In the First week of February I'm.......

........smiling at snowdrops in the church yard

.........Putting the oven on to warm up  do some baking...........

.....Eating spicy gingerbread biscuits.........

.........Loving the wintry tree silhouettes.........

....stopping the car on the way home from work to photograph the full moon.........

.........and playing with yarn :0).......

I've gathered together all the colours needed for my ripple..........

They are based as closely as I can manage on the colours in my rug........

16 colours of yummy Stylecraft special. How I love to see them all lined up like this. I had to replenish my stash a little and I have added a couple of colours I havn't had before. Petrol and Stone are the new kids on the block.........

The complete line up, from bottom to top is
Burgundy,Raspberry, Pale Rose, Copper, Gold, Sage Green, Meadow, Khaki, Teal, Petrol, Lavender, Grape, Plum, Stone and Camel.

Here's where I'm up to right now...........

I'm still making the odd mistake with counting, but I'm finding that checking the second increase stitch is made between the two stitches of the second increase stitch of the previous row, EVERY TIME I get to the top of a "hill" is the best way to ensure I'm on track...........

And there's no denying these ripples are finding their gentle, rhythmic ways into my heart.......

Crochet ripples do seem like the perfect winter craft project.
Jacquie x

A Sunday Stroll

Hello Lovelies,

the cough and cold season has arrived here. I suppose it's inevitable at this time of year. We have spent a lot of time indoors and I have been spending too much time thinking about the past. A bad habit of mine.

 These days it's so easy to feed my nostalgia for the gorgeous place I grew up by gazing at beautiful photo's of those hills and villages.

Gosh, I even made a Flickr gallery HERE.....this is not good for my contentment.

By Sunday I was so keen to go and find some hills.......a trip into the Peak District was my first choice. The day dawned sunny, but while Mr BM and eldest are coming out of the snotty, achy phase, youngest and myself are just going into it.

Maybe it would be best to reel back my plans and stay local instead. Luckily my  Flickr searching had also thrown up some wonderful and fairly local images like THIS and THIS....wow, how I LOVED those old canal buildings and reflections.

So I chivvied the troops out of the house by 10am and we set off.

We parked and wandered through fields for a while, not sure of our bearings. I was relieved when we eventually came to a tow-path..........

We squelched along in the mud, enjoying the slow pace that the mild sunny weather allowed.

So many of the canals closer to home are sadly closed, it's much more cheerful and interesting to see a living canal...........

were the locks are in use...........

and traditional narrow boats sit in picturesque locations.........

the lock turned out to be in the wrong direction so we retraced out steps back to this lovely old bridge ........ and ducked as we carefully picked our way along the slippery path by the water.......

In this direction there was a motley assortment of craft, but the scene still looked pretty idyllic on such a gorgeous morning..........

 just Look at the colour of that sky.

And being by water means stunning blue sky reflections. How I loved the glittery red and blue patterns here............

Further along we came into the village. I'm pretty sure this boat belonged to the people who own that house.
I smiled as I thought how great it must be to have a cosy house by the canal and a floating holiday home, moored at the bottom of the garden, which you can set sail in whenever you get some time.............

Further along the houses didn't have boats, but they did have interesting gardens.........

 once again I adored the reflections

and we all liked the sight of these two dogs, greeting each other around the garden fence.....

Mr BM spotted a crocodile!........

Look out ducks :0)...........

they were all so different. I especially like this one..............

A little further along now, and the buildings are getting older and more interesting..........

Then around the bend we came across this gorgeous spot. How I loved this old canal building ..........

I gave this rather scary swan and wide berth as I admired the scene. There's something so appealing about all those semi-circular windows...........and the yellow camper van........

I always wanted it to be the arched window on "Play School" :0)

gazing back at the reflections..............

And the pretty scenes just kept unfolding as we strolled along. Another, smaller but just as gorgeous canal-side home.........

then a working boatyard..........

I loved the original signs..........

colourful boats..............

and humour...........

There was just SO MUCH to see, and it all looked at it's best on this calm and sunny morning.........

We went under  a large bridge, where everyone called out to hear the fun acoustics and echos........

then it was out into the sun once more. This is the Shardlow Heritage centre. It was closed when we were there............

a good reason to pop back "in season".

and here is that view which inspired this trip.............

gorgeous.

This warehouse is a pub these days...............

what a wonderful spot to stop and enjoy all things boaty...........

The boys were getting hungry by now, so we walked back to the car, past characterful old cottages............

and energised by such a great little dose of fresh air and pretty scenery I cooked up a storm in the kitchen...........a roast chicken dinner was enjoyed by the whole family.

 And I even whipped up a fruit loaf to go in this week's packed lunches............

Then flopped in the chair :0)

This little outing was the perfect cure for my rose tinted nostalgia.
Here and now is great. I an blessed with a loving family and good health.
What more could I want.

Jacquie x

Novemberish

Hello lovelies,

this week has been classically Novemberish.

There have been a couple of very cold mornings, where I've needed to scrape the ice from my car before the drive into work. 

It's also been foggy and dampness follows the early frost....displaying cobwebs on railings.......

The ducks quack hungrily as I pass...........

The evenings are often foggy too, closing in the world and turning the street light's glow into balls of hazy orange............

Most of the leaves have fallen off our little silver birch tree...........

It's kind of sad, but it does give me a clear view of the bird feeders, which I've started to fill again.......

 there's a Great Tit in this photo, can you see him?

Yay, the Blue Tit's are back..........hello Tom.........

spotting our garden friends always cheers my winter days.

When it's cold and damp outside I love to make comforting meals and treats. A very simple, but  wonderfully tasty desert was enjoyed yesterday.

Two of these huge Bramley apples..............

 made a delicious crumble..............

THIS simple recipe.

My blog posts seemed to have slowed down a bit at the moment don't they. These short, dark days are not the easiest for photography and in the background I'm still plugging away at writing my latest tutorial.......... 

It's nearly finished now :0)

Jacquie x