Nothing much

Tuesday.

Work is a little too busy for my liking at the moment, but it is the way with working outdoors. Gardens have awoken and are shaking off their wintery slumber. Shoots and seedlings, weeds and herbaceous perennials are appearing at a prolific rate and I am running just to catch up. 

Am I the only one that struggles with the changing of the clocks? Actually no, I know the cat gets befuddled too. It can take up to a week for me to adjust to the present time, which annoys me as I've lived here long enough to have got used it - but no. I do think that it is a very odd thing to do - altering the time twice a year. It has a bit of a nod to King Cnut and the tides........

We've had some gently good and soul affirming walks recently. Nothing new or outstanding however the power of repeating a lovely trail when just being there is enough.

The van is getting a bit of a make-over. Himself has been inspired and the present layout - although workable, could be better. I am quietly getting excited at the thought of 'playing out' especially now the days are longer and although still chilly, they are beautiful and the light glorious.

Wednesday.

Just got home after a morning's workshop teaching. Eight lovely ladies who delighted in the mindfulness of making of wreaths adorned with mini nests and eggs, feathers, ribbons. Teeny tiny ladybirds and strands of ivy.  Leading up to any of these workshops, I get myself wound up but by the end and everyone leaves happy and I wonder why I worry!

Observations

Most of the droplets glisten when they capture the meagre early morning sunlight, others appear opaque. The window pane is littered with static rain beads giving the appearance of pockmarked glass. Then when the fast moving grey clouds curtain the sun, the droplets become almost invisible allowing my eye through the distraction. I now watch the trees in the garden are dancing in the brisk breeze, it fluctuates from a gentle flip of the lighter branches to whole tree contortions. 

We have a stained glass plaque in the window and at the moment, brief flashes of sun sing through the colours scattering speckles of colour on the glass.

Himself left for work while it was still the last drifts of darkness leaving the cat and me in bed, his parting shot - I'd stay there if I were you. So we have. Although I suspect I will be up long before the cat.

The hyacinths in the lounge have both decorated the room and the air with their delicious scent and blue flowers however they are beginning to fade and I am sorry to see them go. It will be another ten months before we have them up on the mantel and in the window again.  Primula have been brought in to fill that hole.

The cat is rhythmically snoring beneath Himself's aged lumberjack shirt - one reserved specifically for gardening and tucking around a cold sleeping cat.

I can see, but not hear, the wind chime in the garden twirling around in the wind. It is an elegant spiral of tubes which normally share a gentle chime as they tink against each other. Today I suspect it is more of an angry clash than a melodic background sound. The blackbirds do not seem to care. They are busily foraging around the plants and bird feeder breaking off only to chase each other around and across the garage roof.

I plan to paint once I have posted this. I  can feel the compulsion to sketch and run a watercolour filled brush across paper. It sometimes feels like a rising tide which I used to suppress - somehow 'adulting' seemed more important - but now I heed that urge.

Life is for living.

snapshots and scents

The plan was - get up, shower, strip the bedding then stick on the washing machine, finally sitting down with a mug of peppermint tea and toast..... The first two happened fairly smoothly, that is until it came to pulling back the duvet only to find the cat firmly burrowed beneath Himself's warm padded shirt. I hesitated. Her eyes were so firmly shut it felt quite disrespectful to disturb her. Instead I worked my way through the wash basket hoping that by the time I was ready to pull the bed apart, Pan would have decided to get up and leave me to my chores..... not a chance.

So I carefully untucked the corners of the sheets, gently pulling them to the centre. This produced the 'ears of annoyance' and the 'frown of disapproval'. I stopped. This time, I slowly pulled the duvet to the now bared mattress - this was considered inappropriate behaviour and I was given the sharpest of glares. 

How is it I have been reduced to a timid char lady to an elderly cantankerous cat?! 

I tried again, this time she poured herself out of the nest she had created and slipped off the bed and away with a rather cross flick flick of her tail.

Later.....

Chores done, breakfast eaten, carpets briefly tickled with the vacuum cleaner I reached for my knitting to do whilst I finished my tea. For what felt like the longest time, I have not had the need or the urge to knit or crochet however that seems to have returned and in the last few days I have knitted a pseudo-Sophie scarf and a warm scrappy hat for work. 

