Random Nostalgia

Hello Lovelies,
I feel a bit daft even sharing this strange little project of mine, let alone giving it it's own post. It's slightly odd, but I'll share it anyway.

Here goes.
Last week I was washing up an empty passata jar ( it's sieved tomatoes, brilliant in Bolognese ) when it struck me how similar the shape was to the old milk bottles we used to have when I was a child

An internet search turned up these pictures of the 70's milk bottles I was thinking of...........

source

Our milk came directly from the farmer, he delivered it himself and the name of his farm was printed on the bottle rather like this............

source

I'd love to own one those bottles today. They were an everyday item that we took for granted but which seem so nostalgic to me now. I decided to make my own version 

I considered crocheting a cover for my bottle , but I've done that before HERE

So instead I simply drew a  version of the design used on these bottles on paper and taped to onto my bottle.........

The green ribbon covers up the screw top and is a reminder of the green foil top our milk  had....that was green for raw, unpasteurised milk..... not green for semi-skimmed :0)

I picked some forsythia from the garden at the weekend and now it's flowering beautifully in my wacky, "random nostalgia vase" 

Do any of you lovelies remember these bottles or suffer from random nostalgia like me?

I'm only in my forties but many of my sentences begin with " I remember when......" I do wonder what I'll be like in years to come!

Actually there are quite a few reproduction milk bottles being manufactured today....so maybe I'm not that odd. My favourite are the Emma Bridgewater ones, of which THIS is my favourite design.

Jacquie x

Photographs and Paintings

Hello Lovelies, 

this morning was beautifully sunny and I headed off happily on a little walk once the boys were all at school.

It was so pleasant that I explored a new footpath and added three new stiles to my route.........

The sky was such a bright shade of blue and the bare oak trees looked stunning against it...........

I loved this Sheep and lamb on the farm sign..........

and stopped for a while to watch the Chaffinches singing and darting from branch to branch......

There are gorgeous wild primroses near the church.........

And the snowdrops still look at their best.........

I love photographing nature and as you know I've also begun attempting to draw it.

Last year I picked up this sweet little book in a charity shop and recently I've been looking at it again for inspiration. I thought you lovelies might like to see these beautiful nature pictures too.

 How wonderful is that cover illustration

Each page has wonderful paintings of plants and animals beginning with the same letter.........

 Do click on the photos to see them more clearly 

It may be a book for children but an adult can learn so much from this book too......

 Look there is the Chaffinch I saw on my walk

Molly Brett is one of my favourite illustrators and I've shared some of her other books in the past  HERE

I love the way Molly got inventive to fill the pages of trickier letters.........

But my favourite illustration is this in the centre pages.........

I think it's delightful, beautifully painted and so clever.

I do hope you enjoyed these midweek photographs and paintings lovelies.
Jacquie x

A Day Out.......With Yarnbombing

Hello Lovelies,

as you can tell by the title of this post there is yarny goodness.

 It's at the end,  but if you can resist scrolling down we can share a refreshing winter walk first...does that sound good?

Yesterday we woke to bright sunshine and blue skies.....perfect for a little family outing. 

We headed off to Clumber Park. It's not somewhere we have visited before and I do love exploring new places.

It's advertised as great for cycling, so we brought the boys bikes.

Once we had parked up  they zoomed off ahead.............

We finally caught them up by the lake..........

I do love the glittery reflections of sunshine on water..............

Clumber is a country estate who's house has sadly been demolished, you can see the outline of where it once stood here............

And there are some interesting pictures of how it once looked HERE.

Today people come to enjoy the grounds and remaining buildings which include this impressive estate church......

By the lake there are odd remains like this Gun Battery..........

It was not for real battles..........

As well as the remains of formal gardens there is wonderful mature woodland to explore.........

They were bathed in sunlight, streaming through the still bare trees.............

Over a little hill we came upon the lake again............we might as well walk around it as it doesn't look far......

When we saw this map we realised that we were just looking down the short top section..........

Oh well, best keep going. Past an  intriguing tin building ...........

And where the water flows out of the lake, over the dam............

Oh, this is the full length of the lake...........you can just see the church spire on the right bank, we need to walk down the left bank to a bridge ..........

The boys were keen to stop for a break, but we pressed on until we were opposite the church. Hot milky coffee for the grown ups, hot chocolate and a cookie for the boys....very welcome.

It took us over an hour to get this far and I must say I was rather glad to reach the bridge......

My growing boys are increasingly reluctant to come on this sort of trip, I'm sure I felt the same at their age.
Thankfully Mr BM loves these places as much I do these days. He studies all he information boards, takes a keen interest in the history and enjoys the beautiful landscape. It balances out the general feeling of discontent coming from the younger members of the family and for that I'm very grateful.

We finally made it back to where we started at the visitor centre and I would have loved to spent more time here.

As you can see it was rather busy, I just took a couple of pictures.........

And headed off in search of yarn. Hubby took the boys back to the car and I promised not to be long.....

The walled kitchen garden at Clumber has gorgeous Glasshouses...........



With beautiful spring flowers...........



 lovely rooms, showing where the gardeners came for a rest in years gone by..........



And a very colourful cow :0)........

Look, she is even wearing stripy leg warmers, wellies and a headband.

Hopefully you can read the information poster about this fun idea if you click on it to enlarge........

And here is what it looked like yesterday. The apple trees have been decorated with colourful knitting and crochet..........

I loved the granny squares..........

I also loved the quirky creatures.

a Tree Frog

A slightly scary snake

Ladybird and worm

Huge mouse

and a pretty sunflower.........

I thought it was a great idea to add interest at a time of year when the apple trees are bare and there is not much to see in the gardens...........

It's such a large area that you really had to get up close to the trees to appreciate the beautiful handiwork on display.

I think the many, many different types of apples were my favourite thing.

So I've made a mosaic of them to share with you....don't they look great...........

I need to say thanks to Lucy, as she posted a link to this event on her facebook page HERE
Enjoy your Sunday Lovelies.
Jacquie x