trust do a great job maintaining it and creating some wonderful additions too (I love this beautiful carved poem bench which is fairly new). Just recently a couple of amazing willow sculptures have arrived, created by a North Yorkshire willow artist. This one is right by the main entrance and is called "Willow Hunter". It's a crazy-beautiful thing, so much energy, movement and feeling created by a collection of twigs. 

It's been cold and dry this week, and so we've had the pleasure of kicking through the fallen leaves as we've walked. No, you are never too old for this activity, not ever!

The colours in the woodland are really reminding me of my Woodland blanket, and I think that this week I might take it out on location for a little bit of a photo shoot. I get a bit nervous about doing this sort of thing, but I need to not care what anyone else thinks because, well......it'll be worth it, right? I think I'd very much like to see my Woodland stripes in situ, so I'll muster up some braveness and make it happen.

I went up to the allotment this week to have a poke around, it's all looking a bit forlorn and in need of an end of season tidy up. I keep thinking that the sweet peas are over as the plants themselves are looking rather bedraggled and my bamboo and string trellis collapsed in the last storm that whipped through here a few weeks ago. But when I was there this week, miraculously there were indeed more flowers to be picked, which made me insanely happy.

The colours are so beautiful - I don't edit my photos at all (too lazy for that), so the brightness and contrast in the above image is naturally how these flowers are in real life. Ah, I LOVE them!!! So much!!!

I've had the pleasure of this teensy little posy on my table all week, making my happiness levels rise with every sniff of those petals. The scent isn't quite as strong as it was with flowers picked in the height of summer, but nevertheless it is still blooming lovely.

As you can see in the above photo, I've been inspired by these sweet floral colours, and I've been sampling up some colours ready for my next CAL (Crochet-A-Long) blanket. YES!!! Consider this a sneak-peek!!!!!

Yarn packs will be available at the beginning of December and the CAL will begin on Friday 4th January 2019, and run for 8 weeks in total.
I've designed a new stitch/stripe which is perfect for beginners, or for people like me who need some therapeutic, soothing rows of colour to start the New Year off beautifully. Just to reassure you, the sneak peek in the above photo is part of my colour sequence sampling and NOT the actual blanket pattern. The pattern for the Sweet Pea blanket is new, and will be worked with two rows per stripe, as is usual for my blanket designs. I'll be able to show you a little more of the pattern closer to the time. I am very (very very very) excited about this blanket, it makes me want to squeal just a little.

On the days when we didn't walk in the woods, we walked along the canal, through the park and up to the farm shop instead. The bonus of walking that way is that it involves not just a nice walk but the possibility of some refreshment too, which does hold a certain appeal I have to admit.

We walked up one afternoon after J had been at the hospital to see a consultant and we both instinctively needed to be out in the sunshine to take the edge off.

Rather than sit in the farm shop cafe, we picked up a couple of take out lattés and some chocolate, then came back into the park to sit a while on a wooden bench. It was so nice to feel the sun on my face, I really love it when you close your eyes to the sun, and it's all pinky-orange inside your eyelids. That glowing warmth is so comforting somehow.

I picked up the above leaf for no reason other than the colours called to me, aren't they beautiful? Autumn right there in my fingertips.

The drop in temperature this week has drawn us to light the fire in the late afternoon, as much for the comfort factor as the warmth. This will be our eleventh autumn/winter with an open fire (there was a horrid electric fire shoved into the brick fireplace when we first moved in), and I wouldn't trade it for anything. We have central heating radiators so our house is generally very warm and cosy in winter, but the open fire adds such a lot of feel good - it's warmth for the heart and soul. 

Whilst I faff with my sweet pea colours and ponder on the stripes for my next blanket, I have needed a crochet project to keep my creative self occupied. As is often the case for me when I'm in between blankets, I find that mandala therapy delivers just the right amount of creative satisfaction. I found a lovely free pattern called the "Bougainvillea Doily" by Zelna Olivier, it's a beauty! I was working on the first version at the cafe and went a bit wrong in the light blue rounds (I didn't read the pattern properly and mis-counted the clusters), so I ended up having to wing it a bit after that. I'm hoping that my second attempt will work out better as it's such a beautiful design - please note that the pattern is written in US crochet terms, so UK hooksters will need to translate. I'm planning on crocheting these to metal hoops to add to my collection - I might crochet some additional rounds and make them bigger, I haven't decided just yet.

This weekend I've deliberately tried to take some care to relax and fully recharge my batteries after a rather draining week. I took myself back to bed yesterday morning following an early start, and ended up sleeping until 10am - I guess I must have needed those extra hours more than I realised.

Yesterday I unearthed a small pile of magazines that had remained unopened since Yarndale took over my life - this is the September issue of Country Living UK which has some beautiful floral inspiration in it's pages. Ahh, beautiful hydrangeas, still not my most favourite flowers, but I do so love the blanket that they inspired.

I've spent a fair few hours nesting on the sofa this weekend, sometimes on my own, sometimes with Little B snuggled up....

....and sometimes with the kitty. She likes to flollop down on my legs in a big long, heavy heap, which I'm not complaining about as she is super cosy and warm when she sleeps like that. She's like a living hot water bottle. 

 

I lit my jar candles earlier on today, and thought to myself that I'd like to crochet some more jar covers in Autumn colours, perhaps decorated with an acorn and oak leaf or two.

Tomorrow.......tomorrow yes I think I will conduct some seasonal mantel faffery. I'll dig out my pumpkins and hang my garland from last year. And yes, maybe I'll pick up my hook and crochet some lacy lime, orange and gold and bring a little bit more Autumn colour into my home.

The Little People are off school now as it's our half term break - it's a week later than it usually is, so I've had three rather tired and grumpy offspring to deal with this past week. We've absolutely no plans whatsoever  - we shall drift through the days as the mood takes us, perhaps going out locally, perhaps just staying close to home. I predict that we shall spend rather a lot of time enjoying fireside treats and really that is absolutely fine by me. 