The weather has vanished again, leaving a sepia-grey sky heavy with damp and cold air. It took quite a bit of an effort on my part to go out, so I rewarded myself with the snowdrops in the garden. 

The kitchen at the moment, smells rather warm and inviting - I have a marzipan and vanilla loaf cake cooking in the oven and the fragrance is filling downstairs with a mouth watering aroma.

I hope that it tastes as good as it smells😊

Postscript..... Himself declares the cake delicious and has scoffed two chunky slices, suspect it will be a 'make it again' 🍰

If Winter comes Can Spring be far behind? (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Stepping in to the garden this morning was like stepping into an energy field. The air was crisp with the lightest of airy blue skies and I was surrounded by the sounds of blackbirds quarrelling, robins singing and the neighbour's hens making happy hen noises.

Leaves and twigs were brushed with the lightest of frost and in the sunlight they sparkled and twinkled catching my eye, filling me with joy. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly my spirit is lifted by days like these.

Whilst I was out, I fed the birds and cracked the glassy lid of ice on all their watering holes. I knew I was being watched as the trees rustled with blackbirds leaning forward to see what I'd left for them.

The cat has remained in bed - as is her want - she is a a bit of an 'old dear' and likes her creature comforts and usually I want to do the same, but not today. 

Today is too beautiful to miss.

Storm Éowyn

At some point during the night and through sleep deadened eyes and ears, I could hear the occasional gust of wind or rain splattering the window. Not enough to fully awaken me, but enough for me to notice.

This morning although blustery at home, it did not feel that threatening and it was surprisingly mild as we hopped into the cars and set off ..... until we hit the freeway. My car bounced and bucked and behaved as if he'd had too many oats and his feet were fizzy. By the time I'd reached work I was quite on edge as I trickled carefully along the lane into the park. It was strewn with twigs and sticks but very little else. No trees seemed to be down or branches dropped.

Then as the skies lightened from inky blue to leaden grey the wind built to a roar, ripping through trees and screaming around buildings.  The bright yellow weeding buckets we hang up on the raised beds were flung in to the air as they bounded through the garden before colliding with the wall and gate. Café chairs stopped huddling around their tables pirouetting swiftly before disgracefully nose diving with a resounding metallic thud. 

We watched from in the building for a moment or two before I ventured out down to the glasshouse. Although double strength safety glass, it is always with an amount of trepidation when I enter while the weather is as wild as today. The wind droned and groaned as the trees creaked and wailed however, in the glasshouse, radio and plant heater on, it felt warm and almost cocoon like.

However by lunch, when the wall was being stripped of pieces of brick by the wind, it was time to retreat. I sent volunteers home - it was not worth their safety (or mine) to linger longer than necessary.  With the winds behind me on the freeway my car raced home faster that I wanted however, now, sitting with the cat asleep on my shoulder, my second mug of tea nearly finished it seems that the winds may have tired themselves out - although still blustery and the trees still rocking and rolling, I think the storm may have blown itself thin.

My heart goes out to those further north and in Northern Ireland who have really felt the wrath of the storm xx

During last night's  'Winter Watch'  - the mindful moment,

 the cat decided to sit in front of the television

 to try and locate where the bird song was emanating from -

 when she had her 'Lion King' moment.

Liquid sunshine🌦️

As the rain steadily falls and the room feels gloomy, I know it is time to turn the fairy lights on and fill the kettle. I am influenced by light levels and although I don't suffer SAD as painfully as others do, I do feel it and it weighs heavily on me. I find that walking or gardening help however I have had enough of being out in the rain and have chosen to drop my plans for a yomp up and out of the valley and am turning inward.

So, once I've finished tapping away at the laptop, I shall get my SAD light, my water colours and lose myself in colour and mugs of tea. I have just glanced up and the cat is staring at me with such a frown. She is visibly accusing me of either causing the driech wet weather or my lack of ability to fix it. My dear cat, if I could, I would.

All this sounds rather depressing and it's not meant to be. It is what it is (dreadful phrase but it fits here). 

Moments later, the cat has just returned from an attempted foray into the garden. She is drenched, her coat sparkling with raindrops as she leaves foot prints across the floor. I suspect that she will now situate herself behind the wood burner and steam herself gently dry for the rest of the day.

