♥52 Weeks of Happy♥ 49/52

Hello Lovelies , 

I hope you had a good week, we have been celebrating youngest's Eleventh birthday . Here are my happy things from the last seven days

1. Birthday decorating. Mum bought this card banner for the first "First Birthday Party" for my boys back in 2001. It's been used for every birthday since. It's a bit tatty now but I still love it.........

 My mum in law always bakes her grandchildren a cake .........

they are always delicious and really appreciated.

2. The December countryside. Many fields are freshly ploughed........

the hedgrows are bare as are most of the trees. But the Oaks alone still retain some golden brown leaves, making them stand out beautifully  in the landscape.......

3. The real Tom Tit visiting my coconut shell bird feeder :0) .........

4. Reflections at the park.
 Last Sunday we visited a little park I discovered back in October HERE.
Mr BM and I walked while our boys cycled...........

In October this gorgeous formal pond was empty , but this time it had been repaired and the fountain was working..........

I wandered around , loving the sound it made and the dancing ripples on the water.........

It was chilly and the water away from the fountain remained frozen.........

As we get ever closer to the shortest day and the midday sun barely rises above the tree tops the reflected sunlight on the water was like an extra treat.

Yesterday we held a family party for youngest. Afterwards I read THIS beautifully written post by Ada Bea , about what her perfect day would be. I had to read it a couple of times to fully understand it's subtle message. It brought a tear to my eyes and I'm still thinking about it now.

I'm so thankful for my health and the health of my family , and the simple, special times we spend together.

Jacquie x

This Blustery Morning

Hello Lovelies,

it's a "hold on to your hat" sort of day here . The wind is really roaring in the chimney. Leaves are flying through the air and swirling in the street. 

Thankfully I've had to stay indoors to wait for a delivery . It's given me bit of time to slow down and notice the things on my kitchen windowsill......like my Amaryllis beginning to grow.........

And this little twig of amazing blossom. While walking with MrBM on Saturday I noticed a tree in blossom.
It was dark so I thought I may have been mistaken . Sneakily I snapped off this bit, brought it home and popped it into some water............

 It's stunning but I am puzzled. No trees flower in December do they?

This is a more seasonal sight........a stew in my slow cooker. I love preparing one in the morning , then leaving it to do it's thing all day. It will be very welcome when all the family are home from work and school this evening............

 When I when into my chilly conservatory to load the tumble dryer I was horrified to see what looked like a dead squirrel hanging in the tree. It was waving in the wind and I thought it must have got trapped in one of my bird feeders.
Thankfully a zoom shot showed it was not dead or trapped , just doing some acrobatics to access the peanut feeder :0)

Here it is the right way up again .........

 Phew

After my nasty shock I felt the need for a cup of strong tea and a bit of my mum in laws yummy cake.........

I'm working on a Christmas prezzie so I can't tell you too much about these stripes at the moment. They are rather plain but embellishment is planned.........I'm hopeful it will turn out well.........

 All will be revealed after the big day

In the last hour the sun has come out and shown up how badly my windows need cleaning! It's low rays shine right across the room and glitter on my rainbow maker..........

I was  balancing on a chair in the window taking this picture when my goods arrived, I wonder what the delivery man thought?

See you later lovelies, it's time to brave the wind and head to the supermarket.  Thank you for all your sweet comments about my drawing, they are so encouraging.
Jacquie x

Edited to Add thank you to my lovely commentor Helen  who told me about the Winter flowering Cherry.....I need one of these :0)

♥52 Weeks of Happy♥ 48/52

Hello Lovelies,
I hope you have had a good week. Thank you so much for all the kind comments on my previous post.
Here are my happy things from the last week in November, and the last week of Autumn.
 If you go by the Met Office's definition of the seasons Winter starts today.

1. Short days.
O.K. I'm not always happy about these, but there are plus points. Sunrise at the end of our street, at a time I can easily be awake to see it has to be a big happy..........

Tuesday 7.30 am

Wednesday 7.30 am

And when it gets dark shortly after 4pm there are always candles to add a cosy glow..........

2. Feeding the wild birds.
The day after I had hung up this coconut shell full of bird food it was showing evidence that they had been enjoying a little peck..........

