Midweek Miscellany

Hello Lovelies,

today I'm borrowing Sarah's lovely, regular post title. Do check out her beautiful Mitenska blog if you are not familiar with it...you are in for a treat.

I'm a bit late for midweek, but here are my miscellaneous images from the past few days.

1. Saturday nights moon . I went for a little twilight stroll and all the time I was drawn to the lovely crescent shape of the new moon ( perfect for a cow to jump over)..........

2. Sunday mornings dawn.

I had another walk before the forecast rain arrived. I loved the glimpse of sheep and sunlight through the ancient hedgerow. Apparently it's several hundred years old.............

I liked the sound of my crunchy footsteps on the frozen grass..........

and pondered that maybe this is the nicest sort of walking weather.........

Chilly but bright..........

The wintry landscape looked lovely............

In a quiet sort of way..........

and it makes for great exercise as you walk quickly to keep warm. 

3. Baking

Back home the kitchen felt a little chilly so I decided to bake some buns...........

Or cupcakes if you prefer. You can see from the crinkled and stained page in my book this is a well loved recipe...........

 As Delia says, it's pretty fool proof and very easy. It's on line HERE 

I was happy in the cosy kitchen, baking and cooking our roast dinner. I loved the fresh greens radiating from the little tray of living salad leaves on my kitchen windowsill.......

they were bought cheaply from the supermarket,  such a great idea

As predicted the weather turned to rain and I was so glad to have made the effort to get outside early in the day...........

4. Reading about walking.

Last week I ordered THIS book second hand from Amazon. It said the condition was " used-good", when it arrived it was pristine....and obviously unread. It only looks a little creased now because I'm reading it...........

the seller was a Hospice charity.....Recycling, a Charity donation and a Cheap Book delivered to your door.....how great is that.

I'm only about a quarter of the way through it so far, but it's certainly  living up to the Telegraph's review on the cover........" so observant, so funny and so intensely likeable"
I'm trying to ration myself and spend some time digesting all the brilliant descriptions and comical, touching moments rather than rushing to the end.

5. And last but not least....Snowdrops.

My lovely sister in law gave me these as a thank you for driving on our trip to see wild snowdrops last week............

I love having a few of these pretty and delicate blooms by the kitchen sink, where I can easily admire them up close. They make me smile every time I walk into the room.

Happy Thursday lovelies.
Jacquie x

A City Visit

Hello Lovelies, here I go with post 701 :0)

On Saturday the sunshine returned and I really wanted to get another family outing in before the end of half term. I would have liked a hilly walk, somewhere new to us would have been nice. But gosh it was cold in the northerly wind and snow was forecast for Derbyshire.

So I had to rethink my plans. Instead we headed for an historic city that I haven't been to for many years............

It has an 11th century  castle and loads of medival buildings ( and lots of lovely smells coming from the burger stall at the farmers market).

 It has thick city walls with dark gateways........

Which lead to a huge Cathedral.........

Awe inspiring.

Have you guessed where it is yet?

Here's a big clue :0)

Yes, were were  in Lincoln

Here we had gone through another gateway in the walls, which lead to pretty and sheltered lawns.

 Where you can gaze up at the Cathedral.........

I think it looks even nicer from this angle.

or gaze down on the Bishops Palace..........

I would  have liked to have a look around here, but we didn't have enough time on this occasion.

Instead we headed for a hill....yay.
Ooooh look,  Steep Hill was winner of Britain's great street in 2012......

Should be good, shall we have a little wander lovelies?

We are at the top of the street and look, it's so narrow and pretty...........

The shops are all independent retailers, I loved this little place that only sold Russian dolls.........

and who doesn't love a hand made chocolate, or maybe a little bling..........

we are about a third of the way down now and suddenly the space opens up, it's quiet a contrast to the shadows of the first part.......

It's a cross roads, but thankfully there's no traffic in this pedestrianised spot. Just rather beautiful music from the busker you can see chatting to the guy leaning on his bike.

With the added golden rays of sunlight flooding in from Michaelgate it really makes this a delightful spot......

Shall we carry on a bit further, it's getting steeper now. How I love the stepped roof lines......

Past the comical, leaning lamp post.........

now we are in  the really steep part, it even has a handrail in case you need it.........

It does remind me of the steep hill where I grew up

The shops continue to delight, vintage bits and bobs anybody?

and I love the tidy little houses...........

and the interesting, really old buildings............

Right at the bottom of the hill there are more mainstream shops and a modern shopping centre ( or Mall). Not so pretty, but what a pleasant riverside setting........

Across the bridge there is a traditional Carousel........

and what do you think to this modern sculpture which spans the river..........

I do like it .....it looks like a couple of Trapeze artists to me.

HERE'S what it's supposed to depict

Everywhere there is a mixture of old and new architecture....as is often the case in our cities.........

But it's the old stuff that really makes me smile...........

Shall we head back up the hill now, past the modern shops and through the castellated gateway.......

past a bit of Art Deco is it?

Then back to the cobbles and a glimpse of the cathedral........

It all looks so gorgeous in the late afternoon sunshine............

and the shops are very tempting..........

Here we are, back at the steepest bit, ready for a workout?...........

Phew, lets linger here again and catch our breath...........

the busker is still playing and the sun has not quiet disappeared.

Gosh the light is BEAUTIFUL here..........

It's nearly time to leave now..............

Just a few more minutes to gaze in shop windows and smile at pretty café's........

Then it's goodbye lovely Lincoln...........

maybe we can visit the castle next time.............It's having a makeover at the moment.

I do hope you enjoyed walking with us in this character filled, historic spot.

Jacquie x

February Half Term :: Part 4

Hello Lovelies,

ummmm, where are we up to now? I think this was Thursday, yes,that's right. Rainy Thursday when I was very glad to stay indoors and look at my sunny Daffodils.........

It poured down most of the day, then about 3.30 it stopped and eldest and I grabbed the chance to get a little fresh air...........

The mini Daffs in the roadside planter are almost flowering...........

But the only suitable footwear across the fields was wellies............

to wade through the huge puddles.........

the world was drippy wet............

and the poor highland cattle had her own muddy "boots"..............

On Friday it was dry, but very chilly. We went on a shortish family cycle ride and I was VERY happy to get back home afterwards............

To me, cycling is only pleasurable in warm weather.

Yes it was lovely to get back home and add some more rows to my ripple...............

It's growing steadily and I'm loving the colours in the weak winter sunlight...........

I also did a little drawing this week, inspired by Tuesdays Snowdrop adventure.........

It's a shame it somehow got water spilt on it....Mr Nobody is the culprit I'm told.

Never mind, it's only a little drawing and the incident spurred me on to try and make a collage version..................

It's still a WIP, but I'll be sure to share it when I've finished.........

Oh and finally, here's a lamb update :0)

Larry is still the only baby, but he looks very happy with his mum and his aunties.

My blog tells me this is my 700th post. I still love this little space of mine and thank you all for visiting me here.

Jacquie x