Reasons to be Cheerful

Hello again Lovelies,
I think I'm the sort of person who generally feels blessed. I've written it here often enough. I'm blessed to have my family, blessed my own mum is still well, blessed I can work part time, blessed I'm healthy (touch wood).
These are the big things I am thankful for.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes I feel annoyed and upset by stuff.  When that happens getting outdoors generally lifts my mood.
This week my walking group were blessed with the best day of the week weather wise. Thursday morning was cold but sunny and I loved walking through the winter woodland.......

Then stopping for a coffee from my flask in this sunlit glade.... and being given home made cake by our walk leader.

 I'd never heard of Porter cake but it was yummy. A moist and tasty fruit cake. I've found a recipe HERE. I might try and make it myself.

As we walked further through the woods one of our group noticed this Red Admiral butterfly.... such an amazing sight in January. I felt sorry for the poor, confused thing..........

The colours of the woodland and the green fir trees did make it look like somewhere continental rather than Blighty in January ...........

as we came out into open countryside the fields were full of free range pigs, each with it's own shelter it seemed. "Is that what they call Glamping?" one of the group asked....and we all laughed......

Lunch was in a very neat little churchyard...that even had a sweet model of the church in the lawn........

I do love my walking group...but I also like to explore a little on my own. So while they were still eating I wandered off to look a little further..........

and came across this strange ruin in the cemetery.........

and I loved the far reaching  views, both back towards those glamping pigs........

and across rolling fields of green...........

Here's the ruin from the other side. I couldn't weigh it up...thankfully the internet provided the answers. It was made from parts of a ruined Saxon church that stood on this site.....so they are over 1000 years old.......

and this spot is alleged to be the resting place of Will Scarlet. How interesting. I love discovering things like this.

In the afternoon the clouds and wind built, but we tramped on and  smiled at the pigs.........

and these cute cottages..........

this cottage even had a famous character looking out of the window........

 Did you spot Tintin?

It was a whole day walking...well you can see on my phone it was from 10am till about 4pm. We covered 12 miles ( and that's my longest walk since last July)..........

yay...a great reason to feel cheerful.

This weekend my growing collection of cheerful Log Cabin granny squares were arranged to make diagonal stripes......

Ummmm, that reminded me of something.

I got out my old photo album and found this snap from 1984. I know exactly what year it was, as this new fangled "Continental Quilt " was my 18th birthday present...and look what cover I chose for it :0)............

 a replacement for my green candlewick bedspread and blankets :0)

 We had some lovely sunshine again yesterday and I even hung out some washing, then noticed my neighbour had done the same...........

Indoors I love that this batch of mini daffs are not so leggy ...a sign the light levels are improving?

 The droplets on the glass were courtesy of eldest who was outside with the hose washing my car...and kitchen window ( his idea...bless him).

My third lot of Hyacinths are also flowering.......



I accidentally knocked of one of the flowers...so I popped it on bird's head...

 Cute hat :0)

A good book is certainly a reason to feel cheerful. I picked up this book in the library last week........

Another book called walking home ( I read THIS one last winter).  It's very different to Simon's book.....but happily just as good. Clare writes in a easy to read style and this book wont last me much longer. It's funny and touching and full of emotion. It's also introduced me to Clare's Radio 4 programme called Ramblings...how had I never heard of this?...well quiet easily I suppose as I'm not a radio 4 listener. I love the format of walking and talking to interesting people in some of the most wonderful parts of the U.K. ..........

 Happily there are podcasts......yes yes, I can listen to them at my leisure. I've already enjoyed 3 of the 156 programmes currently available. Listening to them on my phone while I'm cooking is great...but I could do with some plug in speakers to make the sound quality better.

 They are so inspiring. I now want to walk Kinder Scout (preferably with Mike Harding alongside to sing I'm a rambler as he does at the start of THIS episode). Oh and the Mourne Mountains sound amazing. Oh and Windsor Great Park.....and the South Downs. I could go on.
As I said...very inspiring :0)

 I'm looking forward to walking in some new places this year....but I'm always happy to walk familiar paths too.

 Saturday afternoon Was prefect for a quick blast of fresh air..........

The Snowdrops are flowering by the church...........

Such cheerful harbingers of spring.....but be careful if you crouch down to get a low angle shot of these little beauties.....as you may get stung on the bottom for your effort.........

 Like I did .

I'll finish this long and somewhat rambling post ( get it ) with a photo of the cheerful pink house I often pass ....it never usually shows up as pink in my photos....but this time it did........

Well done if you made it this far. Wishing you all a cheerful week Lovelies.
Jacquie x

Weekend Moments

Hello Lovelies,

How are you? I seem to be struggling to post very often at the moment. Once again it's got to Sunday evening before I'm managing to write a post for this week.

My week was busy but thankfully there was chance to slow down this weekend. Saturday morning found my crocheting in my pyjamas. Who remembers when I made these PJ trousers from an old bed sheet? ( the blog post is HERE if you would like to see) 

I'm really enjoying making these colourful log cabin granny squares, and as they multiply I'm enjoying playing around with patterns..........

 I think you will have so stand back and squint a bit to see the design, but that's ok :0)

Sitting on my bottom crocheting was not getting me any miles towards this years 1000 mile challenge though, and the sun was shining....time to pull on my walking boots and get outside.......

I love to be alone and listen to the birdsong.  I always think of winter as the season of birds ( spring and summer are flowers, autumn is leaves ). The hedgerows were full of flocks of finches, Well I think they were finches...as soon as I got near they took flight..........

And went to perch in a tree further away.........

I spent quiet a lot of time watching where I was walking, Friday's rain had left the ground very muddy.........

But the sunshine was so pleasant and I did notice lots of textures the shadows enhanced.......

And bright reflections in the field puddles..........

Sheep grazed contentedly on the grassy undulations made way back in the middle ages. It's amazing to thing they still survive today......

I loved the sunlight streaming through the bare branched trees...........

And the cotton wool clouds.........

Back home I smiled at the Blue tit on my peanut feeder.........

I try and make sure these feeders are never empty and I'm looking forward to taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch again this year. It's next Saturday or Sunday. Info HERE

Back indoors the winter sun was shining right into the living room...........

I love that there is one, solitary orange centred Daffodil, in this bunch I picked up on Thursday........

My mantle dolls seemed to be enjoying the sunlight too.......

Today was a grey affair. Hubby and I went for a walk in the city.........

The mighty river Trent was flowing quickly and the wind was pretty chilly.......

We stopped to watch this ...well I'm calling it a Grebe....I think that's what it was but I'm not sure............



In the remembrance gardens there was not much to see. Well it is January I suppose. I loved these tiny Cyclamen.........

And I really like this rockery. It was very overgrown at one time. Now you can see the lovely rocks and it looks tidy...but very bare. Wouldn't  it look amazing with some miniature spring bulbs and masses of those cyclamen ...........

The gardens are behind the imposing war memorial and on this colourless day the brightness to the ironwork really stood out. I love this shade of turquoise........

 There are information boards here, oh look the Rockery back in the 1920's looking so well cared for......

 Soon it was time to head home and make the Sunday dinner, but brightness late afternoon tempted us outside again...this time I wore my wellies :0)

  

The twilight was mild and still......

And the little church looked lovely in the fading light at 5pm.........

Back home my windowsill garden looked cheerful against the black background ........

Did you see the pussy willow branches? I don't think I have ever bought these before, but I love them. I picked them up in the supermarket ( Morrisons) and put them in a vase with water...is that right? I hope so as I'm very taken with gazing at these cute, fluffy pom poms ......

I hope you have a good week lovelies.
Jacquie x