Virus.

Just a few words to let you all know that my network is infected with a virus and I can't be online for a week or so. Sorry that I've not been able to visit and wish you a Merry Christmas on your blogs, but I am thinking of you all.

I'm at the library typing this, thanking the wonders of this public service :D

Happy Christmas Everyone :D

Merry Christmas to you all and a New Year filled with hope and prosperity :D



It's hard to be cross with the weather for long when it presents you with such specactular images. Getting to and from the field has been exhausting to say the least, but I've become adept at steering the car on icy roads and have gotten the hang of it all now, from all the extra layers of clothes to taking a hot flask, a shovel and a bucket of grit wherever I go!


The ponies are happier with the cold weather rather than relentless rain, that just drags us all down! This picture was taken after I'd decided Toffee needed to see the vet. He doesn't look too ill, does he? But what you can't see is that he'd been injured in his boy bits by an over rowdy game with Merlin, EEEK!!! I was given anti inflamitories and anti biotic sachets and yet another scary vet bill! Just as well we had the drugs though as the injury got a lot worse before it got better! He's fine now thankfully (if a little/lot overweight!)


This weather suits Merlin very well, or is it just the hot mashes that I make that he enjoys?


He's such a funny bunny and many people find it hard to believe that he's a stallion as he's just so mellow (although Toffee may have something to say on that score!).


I could watch him all day running around, having fun. He'd rather run and play than stand and eat which I think is due to his overactive mind and of course his extra hormones!


So the snow has given us our white Christmas and more conversation topics than normal. It's inconvenient, cold, dangerous and so magically marvellous that I still love it totally :D Plus it probably made Santa feel quite at home ;)

Snow!

At first there was just a light dusting of snow. It was fun and we all had a great time. Manchee rolled and played and ate it as it fell :D


In the garden he thought the floaty stuff was a new game, but at first he just confused.


Foolishly I took a scenic route to the field and had to drive along ungritted roads, muttering and praying under my breath. The views really were spectacular though.



This one is early morning light through air heavy with snow.


And then, when the season is at it's coldest, I go and have all my hair cut off. Well, I'll be wearing lots of hats anyway, so the only time I notice is first thing in the morning, when a hat may look a little odd :D


After the first day of snow, more quickly followed and we've been snowed in for 3days. I have lots more pictures to upload and will probably do a couple of posts on the Studio blog.

We have snow :D

I'm smiling so much. I love snow with an amazingly childish passion. As I sit here in my quiet bedroom with the pup pressed against my legs I relish the blue glow on my window panes.
The snow is just a light dusting casting it's magical spell on the World, turning mundane into glamour.

I feel so happy and peaceful and so grateful that the glums have left me for now. Hopefully I can keep them at bay with a bit of realistic thinking. I can't do everything I set myself and it's early days, so I need to be gentle with myself.

I have a slightly tricky journey to get the children to school, with a rather wicked hill to negotiate. If all goes well I'll stop off at the Lake and take some photos. Although there's a strong chance that the other side of the hill will be clear of snow as they seem to have their own micro climate in that town! Either way, I'll take lots of photos to share with you later.

Stay safe and have a wonderful day everyone.

ps. I know that snow can be dangerous and isn't to everyones liking, but in my childish way I just block those thoughts, so, sorry to those of you who don't relish it the way I do!

Thank you.

Thank you so much sweet friends for your kind words of support. They reach out and help me more than I can say.




Our duvet day turned out better than could have been hoped for. I ignored the housework and snuggled with the pup and read blogs and books and roared with laughter at French and Saunders on You Tube. Moomin was laughing so hard at the Bjork sketch, well, so was I to be honest :D The children played games and I kept them plied with hot drinks and lemsips.

Later I took a trip to the field and fed the ponies and took warm, milky rice and crackers to the chickens who were most pleased. Standing under a beautiful wintry sky was a balm and I took the time to savour the peace. It was truly heavenly.

Back to a roast dinner and an amazing movie (above) while I did the ironing and sorted school uniforms. The movie was called Origin and is in the Manga style, about trees and the destruction of the Earth. It has a strong environmental message as many of the Japanese films of this genre do and I totally loved it. Not to everyones taste though, so don't buy it just because I love it :D

Just a little picture I took last week while walking Manchee in the woods. He truly is a blue puppy :D He's definitely on the mend now and so will need a good walking routine to get him (and me) into shape :D I love the curve of his back and belly and boy can he run, he's like a rocket!

