Signs......

What a glorious day yesterday, blue sky....

....
we haven't seen much of that of late, shrubs beginning to burst into bud.....

.....and finally flowers are again blooming....violets...

.....crocus.......

....and spring flowering primulas......

......
the temperature was 15 degrees and the sun was shining, at last.
There's always housework to do, but after doing all the ironing I decided to do a few little outdoor jobs. I'm preparing to sew my newly bought seeds so I sat in the warm sunshine washing my seed trays and pots and thinking of what they'll look like when in full bloom.
Whilst I was busy doing this Mick was taking a break from his indoor jobs and treating himself to this outdoor task....

...although he doesn't see it as a chore, I'm sure!
What we really should have done is to go for a walk to the marina, which is just a short distance from us, but we decided otherwise.
DIY strikes a note in most peoples thoughts at this time of the year, and we're no exception. I have the colour charts ready to choose colours, and we have a few other things which we want to change indoor and out, but that is a work in progress and hopefully won't take all year!
One thing which we have noticed is that since those awful trees were felled adjacent to our back garden, we seem to be getting even more garden visitors. I'm hoping to get some pictures which I shall certainly be posting on here very soon. In the meantime, it's back to the jobs of the "indoor" variety, and a few crafting treats too!
Have a great weekend, whatever you do, whatever the weather.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Sounds like a "New Year" saying, but it isn't. I mean that at long last I am now using my new laptop (and trying to get used to it!) My poor old pc has finally gone. I can't complain, it was nine years old and I was used to it, and it did what I wanted it to do albeit slowly. But it was getting far to slow and seemed to groan every time I wanted it to accomplish more than one task, it didn't have much memory, and it struggled its way through everything.
Now I'm using my new slimline laptop, it feels quite strange. I'm not using a mouse, which is okay until I use my graphics programme. I shall persevere and see what happens.
I recently treated myself to Serif Craft Artist Platinum. It has so many features and wonderful gadgets. I have loads of photographs to put into scrapbooks, it should be quite a treat playing with it!
As the days are beginning to get longer (at last) my thoughts have been turning to the garden. Just last week our local council removed two large diseased sycamore trees which grew adjacent to our house. They were getting so big that our back garden was shaded for most of the day. Now it will be bathed in sunshine all day, (hopefully) and we've been planning some new plants and shrubs.
Whilst we were at B and Q I bought these..

....I thought these varieties will grow well with the roses, I can almost smell them now!
I also bought this home with me.....

....we have a couple of rooms which we want to decorate, so we're browsing the colour choices. Don't you just love the cover shot on this booklet, I do!
So I've plenty to be going on with, now all we need is some dry bright weather to get us all in the springtime mode. Here's hoping we don't have too long to wait!
Happy Weekend!

Bugs, beasties, a short break, then catching up!!

Well,what happened to my weekly blog post which I promised myself I would achieve this year? It was going great, that was until I caught the dreaded cold virus. It took almost three weeks before I begun to real energetic again. I suppose it serves me right, as I'm always saying " I never get colds" and I don't usually. I guess it was my turn for a change. That's the bugs bit over the beasties are the rabbits which have been digging and invading the garden of late. Whilst the weather was really cold, every day there was a new burrow hole from either next doors garden or into the fields adjacent to us. We think that they have been finding a cozy spot in our neighbours garden shed, or behind it, as that's where all the trails led. But once the temperature rose slightly they seem to have disappeared. You can't blame them I suppose. On Sundays you can often hear the "Sunday shoot" going on in the fields. Maybe they all decided to hide over here for a while! Last week hubby and I had a lovely weekend away, in York. The weather wasn't great, but it was a welcome change. We'd never done the Castle museum and on the Sunday we decided to visit. There's so much to see......
The Victorian parlour....


..... with it's velvets and brass, too dark for me.

The Victorian kitchen....

....this is very much like my late grandmothers kitchen in the 1960's. she wasn't one for "new fangled" ideas!
The 1940/50's front room.....

the kitchen....

and the "bathroom"....

.....the tin bath in front of the fire!!!!
What really caught our eyes, was this beauty, in the 1960's room....

..... that took us back a few years to our youth! Yes, Mick had a Lambretta, we did a few miles on it too!
Now it's back down to earth and begin catching up with everything. At least the longer evenings are slowly appearing, at last. Does that mean more time to get things done? I do hope so.

