September Scenes

Hello lovelies,

only me, popping back in with more recent images. I've been having trouble with my old point and shoot camera , so after months (and months) of something else cropping up that needed paying for, I finally found the funds this month to replace it. 

You can't beat a bit of sunlight for photography purposes and last Sunday we had quiet a lot. I was happy to get out early enough to  capture the dew on my Dahlias with my new toy.

A little later that same day I was out walking with a friend. It's our regular once a fortnight walk and chat. Nothing strenuous this weeks, just a couple of loops of the boating lake at the lovely Highfields park

Loving the reflections

and the Chinese lion.

The September light and shadows were beautiful.

My new camera has a good zoom which I was experimenting with. I was particularly pleased with this shot.

This is the un-zoomed version, so you can see how far away I was from the purple flowers.

In the afternoon I dragged hubby out to see a concert in the newly restored bandstand HERE.

Love those original 70's? deckchairs :0)

We also had a walk along the riverside path.

It was great being able to get a close up of this swan as it glided past on the still water.

Here the council has recently constructed a new war memorial. I thought the outer banks covered in meadow grass were very effective.

there were even a few poppies in flower catching the sunlight.

More zooming....a squirrels bottom :0)

These next 5 pictures were taken on Tuesday morning, on a walk before work. I love to see the Ivy flowers reappear each Autumn.

And the rose hips.

Trickier to capture was a sparrow, high in the tree branches.

this view always pleases me.

zoooooom :0)

My new camera has a viewfinder. Here (Wednesday I think) I was messing about testing it out while I sat in my comfy window-seat. Awwww, my "lived in" house looks OK I think. It's funny how seeing things through a camera lens makes you really notice your surroundings.
Eldest and I decorated this room in the spring as we simply had to have a new carpet (the old one had holes on the stairs) and I'm still unsure of this blue (I liked the creamy yellow we had before). It's kind of dark, though it looks anything but in this image.

Also midweek I was cooking a vegetable and soya chilli. I'm still trying to get the family to eat less meat. This was simple and very tasty. I served it with some strong cheese grated on top, rice and garlic bread...my men have big appetites. Recipe HERE.

Are you doing Secondhand September?  It's easy for me as I really only ever buy shoes and underwear new. I'm more than happy to buy secondhand clothes from the charity shops, though I haven't felt the need to buy any so far this month. I did however donate £3 to charity this week, and they gave me two of these sweet plates as a thank you :0)

I love the blue chicken and the country cottage scene.

In other happy news the milkman gave us a free bottle of juice this week. Pink grapefruit. My favourite.

These final pictures are from a sunny group walk I went on on Thursday.

I still love my walking group, though I don't get out with them as often as I did. Sometimes life just gets in the way or the weather is too off-putting. I'm most likely to be discouraged my hot weather than any other ( ok heavy rain is also up there) . But this week the conditions were perfect and the family did not need me. Hurray.

I love the hills and the rocky outcrops of the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire.

Shady paths with distant views are also lovely.

There's always something different to see, even if you know the route. Sometimes there are free gifts too.

This walk even had a loo where we parked. Bonus :0). Here's a picture from inside...a very leggy but oh-so-pretty geranium.  Little touches like that always make me smile.

I'm still experimenting with my camera, but so far so good.
I hope you enjoyed this varied selection of images from my week.
Jacquie x

Around Here

 Hello again lovely people,

firstly I need to say a heartfelt thank you to  all of you for the super warm welcome back. Your comments really made me smile and reminded me what a great place blogland is.

 

Speaking of welcomes, what do you think of this sign I made at the start of summer, for the garden? Well, I say made. It was a blank sign I found in the charity shop. I just drew on the wording and simple flowers. I used a permanent pen and it's holding up great so far.

A much more impressive make is the pergola eldest made for me in the spring. He is turning into a really good woodworker and I love the fact that this project used mostly reclaimed wood.

Look! I'm even having further success with a clematis ....maybe I'm not the clematis murderer that I once was.

At the top of the garden we now have a completed workshop ( I shared the beginnings of this project HERE almost 2 years ago ). It may have taken an age to finish and I did find the process quiet stressful....and expensive! but It's turned out great so I am glad we committed to this project now.

It does make the garden smaller, but not by that much, and I'm happy with the flower beds hubby and eldest built me to help it blend in a bit.

And the rustic steps.

I filled the bed with home grown Zinnias and Dahlias.

I think it's all looking at it's best right now.

In the kitchen I'm still making efforts to reduce plastic waste. Though I can't afford all of our milk in glass.

And I'm trying to eat locally and seasonally. This was cheese and potato pie and roasted veg using up potatoes and tomatoes from a friends allotment.



There's free food in the hedgerows right now too.

I'm still doing ( and enjoying ) lots of simple walks from home.

These pictures are from a favourite circuit of about 3 miles. It takes me just over an hour and I find that the perfect length for a daily walk.

There aren't any steep hills, but there are some steps.

Mostly I just enjoy the views and write amazingly insightful and inspiring blog posts in my head....it's a shame they vanish upon my return home :0)

Here we are at the little churchyard again. It's looking especially lovely in  the afternoon sun.

I liked the shadows here.

I'm still doing my walk 1000 mile challenge (this is the 4th consecutive year I think...or maybe it's the 5th) at the moment it's going well and I'm a few miles ahead of where I need to be at this point in the year.

There's a hint of Autumn out there and that's fine by me.

September is hubby's birthday month, do you like my eco friendly gift wrap? Ha, a lot of effort went into that :0)

 

I'll finish here with an progress shot of my temperature blanket, which I was kindly asked about in the comments on my previous post. This is up to the end of July, so I have a bit of catching up to do. I'm still really enjoying this project though. It's so much fun watching it unfold while not having to choose the colour combinations myself. I explained the concept of this blanket HERE.

I do hope you have enjoyed this simple catch up post.
Chat again soon.
Jacquie x