Walking in the Forest

Hello Lovelies, 

the mild weather we are enjoying here at the moment encouraged us to go on another family day trip on Saturday. 

This time we headed for Sherwood Forest.......

It's somewhere I have not been to since the boys were toddlers and Hubby hadn't visited since a school trip back in the 70's

We enjoyed the pleasant twenty minute walk along wide paths with lots of information boards.......

which leads you to the star  attraction..........The Major Oak

This huge tree is estimated  to be between 800 and 1000 years old !!  As you can see it's ancient  branches are supported by metal props to help it survive.

I was rather hoping it would have some Autumn colour in it's leaves, but it was lovely to see it still looking so healthy despite it's amazing age.......a living thing still thriving after all those years, WOW.

Other parts of the forest showed more signs of the season, with the ferns beginning to turn brown.......



And loads of Fungi everywhere. I was thrilled to see these quintessential toadstools......

The low afternoon sunshine illuminated these ferns beautifully..........

As well as the famous major oak there were many other aged oak trees, with gnarled bark and contorted branches.........

You could get much closer to these wonderful trees. I loved looking up at the canopy of leaves ......

My favourite tree is an Oak I regularly drive past. I enjoy seeing it changing throughout the seasons. It's certainly beautiful and  a reassuring constant in the landscape.

On the way back we stopped off at the visitor centre and were surprised to see a wedding party gathered for photographs under the tree on the left.....

The lady in the shop told us that this spot is now a popular civil wedding venue and it did add a rather lovely atmosphere.

Of course most people visit Sherwood Forest because of it's famous resident and the visitor centre had an interesting  free exhibition about the history of the area........

And a certain Robin Hood.........

It added extra interest for the boys who are not generally impressed with the idea of going for a walk these days.

The weekend often flies by,  suddenly it's Sunday evening and we realise that we never got out as a family to enjoy our time away from work and school, so it was lovely to spend a couple of hours enjoying each others company somewhere different. 

It may seem strange but I also loved the car journey, we choose the scenic route through pretty countryside and I felt happy when my  boys  often pointed out a view or a feature that they noticed as we traveled  along.
 I sat in the back, between eldest and youngest. Middle son , who doesn't travel so well, sat in the front.
 There were no gadgets to distract us, well only the car radio which we sang along to occasionally .
It was a simple pleasure that added so much to the day for me.

Jacquie x

♥52 Weeks of Happy♥ 42/52

Hello Lovelies, 

Ummmmmmmm, week 42 of this year already, I guess that means we are down to single figures of weeks remaining in 2013. 

It's been so good to have this little blog to connect with all you kind people in what's been a stressful year at times.

 All your wonderful comments on my Yarndale drawing were  a hugely positive thing in my week. 

♥♥ Thank you ♥♥ Thank you ♥♥ Thank you  ♥♥

Here are four more happies......

1. A little Autumn arrangement on my Kitchen windowsill ..........

the last sunflowers, an interesting squash and woolly Fungi......lovely

2. A huge Dahlia in my front garden............

 I'll certainly be growing some of these again next year...... this one is a bit paler than I had hoped....but it's still impressive and very welcome in October.

3. Sunshine. The days are getting shorter and cooler which makes the sight of blue sky even more welcome.......

I stopped on the way home from shopping to take these few pictures of the gorgeous weather we had on Thursday.

4. Little Hats. After reading Vanessa's post about crochet for a good cause I felt inspired to join in .

 THIS pattern was super easy and great fun. At the end it just says "add a bobble"  I was a bit puzzled about how you could make such a tiny pom pom . Then I remembered Lucy's tiny balls (scroll down ) perfect.

They were very quick to make and innocent smoothies donate 25 pence to Age UK for every one you send in.
I even made some little owls, because I know how popular owls are.........



I'm  always surprised how popular my OWL PATTERN  is.  It's by far my most popular tutorial and currently still gets about 5000 page views a week ....pretty amazing .

