Short days and Twinkly Lights

Hello Lovelies, 

I do hope you have had a good week with not too many worries and lots of happy moments. We have started to receive a few Christmas cards. They are all really nice but this one stood out to me as I adore all the detail and humour

It's sold in support of the British Hedgehog preservation society too....perfect.

 We haven't had any more snow or much frost this week. It's been largely grey and often rainy. Nevertheless I've been doing well with my walking and haven't missed a day. This weeks walks range from 1 to 6 miles. Yesterday I did 4 miles on a lovely sunny afternoon.

It's all local paths I'm very familiar with but the light changes with the seasons and when the trees loose their leaves.

The cold weather encourages the birds to come straight down for the food I leave too. This always makes me smile.

As of today I have 46 miles left to reach my 800 outdoor miles goal for 2021. It's not the 1000 miles I easily reached last year but I'm still counting it as a win. 

 Life is much busier this year.

 I'm very happy youngest is now working from home for a while as I'm not that keen on driving after sunset on unlit roads these days. Plus taking him to work and fetching him home every day was costing a small fortune in petrol and eating even more into my outdoor time.

Though I must add I'm super proud of the way he has quickly adapted to the world of work.

Yesterday was Christmas jumper day in the UK, did you join in? These days it's Christmas jumper day for the whole month of December for me. We have 3 jumpers the boys had for wearing at school on Christmas jumper days. They still try and squeeze in them if one is required for work but I wear them daily as they are a nice loose fit on me and so cosy 😊

I think it's fair to say I'm not into fashion and  there's no fast fashion in this house. The boys even buy second hand clothing on occasion, frequenting vintage and retro shops. Something I never did in my late teens, early twenties

By 3pm yesterday the moon was clearly visible, as the sun, which never got very far above the horizon, was rapidly descending.

This was 3.20pm

And as I heard the school bell ring for the end of the day at the boys old school, the sun set at 3.30pm. 

As we are quite close to the school I have our Christmas lights on a timer so they are illuminated for both school runs. Yesterday, as I didn't have to take youngest to work, I was around to hear a little one saying this is his favourite window...Yesss....that made my day 😊

Indoors we have reached maximum Christmasification too. I love walking under this garland.

As always it's full of all my red and white makes. Like these Scotty dogs....Pattern HERE

And Lucy's snowflakes.....Pattern HERE

Today, as usual on a winter's Saturday, I did some baking. Using up some more of my mincemeat.

These days I use THIS recipe for the pastry....it works well for me. 

I've already eaten two, with some squirty cream, they were yummy! I don't feel too guilty as I tend to only eat homemade ones at home and this year, as I'm not really going visiting friends, or to cafes at the moment, I haven't had any bought ones at all.

Thank goodness I'm happy at home, now more than ever.

Wishing you a happy rest of the weekend lovelies and some quiet moments to notice the sunset and the twinkly lights next 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

My Walking Year

Hello Lovelies,
how are you all keeping? Life is busy here but thankfully there is still time for walking.  As we leave 2018 behind I thought I would share a few images from some of my favourite walks last year.

In late January I was finding snowdrops at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. This first spring flower is so special don't you think.

In February my sister in law and I did a canal and riverside walk to the pretty village of Sutton Bonnington in Leicestershire, where we stopped in a cosy cafe to warm up.

In March the "Beast from the East" arrived and I enjoyed walking with members of the family who normally avoid such activity. Familiar places were made extra special with a dusting of the white stuff.

In April my walking group headed to Belper in Derbyshire. It was the gloomiest of days and all the lovely views were hidden in a mist. We asked the leader to do the walk again next year as it would hopefully reveal all the hidden vistas.

In May I did a solo walk in the Outwoods in Leicestershire. Is there anything more magical than a bluebell wood? This first picture is my desktop background on my computer and it always makes me smile.

In June Mum and I had a two day break in Yorkshire and I did a couple of very special walks. Firstly on the moors above Holmefirth, where I felt all nostalgic for the landscape of my childhood. The big views and bog cotton, the hidden valleys with tinkling streams and curlews.

Then on my birthday we headed into the Dales where I explored Goredale scar and Malham Cove. Such a stunningly beautiful Limestone landscape.

By July we were experiencing the hottest summer since '76 and it was bliss to spend a week lazing on the beach in Dorset. This early morning walk to Old Harry rocks with Eldest was a highlight of our holiday too.

In August myself and a friend lead a Peak District walk for my walking group. We started in Winster, heading for Stanton moor in search of Heather, then encouraged a bit of rock climbing on Robin Hood's Stride :0)

In September I was wandering around the gardens at Calke Abbey with another friend.

In October my walking group were enjoying the rolling Leicestershire hills again.

Then in November the Autumn colours were gorgeous on this group walk...ummm...somewhere. I've gone a bit blank on this one :0)

In the short days of December my group stayed closer to home and wandered by water in Nottingham.

This was the fourth year in a row I have challenged myself to walk 1000 outdoor miles and happily I just made it once again.

In 2019 I will be doing it all again ( I've already started....just 995 miles to go! )

2018 was quite unkind to some members of our family health-wise. It makes me appreciate being able to get outdoors and walk even more. Who knows how long I will be able to enjoy this exercise. As the saying goes ..."hike while you can".  I feel very lucky I still can, so I am.

Jacquie x