Wishing!

I have had enough of snow haven't you? It seems as if we have been living in a white world for such a long time although only last Saturday I went to Weymouth and it was beautiful and sunny and definitely not white. Time and our perception of it is a strange thing isn't it?

We still haven't been able to get the car out as even though the main roads are clear our side roads are not so we went to our local post office cum shop this morning for some bread and a newspaper and the walk through the woods (remember when I showed you back in the summer the same walk?) was hard going since the snow had become really compacted by all the dog walkers this week and it was very very slippery especially where the path sloped.

How I wished that I was able to stride out as I had the day we did this walk near the coast back in April/May!


It wasn't warm that day but we could put our feet down where we wanted to and not have to be careful all the time - something which has made my leg muscles really ache this week!

Oh how I wish I could do this walk NOW! (well not exactly now as it is dark out there at the moment but I think you know what I mean) Through the bluebells...

Listening to the cuckoo and noticing the wonderful perfume of springtime ....

Spring will come won't it?

Have a good weekend and those of you in the northern hemisphere do keep warm and safe.

In complete contrast to last post!

Yesterday it rained and we were beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about but in the night we got the forecast snow and woke this morning to see this from the bedroom window. Not much by some standards but for us it was quite something!

This afternoon I decided to take a walk in the woods as getting out to go anywhere else was nigh on impossible since we live at the end of a cul de sac which is a very steep hill and none of the houses even have fences so nothing to hold on to. I'd seen one four wheel drive vehicle in the road this morning and that was slipping and sliding backwards down the road so taking the car wasn't an option either.

The woods were beautiful - what a pity my camera (not the photographer you notice!) isn't up to taking better pictures.

I noticed that there were quite a few buds in evidence this one is a horse chestnut sticky bud and above are some small catkins ready for the spring! I was reminded of the quote "In the depths of winter I discovered in myself an invincible summer" I think it is by Albert Camus

Love the textures here on this lovely bark - now how could I use that in something creative I wonder?

Blue skies!

Thank you all so very much for your kind comments on my last post. I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to know that there were so many of you out there who either felt the same or would miss me whilst I was off or both! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot believe that in the short time since I began blogging I have been lucky enough to make so many real friends. I hope to get round to writing to you individually soon.

The decorations are all down and put away, the new year is well on its way and having had some time to reflect on things I am feeling much more positve. I know that there will always be down times for me and that I am just made that way and if I cannot feel merry and bright all the time as I perceive others to be (although judging from your comments it may be all an act anyway!) then the last thing I need is to beat myself up over it! I really did think that by the time I was an old lady I would have become more serene in my outlook on life but I am coming to the conclusion that we are what we are and this is me so I had better just get on with it!

The sun was shining on Saturday and the sky was blue so we took ourselves off to Weymouth where we were able to walk along the beach in the fresh air and sunshine (we didn't paddle though!) and then on round to the old Harbour where we had lunch before returning home. I felt the better for my outing.

Blogger seems to be taking an age to upload the photos so I won't add any more just now in case it takes a similar length of time to open them for you too.

Belated best wishes for the New Year and I hope to catch up with you all via your blogs again in due course.

Post Christmas Blues?

I wonder if I am the only blogger who is glad that Christmas is all over and who cannot wait to get those cards and the tree (we did manage a tree Meg!) down and forget all about it for another 12 months? Am I the only one who says at this time every year "Never again"? Who has decided that next year I am either going to a non-Christian country, preferably somewhere warm and sunny, for the holidays or if not that then volunteering to help at Crisis at Christmas? Why am I such an old Scrooge? I have kept away from blogging this week as I feel I don't have the "right" things to say at this time of year - I cannot join in all that enjoyment and so on - bah humbug to it all!!

Every year I determine that this time I will be merry and bright, we will enjoy the day together, I will make the effort and every year it all ends in tears - usually mine! What is the matter with me? I am not really a miserable old *** (but then again maybe I am and just don't realise it) so why can't I be like everyone else and get into the spirit of it all?

I have no photographs taken recently - light too dim, nothing worth taking... etc but whilst looking through my files I came across this one taken in our garden last spring - this is what I dream of at this time of the year - Spring and primroses, blue skies and sunshine, Easter - now there is a festival I can do!

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that 2010 will be a good year for you in terms of happiness and health.

I have decided to take a short break from blogging - I will come back when I have something more positive to say and some cheery photos, when I can see the joy in little things again, and can truly rejoice with you at all your happinesses. Take no notice of my moans I will be back and I will cheer up in due course after all these years this I know!!

Christmas Eve

I have just done my little table decoration and have the pastry ready and waiting for my mince pies...


.... my radio tuned to Radio 4 ready for Carols from Kings my Christmas can begin!


Last year I couldn't find these pretty silk roses and thought they had been lost in the move just a couple of weeks earlier so we didn't have the usual decoration but this year they turned up again - not lost at all just having a rest!

I bought several of these candle rings in Debenhams sale for just 25p each many years ago having some idea of using them in the making of a bag or something but they never got that far - however I thought them so realistic looking that I incorporated them into some real greenery and my tradition was born.

No berries on the holly? No problem as I have these artificial berries again donkey's years old but which do the job nicely and don't go all shrivelled and dull either!

I am off now to make the mince pies - hope that you are all where you wanted to be at Christmas and that Christmas is whatever you had hoped it might be for you and your families. Thank you for all your support and encouragement my blogging friends and I will look forward to catching up with you all again after the festivities.

Christmas stocking!

Our daughter told me yesterday that she will be coming for Christmas which will be lovely and the first Christmas we have spent together for several years. Having been laid up with the wretched virus I got nothing done last week apart from hanging the door wreath and setting up the tree on Sunday so suddenly with only a couple of days left I have to get on with my shopping etc. If daughter is coming I can indulge myself in making up a stocking for her as in the old days!

Am planning my first outing this afternoon - taking D to the hospital for further tests (how exciting is that?!) but hope to find somewhere to park the car so I can do a few bits of shopping. Having made this stocking last night - those of you who watched Kirsty's Home made Christmas will recognise the idea - I now need a few bits to fill it with!

However I will be limited in what I can fit into it as I haven't made it wide enough at the top really. The embroidery is not up to my usual standard either being machine zig zag stitch instead of done by hand but I am not too displeased with it for only a couple of hours' work.

I leave you with these narcissi which are the remnants of a little posy from the Scilly Isles sent to me by a friend - a real breath of spring eh?! Hope your Christmas preparations are going according to plan.

Pause in Advent

The nativity over the door at Salisbury Cathedral

I have no words of wisdom for you on our last Pause for Advent post but just some photos taken last Sunday when we went to Barrington Court for lunch. Having just returned late the night before from our trip to Paris we finished off with a Christmas lunch at the restaurant there thus we needed no shopping on our return. Since our time in France where the shops are closed on Sundays we determined not to revert to our custom of shopping on a Sunday but to keep it as a day of rest.

Even in the wintery sunlight the garden was lovely. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and returned home well refreshed by our little holiday.

Wishing you all the peace and joy of this season and a wonderful 2010 to follow.