Time to heal.

Some weeks feel like a bigger struggle than others and this last week was one of those. Just as one area of life settles another becomes a trial!

My mind has been dealing with this in the form of some terrible nightmares, one of which was so awful that I took the pup into bed with me to calm my shaking. He thought it was great and in the back of my mind I thought 'rod for my own back'. Not so though. The next night he settled on his own bed and slept right through again. What a fantastic pup :D

I'm spending such a lot of time thinking and processing what has happened that I don't want to go on about it here, but find little else to share, so please forgive me for the infrequent posts.

The children have been laid low with another cold and my body seems filled with aches and pains, so as today is an inset day at school, I've declared it a duvet day. We will snuggle and build our strength while a roast dinner cooks itself in the oven. The pup will enjoy the rest too as he was very sick last night after scoffing something dodgy in the garden!!!

Puppy.

The pup is growing and has been for his first walks this week. It's been great taking him and watching his excitement at all the new smells. A very short walk along the road takes an eternity as he has to stop and investigate everything in his path. A quick dash after some swirling leaves takes him into a neighbours hedge, where he finds the scent of other dogs, cats and yes, SQUIRRELS!!!

I let him amble and sniff to acquaint himself with his surroundings, to know what his territory smells like. If, heaven forbid, that he should find himself lost, these are the smells to guide him home. Important days for him. Although, I have also taken the precaution of having him microchipped, so he'll be brought back to us eventually should he run off.



I've also been pottering and clearing up the house. Doing a little decorating and feeling most unwell during the process. I wonder if this exhaustion is simply due to stress, although the children have been unwell this week so maybe there's more to it than that!

I have a slow roast lamb curry in the oven, and a little glass of whiskey waiting for me tonight, so that will set me up for a relaxing evening :D

Did I think it would be easy???

A few comforting pictures first!!!

Friday night is traditionally pizza night in this household and this week I tried a slightly wetter bread mixture. Well, it kind of exploded the dough and I had enough to make 3 very big pizzas.



Two for supper and one for the freezer.



They were oh so delicious :D



Now for the grumble, but don't worry, it's only a little one. On that day when my marriage collapsed, so did my dreams and hopes for the future. I never intended for it to end, but now that it has, I'm guarding my peace and quiet as much as possible and every intrusion feels magnified. A weekend of tears and upset has left me exhausted, but thank goodness for my wonderful children and my darling puppy love :D I think maybe that I had thought it would be easier than this!



I'm trying to stay positive and taking each day at a time. I have the Secret and will give thanks for all the special people and wonderful things in the World. I have a lovely joint of pork roasting in the oven, the veggies are prepared and waiting and tonight will be spent writing letters and doing a little sewing :D

Yarrow Tales.

A new blog name and a new beginning. I don't want to be hiding any more and feeling like I'm in retreat. I need to begin again and spread my wings as a new part of my journey unfolds. However, this blog will still be left off my profile for most of the time, as I don't want certain family members reading about my new life!

So won't you join me as I discover who I am and where I'm going? I think it could be interesting :D

Amazing.

I watched the DVD of the Secret and found it to be amazing. So many ideas and thoughts in my head about giving and recieving the bounty of the Universe.

Being a Reiki Master, the concept is not new to me but it's good to have the message confirmed all the same. It's also worth remembering that the Universe loves balance and if we give of our time and energy then we are able to enjoy the fruits that our World has to offer.

I've been thanking the Universe for my blessings and have only been focussing on positive thoughts. Already it seems to be working as last night, my car broke down in a nearby town. There was no one at all that I could call and I was stranded with Moomin. Out of options I asked for an Angel to help me. We sat in the car for a couple of minutes, and I was just deciding to go in search of a garage when a parent of one of dd's friend's approached and asked if I was ok and that she had jump leads in her car! It's worth pointing out, that this is someone I've never actually met before, and she just noticed that we hadn't left for home when everyone else did. A shocking coincidence maybe??? Well, we got home safely albeit a bit shaken and now I'm left wondering....