Have a good week, whether you are venturing out or staying close to home. I hope your days are full of slow, cosy, happy.

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A Week of Highs and Lows

Hello, how you doing? How's your week been? I wasn't going to post this weekend as I've had a rather traumatic few days (the lows in the above title) and am feeling rather worn down. But then I remembered how much better I always feel when I make time to sit quietly in the Attic and send my words out into cyber space for you to catch and read, and so here I am. Sitting, thinking, holding on to the memory of the highs in the above title.

At the start of the week J and I took advantage of our non-working Monday arrangement (which has been one of the best things to happen for us in recent times) and set out to walk some miles in the Dales. 

It's a beautiful time of year for walking with perfect temperatures and amazing light, and the freshness of Autumn air is invigorating. It's a lovely time for J and I to chat too, and we end up talking about all sorts of random things as we cover the miles.

Oh, I do love love love walking for pleasure, it makes me so happy to be out there amongst all that natural colour, climbing hills, rambling along quiet country lanes and woodland trails....

....strolling along peaceful riverbanks, climbing over stiles and striding across lush fields. I love it all.

As you can see, it's looking gloriously Autumnal around these parts, and if you could zoom in on the above photo you would notice that the ground is absolutely covered with fallen conkers - loads and loads and loads of them! I have honestly never seen so many in all my life - great big juicy, shiny conkers for days.

Linton Falls was spectacular in it's fullness, both the visuals and the noise levels, gosh this is one noisy bit of river! No matter how many times we visit this spot along the river Wharfe, it never fails to wow me, it's just so BiG and rushing and spectacular. As you well know, my heart is always happiest when it's be the sea shore, but this lovely stretch of river feels like home to me since we've been walking here for over twenty years.

I snapped  a photo of a pair of chattering magpies sat on the house at the top of my street on Tuesday. It's not often we see these birds around here, but I automatically thought - ahhhh, two for joy!! Yay!!!! (If you' don't know this rhyme, you can read about it here). The thought of something joyful happening really put a spring in my step, which is a bit ridiculous really, but some superstitions stick with you from childhood and they are hard to shake. I seriously hate seeing just one lonesome magpie.

I've been finishing up the tutorial for my felted basket this week, taking lots of photographs and measurements before the basket goes on it's thrilling journey into the washing machine. I was meant to do that today, but chickened out haha!! I am both excited and nervous about putting all that work into a load of spinning hot soapy water, but I think tomorrow I should do it, don't you? I really want to show it to you and share the pattern - I've got a pure wool yarn pack all ready to go too, so I really do need to stop being a wuss.

I wanted to share this with you as it's had a big impact on me this week. This is called "Five Ways to Wellbeing" and I came across it as I was researching online with Little B for his homework. I completely love that he's been talking about this in school - we talked a lot about it together too,  about how we can look after our mental wellbeing and he made a fantastic presentation in his homework book all about it. I would consider myself to be very mentally healthy, but it's always good to be reminded not to take it for granted.

The weather this week has been sublime, a beautiful slice of autumnal perfection. 

We've woken to very cold mornings with frost and low lying mist, but accompanied by the most delicious golden sunshine. 

The combination has been atmospheric and breathtaking, especially the way the mist swirls over the surface of the canal as we walk along the tow path to school.

We played Eye Spy on this misty morning, Little B and I, crikey that child is ridiculously good at it. He picked something beginning with the letter T, and all the way to school I was trying so hard to get my brain to figure out what he might be seeing. All. The. Way. To. School. I had to give in when we ran out of walking time, much to his utter delight. Turns out is was T for Tag (as in the name tag on his guitar which I was carrying in my hand the whole way), I wanted to tell him off, but really I need to up my game.

I've started eating Brunch on the days that I'm at home, and it suits me very well. I sit down with just a frothy coffee at 8am when the Little People are tucking into their bowls of cereal, then make myself something more substantial around 10.30. My current favourite thing is toasted multi-seeded bread, topped with mashed up avocado, a little olive oil, heavy-handed seasoning, and a poached egg. All those flavours and textures make my toes curl with pleasure. I then eat a light bit of mid afternoon snackage instead of a full blown lunch, and I so look forward to it! Sometimes it might be cheese and crackers with some fruit, or maybe some bread sticks with hummus and salad, or sometimes a toasted crumpet eaten with the Little People when they come home from school. We still all sit down for our main meal at around 5.30 and it's the highlight of my day, truly. I love love love family meals, they are precious times indeed.

The past few days we've had a bit of an Indian Summer and I painted my toenails coral pink to celebrate. I even got to wear my sandals out today which pleased me enormously. As much as I love hand knit socks and colourful boots at the end of my feet in Autumn, nothing beats being able to wiggle your bare toes in the unexpected October sunshine.

I took the above photos on Thursday evening as we walked down through the park on our way to the swimming pool, gosh the sun was something else at that time of day. It was low and golden, slanting through the trees as it made its end of day descent. We were running late so I wasn't able to linger as long as I would have liked - I am such a sun worshiper, I wanted to stand still and drink it in for long, long beautiful golden minutes. But I had to be content with some quick snaps, and then a bit of a run to catch up with J and Little B who refused to wait for me while I faffed.

Little did we know at that time that within an hour, things would take such a dramatic turn. Gosh, life sure does throw a major wobbly sometimes! I won't go into detail, suffice to say that we spent six hours in the hospital that evening with J. He is OK and was able to come home, but it was flippin' scary at the time and we are still somewhat recovering from the trauma of it all. 

Despite very little sleep Thursday night, I felt the pressing need to be out of the house and surrounded by friends on Friday morning, with a much needed dose of caffeine and some gentle yarn therapy. I felt wrung out, but so so glad for the gentle rhythm of my hook and the happy conversations that flowed around me. I never cease to give thanks for the joy that crochet brings to my life, and how it soothes the soul when it is most needed.

