I talk to the trees...

I do talk to the trees. Actually, sometimes I even sing to the trees. My eldest sister and I used to go to Westonbirt Arboretum in the Winter every year - just the two of us. We would go off-path, hug trees and sing Simon and Garfunkel songs (very badly indeed). I guess our lives have become busier and we are more likely now to mooch from tea shop to tea shop for an hour or two, rather than walk and sing in the trees all day. We need to restart the tradition.

So today I went to Westonbirt with Mark and his parents. A wonderfully sunny day, there were too many people for me to get away with singing or tree-hugging, but it was lovely feeling the dappled sun on our faces, spotting the buds so full of promise, listening to the birds and...

...enjoying a grand Sunday lunch of sausage and chips!

sausage and chips for lunch

I love seeing the early Spring bulbs fighting their way through the drifts of leaves that fell in the Autumn; it feels like a triumph over adversity.

snowdrops and Autumn leaves

fair maids of February

I love the way the low Winter sun catches the bark of the trees.

cedar tree bark

I love the way the sun catches the vivid yellow petals of the witch hazel - like a Winter fiesta!

witch hazel pom-poms

I love the way carrying (and using) a camera allows me to distance myself from the rest of the world; watching from a distance is so calming.

walking a few paces behind 

I love catching sight of little splashes of colour as the natural world starts to wake up from Winter.

signs of life

I think this will be Mark and me one day. An elderly couple sitting companionably on a park bench, watching the world go by.

sat on their park bench like bookends

I do believe in fairies...I do, I do!

A quiet week - still a bit croaky and wheezy but getting better. Decided a bit of fresh air might help the healing process so Mark and I set out to see the new sculpture trail at Lacock Abbey. A series of wire mesh fairies and dragons and the like. There were clearly a lot of visitors making the most of some hazy sunshine, but Lacock is one of those magical places that can absorb a crowd without feeling crowded. Just as well, as I am not good among crowds (unless they are the host of golden daffodil type when wandering lonely as a cloud).

As we walked through the wooded gardens we came across a number of timid fairies; some resting on tree stumps and others floating amid the trees. I really like the way you can see through the figures - makes them all the more other-worldly.

fairy at Lacock Abbey

Lacock sculpture trail 

a fairy holding a fairy...cool!

As we followed the path, we came across a rather splendid dragon...I could definitely imagine having one of these in our garden!

here there be dragons

In the centre of the cloisters there was even a unicorn!

unicorn

 Now, I get the mythical creatures and the figure reading and the monk...after all it is an abbey...

lost in a good book

ghostly monk

...but a motorbike??? Huh?!!

a motorbike?!

However, it was a lovely day for a walk and the woods were showing hints of Spring.

snowdrops and sunshine

snowdrops

crocus

woodland stepping stones

umbrella of light

pond life

woodland walk at Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey gardens

snowdrops and crocus

I have been grumpy all week, but a splash of sunshine, some fresh air, trees, snowdrops and a fairy or two turned me almost human again. Tomorrow we are going to Westonbirt Arboretum for some more of the same medicine (although the fairies there are somewhat better hidden!).

little to say

I don't really have a proper blog entry this week. The cough and cold turned in to full blown flu and I spent most of the week in bed. Then the asthma really kicked in and I have had to give in and take antibiotics and steroids. The medicine has started to kick in and I will be back at work tomorrow, but I have done nothing all week - no sewing, no cooking, I didn't even feel up to reading. However, I would hate to think anyone popped in to check my blog and found nothing but a whinging old sick person, so here's a photo of our cats sharing my work chair. At least, I call it my chair, but if as they say possession is nine tenths of the law, then I guess it is more Max's chair...!

who's chair?

Sniffles, Sunshine and Sewing Machines

Sniffles

I am not a good patient. I am not a patient patient. I am a grumpy, self-pitying, whinging type of patient.  Luckily I have a very tolerant boyfriend - I think he survives by putting up a whinge filter and letting it all wash over him. So, ten days ago my physiotherapist tried (forcefully) to persuade my knee cap that it had been in the wrong position for over forty years. My kneecap is made of the same stubborn stuff that the rest of me is made of and it fought back, refused to move, and then sulked painfully for some days. Accordingly, Mark and I put off last week's planned trip to our holiday flat in Dorset until this weekend.