The book of the Secret arrived today, and I can see why some people might get the wrong impression. Clearly this format isn't to everyone's way of thinking, but the root idea remains true. How many times have we heard these sayings? 'What goes around, comes around' 'Do as you would be done by' and 'you reap what you sow'. This book is just another way of interpreting those ideals. Agreed, it's dressed up in a new set of clothes and fancy ones at that, but the concept is the same.

So every day I thank the Universe for my blessings, I focus clearly on what I want to achieve and I hope to spread a little happiness and optimism while I'm at it :D

The return of normality and the Secret.

Well, I'd been told many times that puppies can be darned hard work and just like having a new baby in the house, but until I experienced it for myself, I wasn't prepared for how demanding it is. Thankfully, I have a good little chap who sleeps a lot and has learned quickly the words 'wee wee' means to head out to the garden.

After being with us for two weeks, he is now settling into a routine and we can all get back to a semblance of normal life. I'm even getting a few decent hours sleep, as puppies hate to be alone at night and don't see the point of wasting great lengths of time flat out asleep, unless it's sandwiched between meals and trips to the garden! Thankfully, Manchee has been persuaded that I actually like to sleep for a long time when it's dark and in return, he gets to sleep beside my bed with a hot water bottle!

As life begins to settle again, I'm finding now that other matters are pressing me for their attention. I'm clever aren't I? I've been distracting myself from dealing with them by having the more pressing issues with the puppy, but no more. I have to think ahead and decide where I'm going and what I want. A series of unconnected coincidences have led me to this book and DVD - The Secret. http://www.thesecret.tv/index.html


Image from Amazon

It's an interesting concept, and one that I've read about before, how this book differs from others remains to be seen. Is it the answer? well, I'll keep you posted, or check it out for yourself. I'll be interested to hear from you if you've read it or have any comments.

A very new month.

I've been reading back over my posts for the last month and it seems that my life has changed so much in such a short space of time. My hopes and plans have been turned on their head and I'm facing a whole new road ahead of me. As the new month begins, so does a new phase in my life.

It's been three weeks since my husband moved out and I've been dealing with so much loss, his and mine. We are still friends at the moment, but I cannot see beyond our immediate problems and how they will change us as time progresses. I know he's hoping for a reconciliation but only time and the Universe knows the answer to that one.

Something I do know though, is that I feel wholly supported by the Universe. It's a strange thing to say, I know, and some people may call this feeling faith in God or Buddha or Gaia, but whatever name you give it, it's bigger than my understanding and I feel held and comforted. On the way to a meeting tonight, I thanked the Universe and a great swell of leaves lifted and twirled on the road ahead. It felt like an anwer and my heart swelled with it.

Samhain Blessings.

Blessings to you all for a magical Samhain.

For Pagans Samhain marked the end of their year and was a time of reflection on the year past and the one to come. I feel very reflective today and will light some candles and think forward to the coming year and some new beginnings.

A little in love.

On Tuesday we took a little trip to Devon. Land of snarly trees, magical landscapes


and inspiration. I can see now where some of my blogging friends who live here get their inspiraition from. I'm almost brimful after just one day.


The weather was not kind to us and I lost my way a couple of times adding an extra hour on to what ended up as a 10 hour round trip.


Finally, tired and hungry, we reached our goal, and added a new member to our family. This little guy threw himself at us when we arrived and was just so eager to come away with us, that we knew we'd found our special pup. He's a 'pocket lurcher' which is much smaller than standard lurchers and he is a Whippet/Bedlington cross.


He slept for the entire journey home, only waking at a Service Station to use his puppy toilet!


After a mad charge around the kitchen and a small supper, he snuggled into his new bed,


and stayed there pretty much all night. What a great little dog.


I think you could say that we are all more than a little in love, although Arnie cat is less than impressed. We've kept pup and cats separate for now and the arrangement seems to suit them all :)

Beauty and happiness.

Sometimes beauty can be found at the most unlikely time. The same could be said for happiness.

After dropping the children at school, I decided to take a short drive past the lake. I almost crashed at the wonderful sight of the mist rising from the lake surface. I parked the car and grabbed my camera.