I love to see birds in our garden and like to think I can give them a helping hand to survive the winter.

3. New Slippers

now it's getting chilly, and my old slippers have holes in the sole, I've bought some new ones, with knitting and pom-poms....they make me smile :0).......... 

4. This weeks Drawing.

A heart shaped November wreath............

 I love the beautiful paintings by Edith Holden, of the natural world she observed over 100 years ago. The "Edwardian Lady" books made from her diary and illustrations were only discovered in the 1970's, many years after her death. They are arranged into months of the year and each new month begins with a full page painting like THIS.

I couldn't even attempt to produce anything so accurate and accomplished , but this year I've discovered the  enjoyment in  creating simple, colourful, fun drawings. Like Edith, I'm hugely inspired by the changing seasons.
So this my celebration of November..........

After appearing in the background of many of my drawings this year, Tom Tit has finally got the lead role :0)

This drawing is full of inspiration from many other sources too.......beautiful photo's in blog posts like THIS and THIS and THIS. And of course Autumn inspired crochet like  THIS
I'm so happy with how it turned out, I'm already working on a December version:0)

I'm kind of sad to say goodbye to November, it's been a good one , but there's lots to look forward to in December.....It'll be busy, and the boys love it.
Jacquie x

The Hidden Footpath

Hello Lovelies , 

on Wednesday I was delighted to wake to clear skys. As soon as the boys were all at school I headed out with my little camera to enjoy another Autumn walk.

 I passed Sunrise corner ....

 then over open fields to the little cluster of houses where I got lost on THIS walk a few weeks ago. Luckily my friend had since shown me the way .

 I think this photo shows why I struggled to find the correct route.......in the fencing on the right there is a gate, can you see it ?.........

It looks like any garden gate to me but the little yellow arrows show it's actually the route of a public footpath, shall we go through?

 The secret footpath then squeezes between gardens, where there is not much to see.
I was hurrying to get to the end when I was delighted to catch site of this lovely robin ........

Here's what I was so keen to see...........

 the misty view into the morning sunlight was stunning.

 And the friendly Robin perched on the hedge quite close by so I was able to get an even clearer picture of him.........

The Autumn colours are still wonderful........

I love this photo because the light shows up the gentle rolling hills so beautifully.......

At the bottom of this hill I crossed a little stream..........

And looked up now the sun was not in my eyes. The trees are just gorgeous ...........

but the birds liked perching on the electricity pylons.........

I wandered along the edge of the stream and then the the path turned uphill .

The low sun hurt my eyes and big clumps of mud stuck to my shoes so I felt like I was walking on stilts...........

I was glad to get to the top of that hill and look back at where I had come from. The houses are where the hidden footpath began.........

I was looking forward to seeing this view as it had been lovely the first time my friend and I walked this way on a cloudy day.
Ummmmmmm, initially I was dissappionted it was not clearer.........

But the more I looked at it the more I liked the effect of the mist in the valley, the blueish light gave everything  such a pretty, slightly mysterious air..........

Soon I was back out onto the road..........

I walked through a small village and then back onto another footpath that would take me  home......

I crossed a little bridge over another stream........

Through some trees and past a friendly dog........

Then I was heading uphill again, at least this time the sun was behind me and the path wasn't muddy........

At the top of the hill there was another bench ............

So I sat a moment and studied a feather I had picked out of a bush on the way up...........

And, of course, I admired the view..........

The colours of the Autumn landscape delighted me. The red berries were so eye catching........

these are Hawthorn berries.

and there are loads of Rose Hips

By now I had been walking for almost two hours and I was feeling a bit hot and bothered as the weather was surprisingly mild. I had taken off my gloves and scarf and unzipped the big coat I was wishing I hadn't worn.............

As the footpath lead me through this paddock I wondered if this horse was wishing he could take his coat off too............

It was a beautiful walk . There were so many lovely things so see, I took way too many photos. I've only shared about half here.

The countryside was very pretty on this mild and sunny  late Autumn day. I returned home tired but happy.

That evening I put the finishing touches to my latest drawing. It's a simple picture inspired by all the gorgeous leaves and berries I have enjoyed on my own travels and via some inspiring blog posts that I've enjoyed reading this Autumn.
I can't wait to share it in my next post.
Jacquie x