As predicted, she did indeed vanish behind the wood burner, 

this photo is from a day or two ago

I shall just have to embrace the rain, it is January after all and use it as an excuse to give myself the day off. 

And, just for a moment's entertainment I found this ....

104 words for rain here in the UK

1. Ache and pain (Cockney rhyming slang)
2. Bange (East Anglia), a sort of dampness in the air, w/ light rain 🚿
3. Bleeter (Scottish) 💧 ⏳
4. Bluffart (Scottish) ❄️ ⏳ 😲
5. Blunk (Shropshire) 💧 ⏳
6. Cloudburst 💧⚡😲
7. Cow quaker 💧
8. Dag of rain (Scottish) 🚿 ⏳
9. Deluge 💧
10. Dibble (Shropshire) Slow rain
11. Dimpsey (West country) 🚿
12. Downpour 💧
13. Dreich (miserable weather, Scottish)
14. Drencher 💧
15. Dringey (Norflk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire)🚿
16. Drisk (Cornwall) 🚿
17. Driving rain 💨
18. Drizzle 🚿
19. Duke of Spain (Cockney rhyming slang)
20. Flist (Scottish) 🚿
21. Flurry ⏳
22. Fox’s wedding (The West Country) 😲
23. Haar (Cornish, Scotlish, N. English), drizzle from the sea 🚿
24. Harle (Lincolnshire), drizzle from the sea 🚿
25. Haster (England), a violent storm⚡
26. Haud (Scottish) 😲
27. Hemple (West Country) 🚿
28. Hig (England)⚡ ⏳
29. Hurley Burley (England) 💧⚡
30. It’s beating down 💧
31. It’s chucking it down 💧
32. It’s coming down in buckets/bucketloads 💧
33. It’s coming down in sheets 💧
34. It’s coming down it torrents 💧
35. It’s drumming down, heavy rain heard through a roof 💧
36. It’s getting biblical out there 💧⚡
37. It’s hammering (it) down 💧
38. It’s henting (Cornwall) 💧
39. It’s hossin (Cumbrian) 💧
40. It’s hoyin it doon (N. E. England) 💧
41. It’s lashing (it) down 💧
42. It’s lattin (Shropeshire), Enough rain to make outdoor work difficult
43. It’s letty (Somerset), Enough rain to make outdoor work difficult
44. It’s luttering down 💧
45. It’s maumy (N. English/Scottish) 🚿
46. It’s pattering 🚿
47. It’s peeing (it) down 💧
48. It’s pelting (it) down 💧
49. It’s pissing (it) down 💧
50. It’s plothering down (Midlands and N. England) large droplets with no wind 💧
51. It’s pouring/pouring down 💧
52. It’s raining cats and dogs 💧
53. It’s raining chair legs, painfully heavy rain 💧
54. It’s raining like a cow reliving itself 💧
55. It’s raining sideways 💨
56. It’s raining stair rods, painfully heavy rain 💧
57. It’s raining upwards, rain so heavy that it bounces 💧
58. It’s siling/syling down (N. England) 💧
59. It’s spitting 🚿
60. It’s spluttering 🚿
61. It’s sprinkling 🚿
62. It’s stottin (N. England and Scotland) heavy rain that bounces 💧
63. It’s teeming from the heavens (N. Irish) 💧
64. It’s thrashing (it) down 💧
65. It’s throwing it down 💧
66. It’s tipping (it) down 💧
67. It’s tippling (it) down 💧
68. It’s yukken it doon (Cumbrian) 💧
69. It’s trickling 🚿
70. Kelsher, a heavy shower 💧 
71. Liquid sunshine, sudden rain on a sunny day 😲
72. Misla (Irish Traveller)
73. Mizzle (N.Engis), misty drizzle 🚿
74. Mochy weather (Scotish, N. Irish) 🚿
75. Monsoon, heavy summer rain 💧 
76. Mothery (Linconshire) 🚿
77. Nice weather for ducks!
78. Onslaught 💧 
79. Peeggirin (Scottish) a stormy shower 💧 
80. Plash (Northumbrian) 😲
81. Pleasure and pain (Cockney rhyming slang)
82. Plum shower (Scottish) 💧
83. Posh (Shropshire) 💧
84. Precipitation
85. Rain
86. Raining forks’tiyunsdown’ards (Lincolnshire) like it’s raining pitchforks 💧
87. Scotch mist 🚿
88. Sea fret (N. English) mizzle from the sea 🚿
89. Shower ⏳
90. Skew (Cornwall) ⏳
91. Skite (Scottish) 🚿 ⏳
92. Sleet ❄️
93. Smirr (Scottish) 🚿
94. Smizzle (Scottish) 🚿
95. Soaker 💧
96. Soft weather (N. Irish) 🚿
97. Squall  🚿
98. Steaking 🚿
99. The heavens have opened 😲
100. The smoky smirr o rain (Scotland) 🚿
101. The Wet
102. Thunderstorm ⚡
103. Torrent/Torrential 💧
104. Yillen (Scottish) 🚿 💨