I fell wonderfully in love with these darling little coots. They aren't much smaller than my hens and are birds that I've so often overlooked. Up close though, they are lovely. Their beaks have the faintest tinge of pink and their legs are an amazing green/gold colour. They aren't just plain black either, their colours are varying shades of grey to black. As I sat very still, they moved around me with a boldness I've never witnessed before rather than the shy and scurrying birds they seem to be.


As I walked around the lake a deep stillness settled within my chest.


I think it was happiness.


It was most certainly peace.

Living with fear!

After taking the difficult decision to leave my job at the school, I felt that life could return to normal. That I could get back to the person I'd been but had neglected. Sadly the Universe had other ideas and plans laid out for me and my life at the moment is far from normal. When I stepped off the old wheel, I didn't realise that it was to be a totally new wheel that I'd find myself on, rather than a previous safe and settled one.

Most mornings I wake up and feel the fear in the pit of my stomache. I take a while for it to settle, for me to acknowledge it and feel it fully as I ease myself into the day. I'm not hiding from this fear any more or distracting myself with hyperactive excesses. I'm dealing with each individual part of it as I open a dialogue between my reasoning mind and the irrational feelings that threaten to engulf me.
I'm afraid of making the wrong choices, but we can only work with what we know or feel at the time. So choices, made carefully, are simply what they are, neither right or wrong, even though not everyone will agree with them.
I'm afraid of the future, well, so are a great many people, but we all have to move forwards and I choose to do it bravely.
As each fear surfaces, I try to handle it, to calm it with reasoning and rational thought. I'm so tired from the effort but I feel more alive than I have done for a good long time.

I spent some time with the ponies yesterday, calmed my erratic heartbeat and stilled my nerves so that I could carry on with the day. As I drove home, I watched the rain clouds pour over the hill ahead and then suddenly this beautiful rainbow lit up the sky. It gave me such terrific hope!



And then this morning, as I sipped my tea, my darling little Max staggered into the bedroom, exhausted from scaling the stairs. By all rights this old boy should have left me long ago, but I'm so grateful for his company now. Each day feels like his last and each new one feels like a gift :D



I would like to add, that in due course I'll be less cryptic about my circumstances, but for now I'll reassure you that my health is good and life goes on.x

Lovely things!

My dear little Arnold loves the blue patchwork quilt. He has a little 'mote' by his eye. Some people think these are fairies caught on film and it's more than likely that Arnold has a few fairies around him :D


My gorgeous new glass topped pins in one of my home made pin cushions.


Just a couple of the things I've snapped today with my new old camera!

Pictures.

At last I have a working camera now. Tomorrow expect pictures :D

Still, quiet darkness.

I love the pre-dawn darkness, the secret silence of it as the World turns closer to the wakening. In these quiet moments of solitude I sit in my bedroom, lit by a candle, gathering my thoughts to me as I weave together the strands for the coming day. My little piebald cat, old and saggy like bagpuss pressed against my legs, purring so very softly into the patchwork quilt.

The buttery candlelight creates a glamour that no lightbulb ever could and I savour these minutes as I savour my tea. Long, slow sips of magic.

The return of - ME!

At long, long last I've made some big decisions and it's time now to get on with living the life that is true to me. I feel that My ideals were put on hold for a while as I struggled to reconcile my working life with a life of simplicity. I've discovered a lot about myself and where compromises had to be made which areas of my life I was prepared to change and which things I simply couldn't give up!



Now, however, I've had to leave my job at the school, leave people that I enjoy working with and above all, some very special and wonderful children. I've been so upset but have had tremendous support from my co-workers and a pretty great boss and now can only move forward with hope for a stress free remainder of the year.

I won't stop working though, my direction will change back to embrace my ideals and I'm going to throw myself into my art work. Plans have had to change. Money will be tight, but hopefully not for long too long :D

Bleaurgh!!!

I'll be honest, the last couple of weeks have been diabolical. I've lost my phone with ALL of my contact numbers (I knew I should have stuck to a filofax!) and my work at the school has been hellish! No ones fault and nothing I can talk about, but sheesh, it's driven me to drink a couple of times!!!