Before I go, I want to say a heart felt thank you for all your Birthday wishes on my last post, I'm so grateful for your kindness! I love the friendship that surrounds my little Attic window, thank you so very much for all that you send my way. 

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ps without too much fanfare, could I possibly just show you this exciting news????

 

 

 

Summers End

We passed the Autumn Equinox on Sunday, and that's our Summer over for another year. Often in the past, this time of year would absolutely flatten me with an overwhelming sense of melancholy mixed in with something akin to mild panic. I honestly used to dread the end of September which is a bit sad really because it's just a collection of emotions based on nothing tangible. I would mourn the end of Summer with a deep down feeling of real loss. But this year? Well...............I feel great about Autumn slowly arriving, really and truly! I think this is mostly down to the fact that we enjoyed such an amazing summer this year, oh it's been utterly glorious and I have so many warm, sunny memories to tide me over this period of seasonal transition.

It feels like Autumn has crept in early, just as Summer did back at the start of May. I ususally think of September as a "late Summer month", but this year, it has felt very autumnal right from the start.

This is the stretch of the river between Burnsall and Linton, which is a part of the Yorkshire Dales that feels very familiar and comforting to us as we walk here often. On this Sunday morning in early September it was warm and muggy as we ambled along, me, J and Little B. I remember feeling like we needed to make the very most of the last remaining days of holiday before the new school year began, and a slow walk along the riverside felt like just the right kind of thing.

Our destination was the Old School Tearoom in Hebden which I can highly recommend if you are ever in the area visiting. It's an absolute gem of a place in a charming Dales village - we like to go mid morning for coffee and brunch, and if the weather is mild there's a lovely garden you can sit in whilst you enjoy some very good food and drink. 

Being that this was an end of holiday treat, Little B took full advantage and ordered up a waffle, complete with toffee sauce, ice cream and banana. He declared it "soooooooooooooo good.....but not better than the waffle in Bruges", which I think is fair enough. I don't think any waffle will ever be as good as the one in Bruges. 

The following day, Little B and I went off just the two of us for a day in the City. During the summer he had kept asking, and I had kept promising, and quite frankly with only two days of holiday left I was running out of time to make good on my promise. When he tumbled out of bed that morning, I calmly told him we would be getting the train and heading for a day out in the City and he nearly jumped through the ceiling with excitement. It made me think that maybe I need to work harder at fulfilling promises, because he was so shocked that we were actually going to do it!

It was fun being just the two of us, he is terrific company, a real chatter box and still at an age where train journeys and trips out in general hold much excitement. We spent a bit of time shopping (very last minute school uniform, and some Lego as an end of holiday treat), and then it was time for the most exciting part of the whole trip.......a visit to The Alchemist......

.....and yes you would be right in thinking that this is a rather posh cocktail bar and not especially the kind of place for an eight year old to wish for with so much enthusiasm. We were lucky to get a table outside on the terrace (it's high up, with stunning city views), and proceeded to order up some mocktails. Oh boy, the excitement!!! Little B is quite a science geek, so the fact that the cocktail menu is set out like the periodic table really floated his little boat, as did the rather chemical looking drink that arrived for him. Such fun. He absolutely loved it, so much so that he chose to write about it in his "what I did in the holidays" report at school. I hope the teacher doesn't think badly of me for making a cocktail bar the highlight of his holiday.

I spent a bit of time towards the end of the Summer enjoying some non-crochet creative time, which was hugely enjoyable. Crochet will always be my passion and my first love, but every so often it gives me a lot of pleasure to follow other people's patterns and designs and do something just for fun. I knitted a pair of socks (more on those in another post), and I worked some more on my latest cross stitch.

I am totally loving this design (by Tiny Modernist on Etsy), and find that the extreme concentration needed to prevent a stitchy balls-up really frees up my mind and relaxes me. I've had to put it away again for a while as I've been concentrating on doing Yarndale work, but I'm really looking forward to life post-Yarndale when I'll have time to sit quietly and stitch again.

The Little People have been back at school for three weeks now, and all seems to be calm and settled in their respective childhood worlds. I was thinking about that fact this afternoon, and was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of gratitude for the fact that right now, all three of my offspring are content, happy, doing well for themselves and thriving. I am so so glad. I walk along the canal every morning with Little B, and feel so happy that this is our routine, our life. We are blessed, and I never for one moment take it for granted. 

I treated myself to a new light weight summer cardy before all the winter woollies arrived. I bought it mainly because I loved the colour - it's kind of a cross between mustard and lime green and I've been wearing it with anything and everything, not caring if it matches or not. I thought the colour looked especially good alongside these leaves that I picked up from the bottom of the street. The big sycamore trees are always the first to start changing colour, reminding me that Summer is slowly slipping away.

I'm still so madly in love with my Cottonsoft blanket, and have become very possessive of it. I enjoy having it with me at night - even if it's too warm to have it on top of me, I like sleeping with it folded up at my feet. Don't ask me why, but it gives me such a lot of comfort and I love having those beautiful, soft summer ripples close by. 

My hill view is looking so lovely right now (well not right this very minute as it's pitch black out there now). The countryside is lush after a lot of rain these past few weeks, and there is something about the particular mellowness of the September sun that makes the light and shadows look very beautiful as they pass across the hillside.

We've been walking locally a bit just lately, Little B and I striding out after dinner to make the most of this time of year when the daylight hours allow an evening walk. We have a circuit we like to do which takes us up steep, steep streets of (posh) houses to the very edge of our town, then a wide farm track around the foot of the above hill, through a gate and into the top of the woods. We have to time it right, because walking in the woods as it starts to get dark is a bit tricky to be honest!

But it's lovely to emerge at the outer edge of the woodland and take in the early evening view over the town. I appreciate being able to do this at the end of my often hectic days, a chance to gently unwind as the day comes to a close. 

I hope that whatever transition you are making as we shift from one season to the next, that you find pleasure in your days.

Enjoy every moment!

