Tag Archive | spring

114 Days of freedom-days 8-12 catch-up

Feb24

I am hopeless.

All my good intentions of keeping my Blog/journal up to date thwarted by …….by….. Mmmmm. Not sure, except that I have neglected my duties for 5 days.

intentions

In my defense, Days 8 and 9 were spent celebrating my birthday 🙂 Whilst I am not a fan of Christmas, Easter and other Public holidays when I am celebrating something totally unconnected with me, my birthday is sacrosanct. I have never worked on my birthday. Ever. I have always loved my birthday and  the work thing came about in my penultimate year at school when I sent off for retail management opportunity information from our best-loved high-street stores. Strangely, it was the Woolworths scheme which caught my eye.

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In addition to the standard holiday allocation, they gave you a day off for your birthday! Wow! That really appealed to me, and I vowed then and there, never to work on my birthday. I never have and my well-trained secretary used to book my birthday off as her first job each New Year. I think that Woolworths were years ahead of their time with my employer ony following their blazed trail 35 years later by introducing “Birthday Leave” in 2014. It may not seem much, but it meant a lot to me; Better late than never.

My birthday this year fell on a Saturday. I went to my Slimming World class as usual and the class sang “Happy Birthday” when they found out I was in group on my day. I didn’t want to do anything special on my birthday except that I got to choose the dinner menu. Steak of course! Not only do my hubby and I enjoy a good steak, Jasper has developed a liking for it too. The good thing is that today, steak is not the expensive luxury it used to be, and Jasper gets his own slab of red meat to eat with his mummy and daddy. Yes, we spoil him but he deserves it. He gives us both so much pleasure that we cannot possibly deny him a bit of sirloin.

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Jasper also likes going to the pub. He likes it because he gets lots of adoring attention and he meets his doggy friends for a get-together!

Jasper and Tess

Birthday celebrations over, I have mostly been busy making the quilts I have “on order.”

If someone wants a quilt, I am happy to make one if they choose their colour scheme. It’s very interesting to see who chooses which colours. Everyone is so different.

I currently have 4 quilts in progress.

  1. Will’s housemate (a) yellow/green/spring-like colours
  2. Will’s housemate (b) teal/grey/silver
  3. Feri’s mum in Iran- Moda Modern Neutrals
  4. My Slimming World Leader- lap quilt in random FQs

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Whilst looking at quilts on Pinterest, I have also found details for “Fidget Quilts.”

I will explain these another day. 🙂

Streetlife:-

About 12 months ago, I discovered a great website called “Streetlife” Streetlife is a social network website which “makes it easy to connect with local people, ask questions about your area, share news, events and recommendations with neighbours”

So far I have found a great local tiler, who did our kitchen tiles before Christmas, found free horse manure for our garden and this week, found a group of ladies who are interested in walking. Today we met for the first time in the local park and went for a walk along the canal. It was a beautiful sunny spring day and we have a lovely time. It was so successful that we will meet again next week for a walk in the fresh air and sunshine (hopefully). People bemoan the internet but I love it. It has provided some great friends and wonderful inspiration and ideas apart from being able to keep in touch with family. How did we ever do without it?

So, a quick run-down of the last few days. I am trying to keep up with myself. Now I am beginning to understand how my mum felt-she always said she always felt like she was living in the middle of a whirl-wind. If I can’t keep up with myself, I can’t possibly expect anyone else to.

Stay with me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello world!

Apr21

Dear all-what an amazingly busy and fun month I have had and all the time I have been very mindful of over exerting myself to avoid being the victim of fatigue. Apologies that my blog has been one of the things to suffer but I had to be ruthless in my choices. It was  nothing personal but there are just not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to and coincidentally this is starting to get on my nerves. I spend too much time doing things I don’t enjoy so it’s time for a rethink.

In the meantime I can tell you that in the month I have been absent from this forum I have met the amazing and inspiring Simon Weston at a London Disability Confident conference, my colleague Richard and I are in the process of setting up a Midlands Employer Disability Network and I have had the privilege of seeing my niece Pippa married to Dan in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by family and friends. More about these in a separate post.

My son Will has been to Iceland and back and even saw the Northern Lights out of season which is amazing. I don’t think he realises how lucky he is but that will come with age and experience!

Further posts will come shortly but in the meantime I hope you all had a Happy Easter- back soon.

 

Apple blossom time

May11

I love it when the apple blossom appears, especially after the long, dull winter we have just had to endure. It tells me that summer is on its way with the two-tone pink petals happy to unfurl in the warmer temperatures. It also reminds me of one of my favourite poems, Apple blossom by Louis MacNeice;

The first blossom was the best blossom
For the child who never had seen an orchard;
For the youth whom whiskey had led astray
The morning after was the first day.

The first apple was the best apple
For Adam before he heard the sentence;
When the flaming sword endorsed the Fall
The trees were his to plant for all.

The first ocean was the best ocean
For the child from streets of doubt and litter;
For the youth for whom the skies unfurled
His first love was his first world.

But the first verdict seemed the worst verdict
When Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden,
Yet when the bitter gates clanged to
The sky beyond was just as blue.

For the next ocean is the first ocean
And the last ocean is the first ocean
And, however often the sun may rise,
A new thing dawns upon our eyes.

For the last blossom is the first blossom
And the first blossom is the last blossom
And when from Eden we take our way
The morning after is the first day.

These words are particularly poignant for me when in periods of extreme low mood as I sense a great deal of hope and encouragement to live in the moment and live life until things get better-which they will.