I'm not going to dwell on the negatives though and instead focus on the lovely jams I've been making and the process of pulling the vegetable plot back into shape. There's still a long way to go, but the leeks are thriving and the beans have done well and now it's time to dig up the last stray potatoes and any pink fir apples that have escaped my notice :)

I'll be back later with updates and pictures, but for now I'm enjoying planning a day of wonderful household chores. I'm not being even slightly sarcastic here, I love getting my house in order, with the smell of line dried laundry and a little homemade wax polish. Wonderful :D

Work hard and play crochet.

Actually, it's only the first proper day back at school with all the children and it's been an emotional ride, I can tell you. I'm badly missing my yr 3's from last year, and they seem so grown up now in their yr 4 classes. I can hardly remember any of the new children other than the very naughty and the very, very good. I'm amazed at the boundless kindness and patience of some of these little Angels and can't sing their praises enough :D The particular child I'm responsible for is an engaging soul, but terribly hard work and tonight I'm totally wiped out!

All I can say is thank heavens for crochet, it's the new rock and roll :D I'm too tired to engage my creative cells, so I can lose myself in some wool craft, and you know what? It's already starting to resemble the item I'm attempting to make.

Every stitch reminds me of my Granny, how I used to sit and be mesmerized by her flying fingers and the growing blanket or squares. I feel connected to her at and remember the love, but more than anything I'm realising the huge amount of respect I had and have for her. She could be quite scarey at times, having only had sons and four of them, she didn't know how to be soft with Grand daughters. She hated my Sister's name and so insisted on calling her Valerie as she thought it a far more suitable name :D She was guilty of the most incredible malapropisms and had me and my sister actually wetting ourselves with laughter as she insisted on dressing my sprained ankle with a crap bandage! She was so very un-politically correct and called a spade a spade and people by every other awful nickname imaginable! We squirmed and we complained and we never realised what a wonderful person she was, with her 'tight to her head' permed curls and her constant shriek of 'EH?'!

She was self sufficient before it was fashionable and we endured such horrors as marrow jam and some home made meat jelly that had us running from her old fashioned kitchen, with it's Butler sink and boiler across the linoleum floor, down the long, long garden to hide in Grandad's greenhouse. He kicked us out as it was his only refuge! She scared and fascinated us by the bucket load and I'll never forget the day I lathered up my face with a scratchy brush and soap and used Grandad's razor the way I'd seen him do it ! I think that was the only time she showed her soft side. My face was bloody all over!!! She had a parade of little dogs and a screeching Minah bird that would yell 'EH?' at us as we tried to sneak off out of the house. She would make a kind of fat pudding for the birds in her garden and when no one was looking the little dogs would scoff it all up and then be sick behind the greenhouse. We never told on them and in return they would snap at us and show their sharp little teeth.

Isn't it amazing that all these memories surround me as I sit and reconnect myself to my lovely Granny through the beauty of woolen stitches and I smile to remember the lovely blankets she made and the money she raised by selling them for charity. She was a wonderful person and it's lovely to remember her this way :D

Miracles and Angels.

Well I can hardly believe that after my last post my little Max cat is improving! I had the vet booked as Max was so weak and lifeless and then began having little nosebleeds. It seemed the fairest thing to do, even though I really didn't want to. Hubby and children convinced me to postpone the visit and blow me down, but Max started to eat and drink a little. He's still only eating enough to feed a sparrow, but slowly his strength has returned and he's tottering about like normal.

After such a strained weekend of worry, it feels like a little miracle and I'm drawn to look at the Angel I'm painting, a large picture that's to go in my bedroom. I find Angels to be very comforting in a non-religious way and believe so fully in their existence. The weekend was a struggle as we all worried about Max and the return to school and then on Sunday I broke a tooth. It felt like the final straw on top of so many broken things that day, promises, hearts and friendships. I sat at the field and just let it all out. Afterwards I felt so much better and then such a deep peace settled on me. I looked up into a beautiful sky, one of those breathtaking displays of sun on cloud all gold and rose and I felt comforted and truly at peace.

We are on borrowed time with Max and nothing in life is really ever stable, things can change so suddenly, the loss of a job a sudden change in the path you're on. But I was reminded that we're not alone and help is there if we open our hearts and look for it.

My tooth has been mended and other things will mend too, with time and care and a little help :D

Oh heck!