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Summer Plodding

✿ a walk to the farm shop on my own one morning last week, just because I didn't feel like going home. I bought a bar of my favourite chocolate and a take away milky coffee, then walked back through the park to my favourite bench to sit in the sun and consume the aforementioned refreshments.  It was a small window of relaxation in my busy week that I would probably have forgotten about if I hadn't just come across the above photo of my bench view. These are the same cherry trees that I photographed in this post back in May - in fact if you look at the 2nd to last photo in that post you'll see my favourite bench right there under the trees.

✿ pegging out the laundry and having a little tussle with the clematis. It's flowering beautifully this year whilst attempting to grow it's way along my washing line. I've decided to leave it be and peg around it as best as I can.

✿ A Sunday morning walk along the river - this is Linton Falls looking incredibly dry and depleted (you can see this same spot in my November post when the river was in full flow). 

✿ the heatwave continues here in he UK, with temperatures reaching 29°C (this is around 84°F which I know isn't at all hot for many of you in other parts of the world, but it is for us Brits!). I love the hot weather (love love love it) but it sure looks like hard work for those wearing a woolly fleece.

✿ plodding along the riverside, listening to the banter going back and forth between J and Little B. It was just the three of us on this Sunday morning as the two Teens were both off doing other things.

✿ a little bit wowed by this enormous tree fungus, it was as big as a stack of dinner plates. Somehow I always associate fungus with the Autumn season, but this summer-loving one was seriously impressive.

✿ love love loving a continuous succession of summer posies in various jugs and bottles on my table. Sweet peas, cosmos, lavender and lady's mantle looking unbelievably pretty. I've got sweet peas growing at the allotment and in a large pot in the back yard too - I can't say they are really producing an abundance of flowers just yet, but there are enough for me to pick small posies every week. I've got a little bottle of flowers beside my bed at the moment too, which makes me so happy.

✿ a family jaunt out on Saturday to the RHS gardens near Harrogate where it was all very beautiful, sunshiny and refined. In complete contrast to the calm, serene surroundings our youngest child decided to behave like a wild thing.  

✿ luckily there are parts of the gardens that are very suitable for wild-child behaviour, thank goodness for the open grassy slopes (roly-polys galore) and the woodland play areas (cue much wild running). I think all that restrained behaviour on the terrace at Betty's tearoom (not to mention the sugary drink and cookie that was consumed on said terrace) simply needed an outlet. It was simultaneously worrying and inspiring watching that child deal with his excess energy.

✿ the last time we came to HC was many years ago when I was carrying Little B inside my tummy and it was Autumn time then. The gardens are an absolute delight in the height of summer, I was on visual overload for a while.

✿ I adored this wild flower meadow planted next to the kitchen garden, it was humming with bees and was such a feast for the eyes and the soul.

✿ there was so much about the gardens that I enjoyed - the alpine house, the kitchen garden, the ginomrous terracota pots overflowing with summer flowers, the willow sculptures....it was all very, very lovely. I wish I'd taken more photos, especially of the kitchen garden which was totally inspirational and made me wish for more time and energy to give to our allotment plot.

✿ J and I have been walking in the countryside every chance we get and I have so enjoyed being out and about making the most of the weather and the summer season. On Sunday all three of our offspring happened to be busy with friends so we took ourselves off to Bolton Abbey and walked the whole length and breadth of the estate. From Barden Bridge at one end down to the Abbey at the other end, crossing back and forth over the three river bridges in a big loop. I think it was around 7 or 8 miles in total and was such a lovely walk.

✿ at the start of this week we had our first proper downpour of rain in almost two months. A muggy grey day of low cloud and light drizzle, followed by heavy rainfall in the evening. The air smelt amazing and was the very definition of the word petrichor. It was just the most calming and relaxing thing to be sat quietly in bed with the window wide open, listening to the sound of the rain falling.

✿ keeping up the watering regime at the allotment has been a struggle in this dry hot weather but we are plodding on with it. Our small number of crops are hanging on in there, some doing better than others. The spinach gave up early on and bolted, but we have high hopes for cucumbers and tomatoes which are looking very promising growing in the shelter of a small plastic tenty-type greenhouse thingy. I planted a row of dwarf beans and they are the smallest bean plants I have ever seen, barely reaching above my ankles. However, they are producing flowers and beans..........and yesterday I harvested the grand total of nine beans which was very exciting in a rather small, modest way. We ate them for dinner, sharing them out two each which was a bit of a joke but the Little People made the appropriate enthusiastic noises to keep me happy. Bless 'em. In case you were wondering, I added shop-bought sugar snap peas to the 2-bean offering so it wasn't quite as desperate as it sounds. 

✿ been playing with sweet peas this week, arranging them, faffing with them, photographing them and just plain enjoying their colourful beauty, like you do. 

✿ I really want to have a go at designing a crochet sweet pea flower so that I can make some to twine around a Summer wreath.  They are very three-dimensional flowers so I've found it hard in the past to look at photos of them and work out how the petal construction might work. But having the real thing to look at makes it very much easier, and the colours are really inspiring me and my summer loving heart. 

✿ not homegrown potatoes, but the mint is growing exuberantly in one of my many back yard pots. Yesterday's dinner offering was the nine allotment green beans (with added sugar snap peas), salmon filet marinated in olive oil/lemon/honey/garlic then pan fried, and baby new potatoes tossed in butter and fresh mint. It was light, tasty and utterly summery. I hope the Little People look back on their childhood family meals and remember how blinkin' good they were. I cook from scratch with fresh ingredients most nights, and having the five of us all sit down at the table to eat our evening meal together is one of the true highlights of my day. I may be totally rubbish at housework in general, but I do always try my bestest to do a good job with the food thing.

✿ a little bit of after dinner hooky in the back yard, crocheting the last run of ripples on this gorgeous summer cotton blanket. I think I've only got around 6 stripes left to make, then it's onto the border. I'm so looking forward to telling you more about the yarn (which I've totally fallen in love with) and the two summer blankets that I've been steadily plodding away with since February. Not long to wait now.....I'm really pretty flipping excited to share, it drives me a bit bonkers to keep things under wraps for any length of time. I'll be feeling a whole load better once this is all out there, I can't wait!!!