Happy Weekend Lovelies.
Jacquie x

On my Morning Walk

 Hello Lovelies,
 just a few pictures from my walk this morning. The weather was dull and damp so  it was not  ideal for taking nice photos of the Autumn landscape, but it's not cold here yet and the I loved the quiet stillness along the footpaths.

I was enchanted by the colours in these fallen leaves..........

 The shades were so intense and the drizzly rain added a polished sheen.......

Nobody was around so I enjoyed arranging a few of my favourites :0)

don't they look stunning against the fresh green of the grass.

I loved the pinks and purples in this one and the veins on the underside.

By the end of this  leaf appreciation time  my shoes and socks were soaked, but I didn't care........

it was wonderful to slow down a bit and notice the beauty at my feet.

Jacquie x

This Weeks Drawing.....Yarndale

Hello Lovelies,
It's been so long since I've had a drawing to share with you so I'm excited to be able to finally write another  " this weeks drawing"  post.

And it's thanks to Yarndale.

As soon as I had written my first post about that special day I felt inspired to pick up my pencil and start sketching down ideas for a drawing ..............

How could I fail to be inspired by the wonderful scenery, the feast of colours, the amazing talent on display and the  warm, welcoming atmosphere.

 But I did struggle to get the visions in my head down on paper. I did several different sketches and a couple of full sized drawings which were later discarded as I was not happy with them.

This was the first

then this one

I've shared them here as I wanted to show you that my work goes through a pretty ugly stage. I think when you first try and draw seeing this "mess" can put you off altogether...but sometimes you have to go through the frustrating "yuck...I can't do this" bit to finally get it right.

I've been inspired by Reginas lovely work a lot lately, especially her little houses. I would love to do some mixed media projects like this one day, but for now I'm  happy with my coloured pencils.

As usual I did a neat drawing, which I then went over in fine pen.........

This was yesterday morning , it was raining and so dark I  needed a lamp.

I really enjoy the colouring in stage. It's not half as tense as the drawing in pen bit. So I spent a relaxing morning adding the colours that really bring the picture to life.

 This is what I ended up with

♥ Ta-dah ♥

I'm so pleased with this drawing. There are bits I would still change a little bit if I could but I'm very happy with the overall picture.

I'm still quite new to drawing and sometimes I try to accurately copy what I can see, but other times I just work from  memory and use my imagination, not worrying about accuracy or trying to copy anything.
I'm sure you can tell which type this is :0)

As usual with my pictures there's a lot going on....it's a story of my day really.

It's got many of the special things that I enjoyed on that Autumn day in Yorkshire.
Like the bunting and the crochet balls which looked so gorgeous in the sunshine

And the auction mart , bedecked with more bunting from all over the world and nestled beneath the lovely Yorkshire hills.

Next there was the picturesque town, with it's mills and thriving canal......

Oh and don't forget the Yarn Walk

I had to include Lucy's canal-side ducks and the crochet adorned lamp  posts and trees. The flowers on the grass were the only way I could think of including the lovely crochet flowers we saw on the fence in the park.

Visiting Lucy and Tracy's studio, above Coopers coffee shop, was a real treat so I had to include that too..........

I even remembered to include ( a very tiny ) Tom Tit...........

Oh , and you can just see the Castle among the trees.

Click on the photo to see it more clearly

It was such fun drawing this picture, despite the initial difficulties, I hope you like it too.
Jacquie x

♥52 Weeks of Happy♥ 41/52

Hello Lovelies, 

Here are this weeks small joys and a bit of disappointment too.Happy stuff first hey.

1.Top happy this week has been adding a warm blanket to our bed now the nights are getting colder. It's been a while since I've seen my circle blanket and this wonderfully cheerful beauty really lifted my spirits.....

Read about it's story HERE

2. Checking out the allotments. These little patches of productivity are endlessly fascinating to me. I often peer over the gate when I'm passing to see whats growing there. On Wednesday I thought I saw something interesting under all those huge leaves ........

Nobody was around so I braved the "NO ENTRY" sign and sneaked in for a closer look........

Oooooooh lovely , somebody is much better at growing Pumpkins than me. I tried Pumpkins and Butternut squash this year but the little plants  simply vanished .