Happy New Year!!!

Better late than never, Happy New Year! I do hope that this year doesn't go as quickly as the last one!
The house is getting back to normal now, the Christmas things all packed up and in the loft. The house always looks strange for the first couple of days, don't you think?
Today the weather has been lovely and bright, blue sky and sunshine. What a change from the last couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to spring now. You can just see the bulbs starting to push through the soil.
We've had our daily visit from this little chap again, and I managed to get a couple of shots....

... they aren't very clear as I took them through the window as I don't want to scare him off......

....... I'm hoping to get better shots of him, when I can catch him.
I have been taking a lot of shots of the grandchildren over the holidays. It's amazing the energy they all have. I wish I had half as much!
It's difficult to get them to be still...

......it was noisy, but so nice to have all the family together for a change.
I've been watch this I do like Carol Klein, I think she is a great inspiration, and she knows what she's talking about. Her garden is wonderful, she has some great ideas and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.
Well at least the evenings should slowly begin to get lighter now. Hopefully we won't see any more snow, but with our weather we never know do we?
Have a great weekend.

Holiday wishes,

Well, Christmas is almost here again. Where has this last year gone, I just don't know! Hubby and I were just saying this morning that it doesn't seen like a year ago when we were walking along the canal side on last Midwinter's' day, watching the ducks and swans skating along on the frozen canal. It was a glorious day though, I hope this one is going to be just as lovely.
This year all the family will be together, which doesn't always happen. To have all the grandchildren together will be wonderful, maybe a little noisy too, but such fun!
I haven't started my Christmas baking yet, that begins on Wednesday.
I wonder if the snow will still be with us. We haven't had much this last week, but it's been so cold and frosty. The surrounding fields and trees have been a winter wonderland. Here's just a few of the pictures I took...

......

......

.......

.......and not to forget our garden visitors.....

..... he's a new visitor, but he's welcome any time he likes.
This last picture is of my beautiful frozen rose....

..... from the slightest touch, the stem snapped off. I just had to take a shot of it on the snow. I think it's one of my best shots of the year.
Everyone wants a white Christmas, but when the snow arrives it just causes chaos, because we just don't seem to be able to cope with it and are never prepared. will we ever get it right, who knows. But we have to take the time to see it in all its beauty.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday.....


Health, peace and happiness to you all,xx

The last one!

It's always a shame to see the end of the roses as autumn turns to winter. But there's still plenty of colour left, for now.
We have quite a few pots with autumn flowering plants and some winter pansies, which are looking really lovely even though we've had some dreadful wet and windy weather.
Hopefully, at the weekend, we shall take a walk along to the marina ( which is close by) and get a few canalside shots. it's always nice to walk along there whatever the weather or time of year.

I just managed to catch this shot of the light on a pansy in the garden,I love the way shafts of light expose the smallest thing to show off its beauty,

...

and there's always plenty of these for the compost bin...

..... I love autumn, don't you?

Time travelling (part 3) A walk in the past!

I hope you're ready for your next trip through time! We're now off to Telford in Shropshire, to beautiful Ironbridge, and our first visit is to the wonderful
Blists Hill Victorian Town
So here we are, wondering where to go first......


.... I know, we'd better go to the bank...

..... the bank clerk tells us that our finances are in order, so we won't have to see the bank manager! Thank goodness, I wouldn't want to climb those stairs! (What a smartly dressed man the clerk is!)
Hubby wants a quick look in the bicycle shop, he's looking for a new bicycle....

....... I wonder if it's this one he's looking at?????

...maybe not!
Well, I'm just popping into the grocers, next door., I want some mint tablets, Her Majesty's, of course!

.....

......let's move on to the chemists next door.....


........is there anything in here you'll need???

......look at all those shelves and drawers...

....I wonder what's in them all, look, there's more.......
......but right in the corner is where the dentist has his room, shall we take a look inside.....



....let's move on shall we, to something more pleasant.....

... we might be in here a while, I have some ribbon to buy......

..... and a pretty lace collar.....

.......and I really need some more sewing needles....

....I shall have to stay and have a chat with Mrs McClure. She has some lovely new fabric to show me!
Well we've been in here far too long, I think we should pop over the road for fish and chips, they're just about to open, (and it'll only cost us 1/6d !!!)
Let's eat and then we can carry on!