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The Heat of Summer

In the heat of the Summer, J and I are making time to walk up and down the hot, dry hills and dales. It takes a certain amount of determination to take on a 7 mile hike in hot summer temperatures, climbing dusty tracks up steep, steep hills for the pleasure of a sweeping view. But we have absolutely loved the walks we've done in recent weeks - the weather has been stunning and I've so enjoyed spending this time outdoors stretching my muscles and soaking in all this sunshine we are being blessed with.

The above photo was taken a couple weeks ago as we climbed high above the picturesque village of Kettlewell. Gosh, it was a long steep climb and it was hot, hot, hot on this gorgeous summer morning.

We stopped beside the river to eat a picnic lunch and rest our weary feet and I was so glad to sit down for a while. When we walk in the Dales we are usually following  a circular route - sometimes we manage to complete the walk before we flop down and have something to eat, but often we like to pack a simple picnic and eat along the way. I do love the actual walking bit of a hike, but I enjoy our picnics with a scenic view the most. When I say our picnics are simple, they really are just that, but I love them so much! We buy individual pork pies from a local shop (either the farm shop or the butcher, so they are very, very good and freshly made pork pies), then take along a punnet of cherry tomatoes to go with the pie. Some fresh fruit (on this walk it was a bag of cherries from the farm shop) and some good dark chocolate. In winter we have a flask of coffee too, but summer walking just requires bottles of cold water. You may not know, but Skipton is rather famous for it's quality pork pies and we even have an award winning "celebrated pork pie establishment" in town (Stanforths) which has used the same recipe for more than 80 years. There - true local pie facts from the Attic!!

The rivers and reservoirs are very very low at the moment here in North Yorkshire as we've had very little rain during the past couple of months. But despite the lack of water the countryside is still looking green and beautiful which I'm grateful for. 

As well as the hill walking, the hot summer weather has drawn us to the riverside on a few occasions just recently. We've parked the car at Bolton Abbey and settled ourselves into some comfy camping chairs in the dappled shade of a tree for a few hours. When we are out and about during a school day we are constantly aware of the clock, so these peaceful riverside visits do have a time limit imposed on them. They give us just a couple of slow afternoon hours to sit, relax, daydream, read, crochet, ponder and chat before the school run calls us back into our parental routine. But oh, these hours do feel precious!

I'm working hard on my summer ripple blankets at the moment (yes, that's blanketS - there are two of them). I'm hoping that all being well with the good folks that produce the yarny balls, there will be new Summery yarn packs coming at the end of this month. Working on two blankets at once has meant a lot of crochet time over the past few months, but you will not in any way hear me complaining about that. I fall more deeply in love with crochet every day, and it's ability to be portable, sociable and all round fit-in-able makes it the perfect hand made package in my opinion. Add to that the fact that it has grade A therapeutic properties and you get a beautiful handmade blanket at the end of all that creative feel-good, well, it's just all-round amazing.

In total contrast to quiet riverside moments and parental routine, on Friday I hopped on a train and took myself off to Manchester for twenty four hours of not being a parent. It was an absolutely brilliant trip and I loved every minute of it. Manchester was my student city and I lived, studied and worked there for eight years in the late 80's and early 90's. It's where J and I met, and although it's changed a lot over the years, it's still a very exciting, vibrant and energetic city to experience for a short while. My Friday jaunt consisted of a fabulous lunch here, brilliant browsing here and here and afternoon tea and cake in a beautiful little cafe whose name I can't remember. The highlight of the day was an early evening ride in a lift up to the 23rd floor where we were treated to a window seat and bubbles in Cloud23 bar. I felt so far removed from my normal everyday self as I sat laughing and chatting in this luxurious setting, it was completely fabulous! The whole trip was made extra special by the  gorgeous friends I was spending time with - Christine and Emma, you are both wonderful, and I loved every second of our Manchester jaunt.

Back home from the city on Saturday, and this hot summer weather shows no signs of slowing down. I am love love loving it, honestly, I was made for weather like this. The sunshine, heat and blue skies energise me and make me happy in a way that cloudy grey just cannot do. I'm such a happy summer-loving bunny at the moment! I continue to tend to my back yard pots, watering them every day and enjoying the flowers and greenery very very much. I'm waiting patiently for my sweet peas and jasmine to flower, and my weeny yellow courgette babies to grow to an edible size. All is well in my little outdoor space (currently draped with laundry blowing in the breeze), and I am so grateful for the ease of it.

Back to the business of summer crochet, and here we have a small rainbow circle of pure happiness. This is all Little B's work, and I shall resist the temptation to squeal loudly in a fit of motherly pride. He doesn't crochet a lot, but every so often he seems to hit a period of complete and utter boredom, then sees me happily content with my hook and wants a slice of yarny pleasure for himself. He's a fast learner with a mathematical brain, so once we'd established the general idea of using  increases to create a circle, he was away with the idea and needed very little assistance from me. He is currently asking to be taught the ripple, so we shall see what that brings forth.  

I am enjoying the almost daily pleasure of pegging, un-pegging, folding and stacking sun-dried laundry from my back yard washing lines. The pile of whites always feels especially pleasing somehow after a stint of direct sunshine noticeably brightens up their whiteness. The Little People aren't so fond of the crispness of their air-dried clothes (they prefer the softness brought about by the tumble drier), but me? I'm super-happy with it all. Nothing beats the smell of sun dried cotton and if I had the inclination (and maybe a maid) I would wash my bedding every single day just so I could experience the joy of sleeping in freshly laundered, sun-kissed egyptian cotton every night.