3. Cooking something different with squashes. I'm enjoying watching Jamie Oliver on Monday evenings . This is something he made on his show this week.....Squash and spinach pasta rotolo....

Eldest helped me make this , it was lovely working together in the cosy kitchen.

I like the way he is embracing frozen veg ( this uses frozen spinach ) . His money saving recipes have economical ingredients and are easy to cook. Thusday night is turning into Jamie night around here at the moment .

4.Home. My home is never that tidy, but in the summer it gets even more neglected as I enjoy spending time outdoors. I'm pretty good at turning a blind eye to the mess but as the weather changes I feel the need to regain control and really enjoy the calm  feeling you get when things are tidy.
This week I blitzed the living room and today I'll tackle the kitchen.
It may be hard to maintain , but I'll try as when it's cold outside it's soooo nice to have order and tidy, pretty things inside.

The Sunflowers are from the garden again....all from a  packet of seeds that cost pennies.

Running Update.

Now we get to the disappointing bit. Due to some health issues I've had to stop running at the moment. I'm very sad I wont get to take part in the half marathon race next week, especially after putting in all the hard work training. 

Still, it's only one race and hopefully I'm be able to pick up my running again sooner or later.

In the mean time I'll concentrate on walking. I't's also great for fitness and  lifting my mood.

I'll be searching out some local footpaths I haven't explored before and I'll enjoy discovering new vistas....I hope you will enjoy seeing where I've been.

Life is good.

Jacquie x

October early morning light

Hello Lovelies,

just popping in  to share a couple of pictures I took earlier this week.

On my car journey to work through the rush hour I spend quite a bit of time stationary, queuing along the dual carriage way. 

On Tuesday the light was just stunning and the Autumn colours simply glowed........

I loved the touch of pink in the sky and the long shadow cast by the tractor...........

It made me wish I wasn't heading for a day spent indoors, but at least I had a few slow moments to relish the light and the landscape at this special time of day and this special time of year.

Jacquie x

♥52 Weeks of Happy♥ catch up

Hello Lovelies,

just catching up with my two missing 52 weeks of happy posts.

Here are weeks 39 and 40 combined into one post. I haven't been great at capturing the small joys with my camera just lately , but looking through my photos I've found some records of  moments that brought me smiles.

1. A late September barbecue with all the family. Despite all the glorious weather we have enjoyed this summer we haven't hosted many outdoor family get-togethers.  

 In fact this was only the second one ( the first being a birthday celebration back in May ). The fabulous weather a couple of weekends ago seemed like it was a special gift  and I relished sitting watching everybody happily chatting or playing games in the golden Autumn sunlight.

2. My September garden. Somehow I also never got around to doing a Garden post last month, so here is a mosaic of the flowers that were looking lovely then ( most of them still are....including a few sweet peas...what a year it's been for my most favourite flower )

3. Travelling to my native Yorkshire for Yarndale and being treated to blue skys, lovely people and of course...lots of yarn :0)

4. Going home at the end of that day via Keighley, my old home town ....driving past many familiar sights including the cinema I used to visit as a child . 

I saw lots of films here......."Star Wars" ( with my brother...he loved it ) , "E.T." (with my best friend.....I loved it) and "Grease" ( with a group of friends......we all loved it ) are the most memorable...........

and the old building looked lovely in the sunshine....I had never noticed  it as a child....oh look, I just realised it's 100 years old this year :0)

5. Some cosy crochet in bed. The weather is still mild here at the moment, but the evenings are dark before seven pm. When I'm tired out after a long day at work I love to unwind with some quiet hooky time. Middle sons blanket, which has been a WIP for too long, is finally over half way there.........

6. The first weekend in October was another glorious treat. Thank you for all your really lovely comments on my previous post .
I just had to share this panorama from the top of Thorpe Cloud ( great name for a hill don't you think) ......It was taken by my eldest ..........what a view.

click on the image to see it more clearly

Ummmmm , that's only six happy things in two weeks.....I must try harder. I do hope your weeks have held some moments to make you smile and some time to slow down and really appreciate the small things.
Jacquie x