Thanks to Starkeycomics.com for the list

Madam does not approve🐾

A personal challenge - try and write something every day for January 2025 

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Working from home today. 

The snow has triggered where I work into a health and safety hyper-alert. It does not take much for paths to be slippery or access to become difficult and seeing a fair number of folk who use the community building and gardens on a daily basis are mostly older, it seems better to err on the side of caution.

So, instead of doing garden planning, checking on our seeds/tools/potting soil, making shopping lists and welcoming back the volunteers, I am at home having just endured essential mandatory training.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be at home when the weather is like this, I can wrap up and chat to the cat whilst I am working (not that she approves of this kind of frivolous comradery - she is more the 'you-work-and-I-watch - through closed eyelids - type of cat......)

Any hoo - I am now fully certificated on anything to do with fire prevention and safety in the workplace.  The cat was not particularly impressed when I let out a ooooof of relief on the final assessment.... however, I am just glad to have finished it. 

The eyebrows of annoyance say so much more that words could ever do!

Ginger cats

A personal challenge - try and write something every day for January 2025 

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Like much of the UK, when I flung the curtains open this morning, I was welcomed by a brightly white view. Snow.

Himself and the cat seemed firmly burrowed in the duvet, so I pottered downstairs and while I waited for the kettle to boil, took photos with my mobile. Quick snaps as proof in case the rain came and spoilt everything, washing the brilliant white away and replacing it with the usual dismal and drab northern winter.

Sipping our tea and coffee, watching the snow flurry this way and that through the window,  suddenly message after message from the family pings up - photos of their snow, their happy snow chatter, so I sent them ours and it felt lovely that despite the boys being in their own homes - we were 'all together' watching the weather and comparing depth and snow fall type.

Himself wanted to get out and experience the snow so we wrapped up warmly and set off. The cottages in the village appeared to hunker down in the mounds of snow, clustering around the lane running through it. There was a thin wind curling around the trees and funnelling through the stone walls and slicking across my face making my cheeks feel brittle, however I could not feel my toes...

After about three miles, Himself and I returned, shed our many layers, put the kettle on - time for a mug of tea and  still warm 'ginger-cat' biscuits.

Dawn

A personal challenge - try and write something every day for January 2025 - let's see how it goes.

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Throwing the curtains open reveals a dark almost blank canvas with just the bedside light reflecting in the glass. A solitary street lamp struggles to shine through the unruly hedge at the bottom of the garden. Then a moment or two later an icy blue slice appears beneath the steel cold grey, emerging from the nothing depth of the night sky.  It was Himself's first day back at work after the festive break and my last day off before I return. So I take the luxurious liberty of returning to bed with a mug of tea, the cat and a book. 

Looking up after a while, I watch the the icy blue sliver slide into a faint lemon yellow, the grey was now a pale sea reaching up and through the retreating tide of the night sky. Colours soften as the daylight returns while trees begin to reappear from the early dawn gloom. The occasional bird flits across my view, flapping in the still air - a start contrast to the last few of days of wet and wild weather.

Photo from a day or two ago looking through the village

Going for world domination

Oh April - where have you gone? Admittedly you were mostly shrouded in cloud and often drenched in rain but were also bathed in sunlight and lifted by the most glorious blue skies.

Among many things keeping me occupied (work, life, gardening, living) I have been quietly painting - a tiny picture a day. I can't explain the simple joy they brought me.  A mini escape in watercolour.