It's so often the little things that make me happy, and these days I am full of gratitude for the simple fact of being able to turn on a tap and have great tasting, clean fresh cold water to drink on these hot days. I have to tell you that growing up in Dorset I really disliked the taste of the tap water (it's very, very chalky), and that Yorkshire tap water honestly tastes delicious to me. I've taken to using a 700ml drinking vessel which I love cos it's so easy to add handfuls of ice and slices of stuff without trying to squidge it all through the top of a bottle. My current favourite water additions are cucumber and lime slices with a few sprigs of fresh mint. Lots of ice. Give it a good shake so the mint bruises and releases it's cooling flavour and drink, drink, drink. I figure that if I drink at least two of these a day then I'm doing OK at staying reasonably hydrated.

Yesterday was a slow, delicious kind of a day, a day for pootling and pottering and leaving the car parked at the curb. After dropping Little B at school, J and I walked a few miles around the neighbourhood and through the woodland, taking the high paths through the trees that we wouldn't usually walk with the Little People. We stopped off in town for a quick coffee (outdoor seating, it felt just like being on the continent) before heading to the market, baker and supermarket. We've stopped taking the car for a weekly supermarket shopping trip, trying out the idea of shopping locally on foot as part of our daily routine. We've been trying to use the market more (a whole paper bag of cherries for £1!), the butcher, baker and of course the farm shop. 

We decided on the spur of the moment to take our lunch up to the park to eat, and afterwards to spend a few hours relaxing there. I had my crochet ripples (of course) and J was reading some news articles on his phone. We chatted about this and that, and after a while I found myself almost powerless to keep my eyes open. So I gave in and lay down on the blanket, drifting gently into the most delicious and unexpected afternoon snooze imaginable. It was so utterly peaceful and just what I didn't know I desperately needed. I didn't sleep for long, maybe 20 minutes or so, but I woke up feeling refreshed and full of summer joy. I've been fighting off a light summer cold as well as hayfever the past week or so, and I think I just needed that extra bit of shut eye. Later on, I was thinking back to the afternoon and the extra sleep I'd had, and I felt so grateful for the freedom of my days. I appreciate my freedom more than I'm able to put into words.

On the whole, these hot summer days have been pretty cloudless, but occasionally there is a gathering of wispy, feathery-light cirrus clouds overhead. These are definitely warm weather clouds and I just love the way they look against the blue of the summer sky.

Although we've passed the Summer Solstice and our days are now getting shorter (sob), they still feel pretty long and gloriously light-filled. We head to the allotment in the evenings to water the plants, when the sun is slanting low and everything is warm and mellow. 

I picked my first sweet pea flowers from the plot at the weekend, yipppeeeee!!!! It was a modest little bunch but I know that the more you pick, the more will grow so I'm hopeful for more sweet bunches as the summer goes on. The scent of them blew me away, they smell absolutely incredible. Even J was impressed and he normally can't stand smelly flowers. I've got them in a jug on my table with some lavender and cosmos and they look so pretty and full of summer vibes. 

I wonder if this post seems rather long and rambly to you, I feel as if I've waffled quite a bit haha! Needless to say, this hasn't been a planned post by any means, it's simply a collection of photos that capture the way my days are slowly unfolding at this time of year, and the rather random train of thoughts that surface as I look at them. I hope you've enjoyed your visit, I do so love chatting to you all!

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Early Summer in the Dales

It occurred to me at the weekend that as we only have six more weeks of the school year left, it would be a good idea to make the very most of every available little snippet of child free time before it all disappears in a puff of smoke. I need to make my child free days work hard in the weeks before the summer holidays (my to-do list is a thing of mammoth proportions), but also I really want to make the most of the time that J and I have to hang out together just the two of us. So we've decided that for the next six weeks, Mondays are to be used for leisure and pleasure only, no chores allowed. I am so grateful for this day in the week when neither of us needs to work, and after eighteen months of this routine we finally no longer feel like we are bunking off! It's safe to say that we really enjoy our Mondays together and I appreciate them very, very much.

As soon as we'd deposited Little B at school yesterday we drove straight out of town and up into the Yorkshire Dales. We're lucky to live close to the Dales and within 15-20 minutes we can park in any number of small villages with access to mile upon mile of public footpaths through the most glorious countryside. 

Yesterday's walk took us from the picturesque village of Burnsall up to Trollers Gill which is an ancient Limestone ravine. 

The footpath down through the ravine is a bit of a rocky scramble as you are actually walking down the dry riverbed. For most of the year the river flows underground here and the rocks are completely free of water, but we once tackled this walk after weeks of heavy rain and pretty much paddled our way down, much to the soggy dismay of the Little People!

Emerging out of the shadowy gorge and into the bright sunshine of the day is quite something, and it kind of feels a little bit like being in a film - it's very Hobbit-esk! 

The limestone landscape really feels ancient here, and it's incredibly peaceful with just the sounds of the birds and the sheep. It was lovely to see so many butterflies too, they were impossible to capture on camera, but I especially enjoyed seeing some of the small blue ones fluttering around as we walked.

There is a part of this walk that follows a small road for a mile or so, and although I much prefer walking in the fields or on farm tracks, this road is rural and generally pretty quiet.

Our seasons have shifted in the blink of an eye, and so far June has really felt like early Summer. The grasses are high and full of pollen and the endless days of hot sunshine have been absolutely blissful.

The verges and hedgerows are looking beautiful, with foxgloves and ox eye daisies blooming their hearts out.

See? Doesn't the landscape look like pure Summer to you? It's like we fast-tracked through Spring in double quick time this year, landing in Summer long before we are used to it. I'm not in any way complaining you understand, I absolutely adore the Summer season and am delighted we've been given a head start.

I wanted to stop and photograph pretty much everything, the long distance views and the close-up details all looked lush and camera worthy. But J was marching us along as we were near the river, which meant we would be nearing the end of our seven mile hike and a pint of cold beer would be in our near future. I bet he could practically taste that beer, and we were very hot and weary by this point.