Mark took a day's leave on Friday and his parents arranged to come and stay in our house to look after our two cats. Unfortunately, I was involved in a duvet cover changing incident and from the colour and pain in my big toe, I suspect it may be broken. I bravely strapped it to the next toe over and, with very little crying and swearing, we set off for Dorset. We had a delicious lunch at the Watch House Cafe in West Bay (spicy seafood and chorizo broth), had a brief hobble along the beach and settled in to the flat to watch a dvd. I then proceeded to cough all the way through the film (appropriately "Brave", about a feisty redhead ready to face all challenges!)...and all night...and all day Saturday. Eventually, late Saturday afternoon, Mark did his best to look sympathetic and suggested we just go home. Bless his heart.

Sunshine

Actually though we had a really nice day on Saturday despite the coughing, sniffling, hobbling redhead. It was a perfect Winter's day - cold enough to make your face tingle, blue skies and lovely low sunlight.

West Bay pre blue skies

We headed to Lula's in Bridport for a delicious breakfast (ham, eggs and bubble-and-squeak) and then on for a hobble around the sub-tropical gardens at Abbotsbury. We have Abbotsbury season tickets (for the gardens, swannery and children's farm) and no matter when we visit, the gardens are beautiful.

ghosts of Summer's hydrangeas

leafless tree canopy

I always find myself drawn to reflections - I love the slight surreality of them.

reflections in the Jurassic pond 

reflections in the fish pond

 Of course there are times when I try to take an arty shot and my personal sherpa decides he wants to step beyond his camera bag carrying role...!

Mark gets in the photo

Not wishing to disappoint the poor chap, I let him be centre shot with the tree reflections and fish:

Mark and the fish

Of course no trip to the sub-tropical gardens is complete without a cup of tea and a piece of Dorset apple cake.

crumbs!

Sewing machine

Between breakfast and the gardens, we just had to do a little tour of Bridport's antique and junk shops. In one of the shops I spotted this little beauty for £20. No idea if that's a good price or not, but it was worth it to me.

vintage sewing machine

The photo does not do justice to this wonderful machine (I'll try again during the week): Frister and Rossmann Vibrating Shuttle. I looked up the age by the serial number, and it was made sometime between 1907 and 1914, and I have found a copy of the manual online. Once my head no longer feels like it is stuffed full of cotton wool, I will see if I can wind the bobbin and thread it up. I don't expect it to take over from my Janome, but I really do want to use this beautiful sewing machine. I found a great blog about vintage sewing and machines - Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing - which is most helpful; do have a look, it's a lovely blog!

Now I am going to get another lemsip and go back to bed...uggghhh.

Lemons, Lacewings and Lacock

On Thursday, yesterday and a little bit today...we had sunshine!






I had wondered whether this good news was sufficiently exciting for a blog update on its own, but when has anyone ever known me to stop talking just because I could...or should???

Let me start with a 'thank you' or two and a question:

1) Thank you Toyota. My little Aygo blue slept under a thick blanket of snow for almost a week and still started first time!

2) Thank you Richard Carter. I had seen mention of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, but rather thought I had missed it and then saw Rich's reminder on Facebook yesterday and have spent a happy hour this morning counting the birds in our garden.

3) Question: Why am I such a softie (fool), that I am sitting on a hard wooden dining chair typing this, while Max dreams and snores on my nice comfortable work chair??? I know I should chuck him out to get some fresh air, but he looks so cute and cosy...

Goodbye snow!

The snow started disappearing a few days ago. Even the little bit of extra snow we had Tuesday evening didn't really impede its departure. The first sign it was on its way out was when I spotted that my snow cat had morphed in to Barbapapa!

snow cat becomes Barbapapa

This morning the rain and wind overnight had completely chased away the last patches of icy white and the world is again green (and somewhat soggy). All that is left to show that the snow cat was ever there is the lavender stem whiskers lying on the garden table...sniff, sniff.