Apple blossom

Apple blossom

Nest building

Apr26

The sparrows in my neighbourhood must have the most luxurious nests available. Every year at this time they come back to my garden and strip my pampas grass fronds, flying away with their beaks crammed full of fluffy nest-lining. It must be the avian equivalent of a Tempura mattress!

It doesn’t take long for the grass to disappear and only the stalks are left.

Sparrows on my Pampas grass

Sparrows on my Pampas grass

Here is a photo taken from the dining room and if you look carefully, captures two cheeky  “spugs”  stealing my grass!

2 hours later-my poor plumes

2 hours later-my poor plumes

 

A blurred bird but you get the picture!

A blurred bird but you get the picture!

 

A walk in the Leicestershire countryside

Apr7

015Today I was left to my own devices at the local garden centre, Wistow Rural Centre, there to browse the new crop of plants and choose some for my revamped garden. The Centre is a perfect way to spend a few hours of  “me” time and I made the most of every sunny minute.

After buying some plants and leaving them safe whilst I busied myself with other things, I went to the cafe for my lunch. A nice and healthy baked potato with ham salad went down a treat before I was off across the nearby fields to commune with the new-born lambs and swans. The woods are still carpeted with a mass of snowdrops and looked a picture in the dappled sunshine breaking through the trees.

018I walked along the stream into the fields where the sheep and their lambs were mostly snoozing in the warmth of the early afternoon sun and I enjoyed watching the lambs snuggling close to mum and every now and then helping themselves to a little sustenance, little tails wiggling away merrily whilst they fed. Like the apple blossom in May, it’s a favourite sight of mine and a sure sign that Spring is on its way even if it’s taking it’s time this year.

008On my way back to the centre I stopped to look at the large bare-earthed field which in just a few months time will be transformed into a Maize-Maze. This is an annual phenomenon with the maze changing shape each year. I remember taking William around the maze when it was in the shape of a pirate ship, trying to find our way out of the 6 feet high maize without cheating. When you enter the maze you are given a flag to wave if you need help and there are  number of “spotters” standing on platforms dotted around the maze looking out for anyone who needs help to escape. Children and adults alike have great fun wandering around the passages formed by the  maize searching for clues to the quiz that is also part of the experience.

A hot cup of tea and slice of lemon drizzle cake were the perfect end to my afternoon and I managed to fit them in just in time before hubby arrived to bring me home.

How’s that for good timing!

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My new garden….coming soon!

Apr7

001 - CopyI love my garden, and it has given me great pleasure in the past but last year it was looking a bit tatty and so I decided to ring the changes. I dug out all my plants from the back garden and put them into the front border where they proved to be a huge success. I replanted them just at the right time when the ground was still wet and we had several days of lovely warm sunshine for them to bask and settle in. It was lovely to see them all blossom during the summer and we could enjoy the gorgeous flowers greeting us every time we came home.

As an experiment, and to give the clay soil a bit of a breakdown, we then planted the borders with vegetables. Runner beans, courgettes, herbs and potatoes. They were lovely but it just wasn’t the same as looking out over my  beautiful  shrubs and flowers and so this year I am going back to the drawing board.

BeFunky_002I have started to buy selected shrubs and perennials to plant over the next few weeks when we get a prolonged spell of temperatures above freezing ( I hope!). It’s so exciting but I am determined to wait until I have enough plants before I start to plan the  borders and and decide where each one will sit best.

Strangely enough, although I love new and different varieties of traditional plants, I still have my favourites; Californian Lilac (Ceanothus), Hebe’s, azaleas, foxgloves and aquilegias. They are all waiting patiently on the patio ready to move into their their new home. Today I am off to a garden centre for a long look round and in hope that I will be able to add to my collection. Hubby is leaving me to browse for a couple of hours whilst I pick and choose, change my mind, sigh and deliberate over colours, blooms, frost-hardiness and price, so I am up, ready and raring to go.

BeFunky_0014Of course, poppies are top of my shopping list. The first hairy fronds are usually peeping through the soil by now but I can’t see any sign of my favourite beautiful orange poppy plant that this blog is named after and so I must face up to the fact that the very harsh winter has taken its toll and I have lost my beloved poppy plant. All is not lost however as I will be able to replace it and hopefully the new version will do just as well, if not better, than the original.

It will take several weeks to get organised but it is a work-in-progress and that’s the amazing thing about gardens. They literally grow in front of your eyes.

How satisfying is that.

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Nowruz Mubarak!

Mar18

Well, it’s that time of year again…Iranian New Year. Unfortunately I have instigated some bad planning this year and will be working in Scotland on New Year’s Day itself, but we will be celebrating properly with friends next Sunday. Something to look forward to during my week away.

Being away from tomorrow morning means that I have set the traditional Haft-Sin tableau a day early and my hyacinths (sonbol) are not quite ready but no doubt will flower beautifully in my absence.

For those not familiar with Haft-Sin and it’s significance, Haft -Sin (seven “S’s”) symbolise important features celebrated at Iranian New Year and has its roots in Zoroastrianism. [Good thoughts, good words, good deeds]. I have included the following in my tableau this year;

Sonbol (hyacinths)- the coming of spring, Sir (garlic)- medicine, Sabzeh (green shoots)-new life and growth, Serkeh (vinegar)- old age and patience, Sib (apple)-beauty and health, Sekkeh (coins)- prosperity,  Somaq (dried)- colour of sunrise and just for good measure, Sekanjabin, a sweet mint syrup. All these are displayed against the backdrop of a mirror symbolizing the sky, truth and reflection and illuminated by lit candles representing enlightenment and happiness. I have also included some decorated eggs (fertility and birth).

Happy  New Year  everyone!

Nowruz Mubarak!