Oh, but just look at the meadows, how can we walk past them and not stop to take it all in? Just look at all the flowers! Stop stop!! I have to stop and look and breathe it all in!

Ah here is the river, and the final stretch of the walk back into Burnsall. All is well.

When we arrived back in the village, we had a little debate about where to go for our lunch. Usually we are picnickers and come prepared with our own fodder, but yesterday I think we were so eager to get out of town that we clean forgot to bring anything but water. So on a whim we pulled in at the Devonshire Fell, which is rather a posh hotel perched up on the side of the hill above Burnsall, with stunning, far reaching views. Gosh, did I say it was posh? I was almost too nervous to step into the bar with my flip flops and shorts and my rather tired and bedraggled look. But I ventured in and ordered up the longed for ice cold beers, and dared to ask for a lunch menu, crikey, it was devilishly expensive. You can take a quick look at the start of this video to see what I mean - it was all very refined and not the kind of down to earth village pub scene that we are used to. Linen napkins and heavy silver cutlery, you get the picture.

Anyhow.....the upshot is that we enjoyed a spectacular ploughmans lunch for two sat outside on the sunny terrace with views to die for, and well, it was all ridiculously lovely. Such a treat and a perfect taste of early Summer.

ps if you're not familiar with a ploughmans lunch, there's an interesting write up about it here. It's very British, and very suited to outdoor summer eating.

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May End

Last week it was half term and I tell you we were all so ready for a change of pace and a break from routine. I'm sure it's the same in every household with school age children, that deep-down need for some respite from the clock watching and the nagging that comes with trying to get the offspring ready for the day and out the door on time.

On top of the usual school stuff we're in the midst of GCSE exams with The Teen, so the slight ease up last week was especially welcome for him, and for me too. I'm trying really hard to trust in his very laid back approach, trying my level best not to keep questioning his commitment or the amount of time he's spent revising. 

All will be well, I'm sure. 

So last week was all about laid back relaxation, which I'm happy to say that we all rather excel at here. However for me personally, I would have dearly loved a trip to the coast in amongst all the laid-backness, I'm feeling a strong emotional pull to be beside the sea at the moment. But when I put the idea forward to the family I was met with a complete lack of interest or understanding. I even offered to down-grade my expectations to a day trip to the West coast instead of an overnight stay on my favourite East coast, but nobody wanted to go and I have to be honest, it broke my heart a little. My Little People are growing up so fast, and most of the time I absolutely love to see their independent and strong spirits thriving. But every so often, oh I do so long to have them little again, when trips to the seaside would be met with such joy and enthusiasm.

Once I got over my disappointment and realised that we wouldn't be going anywhere at all, I settled down into our home space and made the most of the warm sunny days. We did some more to Little B's bedroom which is still an ongoing thing, and we had a bit of a clear out of rubbish in the cellar and the back yard which was very therapeutic. We bought bags of compost and I refilled all my back yard pots before planting them up with some colourful annuals. We worked at the allotment, cutting back overgrown pathways, weeding the main growing beds and preparing to plant out various little pots of veggies and herbs that we've collected from kinds friends and the garden centre. I saw an idea on Pinterest for creating a trellis for sweet peas out of bamboo canes and twine, and that's going to be my next project. I've already got the seedlings waiting patiently to put down their roots into deeper soil - gosh my to-do list really is humongous. 

As well as all the Doing, there was plenty of idling for us all and I guess that's the whole point of these short one week holidays at home. To rest, recharge, and to seek out the little things that make us deep-down happy. I spent lots of time in my back yard, either crocheting or reading, or sometimes (especially first thing in the morning) just sipping coffee and listening to the birds.  My reading was all about drinking in the May and June magazine issues which I had been saving especially for this week of down-time. These are my most favourite issues of the whole year (well this it my favourite time of year in general) and they did not disappoint. Such a lot of visual happiness in those pages, all light, fresh, summery colours to inspire and bring on the happy vibes. Just lovely in a dreamy, slightly unreal kind of a way.

Although I had hoped for some days out last week, in the end we didn't venture further than where we could walk. We walked in the woods, walked to the farm shop and we spent quite a lot of time at the park. 

One evening I took Little B with me on one of my regular buttercup appreciation walks, and on the way there he'd asked me how many buttercups there were in the meadow. I told him to guess how many he thought, to which he answered "maybe around two hundred?" His face was a picture when he saw the true scale of the meadow, it really is breathtaking and his wide astonished eyes reflected it perfectly.

I love the light at this time of year, most especially at the end of the day. I love that a walk in the park at 8pm feels so special when the sun is low and golden and night time still feels a long way off.

Last week I picked my crochet banner back up, and after a few weeks break from it I know straight away what I needed to do for the border. During the school holidays we try and keep our Creative Coopers group going on a Friday morning at the cafe, and I think I appreciate those happy hours even more during the holidays than I do during term time. It's just a fabulous way to round up the week and I dearly love spending time with my creative friends and any visitors who happen to drop in to join us. 

Once I'd finished the 6 border rounds it was time to stitch on the letters. This didn't go smoothly, in fact, it was probably the hardest part of the whole project and took for EVER to complete. My fingers protested at all that stitching (I used back stitch around the outer edge of each letter, so it was very labour intensive), but I stuck with it and am so so happy with the outcome. I'm crocheting an additional piece all along the top now so that I can insert a piece of wooden dowel for hanging purposes, but I promise to show you very soon when it's all done.

So that was the end of May, and although I'm a little sorry that my most favourite month is over for another year, it's been absolutely spectacular. I've never known a month to have so much continuous sunshine and so little rain and I've loved every minute of it. I've loved the abundant greenery and the flowers (how can you not love a month that contains blossom, bluebells, wild garlic, cow parsley and buttercups?!) and most of all I've loved the length of these warm golden days.

Here's hoping that June is just as lovely all round!