WI Book Club

I think I mentioned before that I joined the Bath WI (first meeting of 2013 is the week after next) and I had an email about their book club (which, it turns out is organised by the nice lady who's garden backs on to ours) and I decided it would be nice to get to know some locals better and to be encouraged to read books I might not have thought of before. The next meeting is on 20th February and, anxious to be sure I had finished the book before then, I started reading Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child (snow seems to be a theme at the moment!). Oh my!! It's a wonderful book and I couldn't put it down - I had forgotten the luxury of putting on some music and just reading for a couple hours. So, not only have I finished the book weeks in advance of the meeting, but I so loved the story and the imagery I looked in to the books which inspired Eowyn Ivey to write it and I have downloaded Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Tales to my Kindle and ordered on eBay a copy of the original The Snow Child as retold by Freya Littledale (not sure what I will get as it was £143 on Amazon and £2.76 on eBay!). 

The added bonus of joining the book club is that it has prompted me to join the Bath library - who knew that these days you can download books from the library! (thanks for the tip-off Tamsin!) 

Aaarrrggghhhh...ooh, actually not so bad

You may have spotted in some of my photos my gorgeous blue and white cups, a gift from my friend Irene. I loved them so much that when I saw the same range in Shannon in Bath, I bought a couple of the larger size cups...and last week I dropped another mug on top of one and chipped the rim! I was gutted. However, it makes a lovely pot for the penstemon cuttings the old lady next door took for me, and not only did Mark buy me a replacement one, I also got a matching bowl and small plate! I am a big fan of breakfast and like to make it a bit of a starting the day ritual. I guess all's well that ends well!

new use for chipped favourite mug

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

The Big Garden Birdwatch is organised by the Royal Society of Protection of Birds and asks people to watch the birds in their garden for an hour and log on the website the largest number of the different species they saw at any one time (to avoid duplication). My results were:

• 8 blackbirds
• 2 magpies
• 4 starlings
• 16 house sparrows
• 1 robin
• 1 wood pigeon
• 2 coal tits
• 3 blue tits
• 2 great tits
• 2 crows
• 2 chaffinches
• 1 greenfinch
• 3 goldfinches

I was surprised by how many blackbirds there were - and they were getting feisty over the rolled oats; I suspect they are also fighting over territory as we usually have blackbird nests in the hedges. There may well have been more sparrows than I recorded - it sounded as though there were hundreds - but I just included the ones I could see to count. I often see blackcaps and thrushes and sometimes a tree creeper, but not today.

Lemon and fig marmalade

As promised, I made a batch of lemon and fig marmalade using the recipe in Gloria Nicol's book 'Fruits of the Earth', she has a similar recipe on her Laundry Etc website.

As the sun was shining on the last bits of snow as I sliced lemons, I thought it was an opportunity to practise photographing food and took my bowl of lemons outside to catch the sunlight reflected off the snow.

lemons in the snow

It was a good idea, until Rio decided to see what was going on! (It's ok, I moved him quickly so the marmalade is free of cat hair)

Rio the cat investigates lemons

I was quite happy with the results - despite my furry helper.

lemon slices in the sunlight

lemons and figs soaking

 The finished marmalade is totally lush (as they say in these parts) - tart and sweet at the same time.

lemon and fig marmalade in the snow

Illuminated Lacock Abbey

 Now I had every intention to stop here for the week. However, as I was finishing up, Mark appeared (we may live in the same house but still manage to occupy different time zones), so we went out to make the most of the sun - just as well as it is now blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs. Apologies if this entry is too long, but Lacock was lovely (as always) and I have to share! The exhibition at the Fox Talbot Museum was Jo Whaley's Theatre of Insects - and I cannot resist photos of bugs! I had never seen photos quite like them...have a look at the link. It was also the final day of Illuminating Lacock Abbey; the beautiful mediaeval cloisters were subtly lit and were totally stunning. I am not sure the photos do it justice, but I tried...

illuminated stone floor

Some of the lights were like stars or snowflakes; quite magical (appropriate as some Harry Potter scenes were filmed here).

daytime starlight 

ghostly footsteps moving as you watch

colour-changing cloisters

now it's green!

Lacock Abbey Cloisters

My favourite was this wall - so atmospheric; a place of calm and tranquility.

words of peace

 One little girl was as mesmerised as I was, and added her shadow to the shadow words on the wall.

shadows

We also went in to the old brewery, no longer brewing but beautifully lit, partly by sunlight and partly artificially.

old brewery, Lacock

The lights looked so much like fire and water.

brewery lights

Outside, snowdrops were harbingers of Spring.

snow drops

carpet of snowdrops

That really is it for this week - all that's left to do today is to enjoy the boeuf bourguignon bubbling away in the slow cooker.