Now, suddenly it is the last day of April and the last day of the challenge - #30minipaintings, so I thought I would, to commiserate/celebrate/acknowledge the last day of the month by sharing them here.

Each little picture (well - 28 of the 30) is a record of a real event on the day or the day before they were painted - 28 little stories of my life. The other two were just quickly done late on in an evening when I'd not had time earlier to paint.

Cats, plants, gardens, adventures, family, tea and life - that sums up April. And to show how small they really are .....

A small and furry for comparison.

Post Script - I am on with another painting/drawing challenge - one I kick started at work at the beginning of the year to encourage folk to get creative - it gently grows with more people joining in - we're going for world domination through the medium of art!
 

Belated HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

 I have to admit that even with my newly harnessed 'powers' of reluctantly accepting winter as winter, am finding this dreary transition over to early spring a rather long and drawn out affair.  We seem to drift beneath lingering mediocre grey skies and incessant rain or bitter winds. And yes I know it is the bleak end of the year weatherly speaking - however a blue sky no matter how brittle cold the air is - is more cheerful than the 'nothing' which seems to idle from horizon to horizon. 

A couple of weekends ago we celebrated my Eldest son's birthday - and yes it rained - however we swarmed around the diningroom table and beneath strings of fairy lights and accompanied by candles, ate good food, played board games, laughed and talked and were entertained bossed around by cats. We also tickled goats and played in the garden during a brief but most welcome stay in the weather - now that is what I call a good weekend!

Post script: am I the only one who wants to blog but when I start the words feel trite or the stories not worth sharing? I have over the last couple of weeks, opened the page, thought about what to say (which sounds excellent in my head by the way) only to press delete.

Murky waters

 A fair bit has happened since my last post - life does that. It happens and then suddenly you realise you've not actually written any of those amazing stories, sad things, wonderful walks, funny moments and silly snapshots and when you look back - are they really worth re-hashing in a witty or waffly post?

Nope.

So, instead I thought I'd share a photo or two of some recent arty stuff, not brilliant, but for me an achievement. Getting back into art has been a bit of a slog and now I am regularly sketching and painting I can see I am out of practise. 

It is however bringing me a lot of pleasure - which is far more important to me now than the need to perform or provide work for a paid commission  - and a relief. I am painting for me.

An odd post, I agree but, isn't that what life is? 

Post Script : and if you are wondering what on earth the cat is resting her head on in the first photo - she has a fabric toy fish stuffed with catnip which she uses as her pillow - we call it her 'cuddlefish' 

The delight of a warm cat after a rainy day

My last day before returning to work saw Eldest, his lovely girl and I saw us splash and bump our way over the wild and windy moor road to Hebden Bridge. I swear the pot holes and uneven tar has worsened over the last few weeks making it a very bumpy ride.

Storm Henk was doing his worst further south however we were still on the receiving end of blustery and wet weather when we landed. Carefully walking down the steep cobbled steps into the town is an adventure in it's own right when the cobbles are dry, however when they are glistening wet with rivulets of water streaming alongside, even more so! Definitely not a flight of stairs to do on an icy day.

Town was a lot quieter that I thought it would be, probably due to the less than delightful weather. We visited a few of our favourite haunts - We love 'Spirals' and 'Earth Spirit' and often come away with something we have fallen in love with. This time for me, it was a book which I am devouring happily. 

Dashing between shops to try and keep as dry as possible took us to Jules - an absolute gem of a place. Filled with quirky hand thrown pottery from Portugal and unusual pieces of kitchenware - it is somewhere I have been taking the boys since they were small and what pleases me is that they now take their lovely girls and friends. Spreading the joy.

We eventually had to give up - the weather was just not letting up and we were succumbing to the cold and the damp - besides, at home the kettle and woodburner were calling as were these two. Eldest's two kittlings (not young enough to be cats and certainly not kittens any more) lovingly known as 'the boys'.

Who, despite appearing angelic and snoozy in these pictures, can be whirlwind mischief makers at the drop of a hat! They have gone home now and the house is a whole lot quieter without their exuberance and enthusiasm and generosity of purr. 

 

Post Script: the boys are seasoned travellers already - they love their car crate and will jump in as soon as they see it and when they arrive at their destination they make themselves at home within seconds. These lads are amazing little cats.