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The Buttercup Meadow

I was feeling a bit restless this afternoon, caught between feeling antsy and wanting to do ALL the things and feeling lethargic and wanting to do Sweet Fanny Adams*. So yeah......faffing about, wandering in and out of rooms, not knowing quite what to with myself. All of a sudden I just knew that I needed to be out of the house. So I grabbed my camera and took myself out the back door, up the cobbled back streets to the top of the park. Down the grassy slope and through the wooden gate into The Meadow. Just as I had hoped, the buttercups had already started flowering even though I don't usually think about them being there until early June - it was utterly spectacular. The air was full of pollen (atchooooo!) but I didn't care - the sneezing was worth it in exchange for the gloriousness of all that full-on floral beauty.

There is a cut grass pathway all around the edge of meadow (and right up the middle) so you can't go tramping about right amongst the flowers as such (the meadow is a protected site), but you still feel as if you are surrounded by it all. I picked a few stems  - nothing much really, just a few sprigs of cow parsley, buttercups, plantains and grasses. I popped them into a glass jar when I got home and sat them on my outdoor table as I can't have them indoors (they make me sneeze). I made a jug of iced water and sat a while to write a few notes in my planner, and felt so much better for being outside.

Later on after dinner, I noticed the sun was low and still beautifully golden in the sky. So I took off again just for the pure pleasure of going to see the buttercups for a second time. I had a desire to to see how the light would look skimming over the meadow in the early evening - oh, it was breathtaking! Long shadows and a golden glow over the landscape, it was really, really beautiful. I am constantly inspired by the seasonal changes in the landscape - the colours, the views, how it looks, smells, and feels. I especially like to feel the seasons somehow, to connect emotionally with where we are in the year as the months gently pass by. May is just so brim-full of emotion for me, ALLLLLLL the feels.

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*in case you were wondering, "Sweet Fanny Adams" is something that my Mum used to say and it tickles me to be able to write it in a sentence! You can look up the meaning if you like, but only if you don't mind a little bit of filthy language, be warned!

 

 

 

 

 

May Delight

I think possibly the word "delight" doesn't wholly apply to the above photo, given that underneath that pile of colourful hooky is a stubborn eight year old boy, completely in the buff, refusing to get dressed and ready for school. This was Friday morning with ten minutes to go before we needed to leave the house. I seriously felt like yelling, could feel the annoyance and frustration bubbling up ready to explode forth, but instead I talked myself down, got out my camera and captured the moment, reminding myself how fleeting these childhood days really are. And in case you were wondering, we did eventually make it out the door - we were late but not disastrously so.

Friday afternoon, and I realise that J and I have adopted something of a little weekly woodland routine, which I rather like the idea of. This is the third Friday afternoon in a row that we've decided to walk through the woods during the gap of time we have after lunch and before the school run. It's such a beautiful way to spend an hour, kind of a gentle decompression after the ups and downs of the working/school week. The scent of the woodland makes me giddy with delight at this time of year, the garlic is powerful and intoxicating and I love it.

I really do appreciate the floralness of May - the bluebells, the blossom and then the wild garlic, and very soon we will enter buttercup and elderflower season. I am so thankful to live in a town where I can find all these flowers within a short walking distance.

Friday 5pm and I'm relaxing with a glass of wine and a spot of mandala finishing. The back of our house faces west and for a short time each day we are treated to a golden stream of sunshine pouring in through the dining room window. It doesn't last long as the sun quickly dips behind the rooftops, but it's beautiful while it lasts.

Another mandala hoop finished, and Tilly gives it the once over. I was playing with the hoop, trying to capture the shadow on the table, but naturally she assumed I was doing it all for her benefit. Diva kitty.

I love these dream catcher mandalas, they work up quickly and the colour play is gorgeous fun. You can find the free mandala pattern here.

I don't have any photos from Saturday except for a solitary bowl of salad. It was a day of laundry and errands and sweat and toil at the allotment plot. Later on there was chilled white wine and hoards of children coming and going, a barbecue dinner in the back yard and this rather yummy Greek salad thrown together to accompany the outdoor cooked meat. 

Sunday morning I decided to set myself up at the front of the house which faces East and gets a full blast of sunshine from early on. We have a teeny tiny front garden with very little level space, but it's a real sun trap when the sun is actually out and doing it's thing. We have a minuscule patch of grass and an equally minuscule patch of old stone paving outside our lower/cellar front door, so there I sat with a coffee and some hooky, listening to the bees buzzing and the birds chirping. The kitty came to join me, the Little People and J were also in and out, reading, playing, chatting, sitting for a while then moving on. I chatted to neighbours passing by, and all the while my hands and hook were busy making colourful stitches in the May sunshine. It was lovely, it really was.

I took this photo just when we came home from school this afternoon, as miraculously the sofa didn't look like a small tornado had swept through the house. People often ask me What Do You Do With All Your Crochet Blankets? Well, they are all here at number 24 keeping us warm and cosy when the weather is cold, and bringing lots of colourful homemade cheer to the furniture all year round. They are draped over sofas and chairs and beds and I can't imagine living in a home without them. It makes me profoundly happy to have them around the place and to see them being used and loved.

This weather we are continuing to have, my oh my, it is a sheer delight. Sunny and hot with glorious clear blue skies day after day after day. It's a rare gift for us to have this number of sunny days one after the other, and it's making this month feel very special indeed. Little B has changed his swimming group and his after school slot has been replaced with an early evening one. This means that we have a little bit more breathing space and can choose to walk to the pool instead of leaping in the car and racing against the clock. It's made a huge difference, and the walk up the hill and through the park this evening was just gorgeous.

Don't you just love this time of year? The long hours of daylight suit me so well, my soul is happy when there is golden light streaming across the grass at 7pm.

And now it's 9.24pm and I am suddenly very sleepy after a busy day dashing here, there and everywhere. The moon is out but the sky is still light and blue, gosh I love this time of year, these long, precious sunny days, did I day that already? I love it all, right down to the depths of my bones.

Wishing you moments of delight and tranquility wherever you are and whatever you're up to. Enjoy the little moments won't you?

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