I don't want to be miserable, but when I am, I try to confine it to this blog, rather than clutter up the other one. Some of you may know that 17months ago, my beautiful cat Max was diagnosed with a terminal tumour in his bowel. Against all odds he carried on as well as he could and confounded the vets at every visit (I'd like to think it was the Reiki, but he's a stubborn little imp). We always knew we were on borrowed time, but now it seems that we've run out.

Most pictures of the children have Max in them somewhere.








He is nearly 19, so I guess I've had more time than many owners get with their pets. He's just been such a big part of my life and the children have never known a time without him.


A nasty cold has taken hold and things aren't looking so good. This picture was taken last week and is how I'll always remember him, cuddled up to me while I type on my lappy (laptop)!

After the storm!

Eeek, it's been a tough old week. I cannot say how much hard work and effort went in to preparing the Exhibition set up. Juggling art and egos has been tricky and I'm desperately looking forward to a few days rest afterwards.

I need to fit in a mighty clear up around the outside of the house and at the field, as we had a real life 'Dorothy' style storm last night and it's left everything looking thoroughly shaken up! I'd also quite like to take a couple of days out to do some decorating inside, as the house is looking sorely neglected and hasn't been touched since shortly after we moved in many, many moons ago. Then I'm going to sell up and move to Wales, haha!

A couple of lovely days out with the children are on the cards plus an awful lot of knitting. More paintings are swirling around in my head, but these will be for me, for my wall :)

Thin on the ground.

I'm sorry that my posts here are very few and far between at the moment, but my time is so much in demand! The time I'm spending with the ponies and children leaves me little room for anything else and not much worth writing about.

The veggies are ticking along and I'm leaning more towards a low maintenance style at the moment, haha!
Sadly I lost one of my chickens on Thursday, my beautiful silver sussex, Oona. I think she had an internal prolapse of some kind. She'd had a prolapse before, but it went back in ok, but this time I think it probably twisted as it went back, as her abdomen was so distended. There was nothing I could do, so I tucked her up in a deep straw nest and left her sleeping. The next morning she was gone. She was only a young bird, but I just guess she wasn't as fit and well made as the others. The other 3 have formed a tight knit group and seem to be managing well now. They do feel grief and loss though, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I've had so many first hand experiences of the emotions of chickens!

Merlin has a mare visiting him at the moment, and that takes up a lot of time as I rush back and forth to the field making sure that he's ok. He's still my baby and I'm very pleased to see that he will come to me for cuddles and will even leave the field and be brushed and checked all over. Personally I think he's glad for the break from this demanding woman! It's been a steep learning curve for me and everything has gone really well, although I've had my hands places I would not want to share with you! I will be glad when we can get back to normal though, and I'm missing Toffee terribly as he's had to go and stay elsewhere for the sake of his sanity!


Merlin is behind his mare, who is much larger than he is, but between them, I forsee beautiful babies :)

In and out of love - with my garden.

I used to be so in love with my garden that it was hard to imagine a time when I wouldn't be and yet the other day I took a long hard look and realised that I'd fallen out of love without even realising it! I guess life can be a little like that, things creep up or away from you and sometimes you hardly notice!

I think the change began with the arrival of the chickens many years ago. I fell so totally in love with them that I didn't mind what they got up to, how many bald patches they dug over or where they left their little 'bombs'. That was until recently, when I found I needed a retreat that I could get to in the silent hours before the rest of the world was up. Somewhere I could nurture my soul as well as my neglected plants.

The garden still has a long way to go yet, but I'm back to loving it and finding peace there and walking barefoot is such a pleasure now!

This is the front border that I've had an ongoing battle with. There is a particular plant that is so invasive that years after deciding to clear it out, I'm still swamped by it's cordlike roots and persistant regrowth! I'm afraid I've even used weedkiller, but it still survives. This Autumn I'm going to spray it again! This is just an example of how dried out everything has become, but some weedy little tomato plants (left over from all of my seeds germinating!) can have a go here and see how they do.


Finally some green beans have appeared, these are the Cherokee trail of tears from Danielle :)


Little Arnie cat in my favourite wild corner.


Here is my experiment corner, how much can you fit in to a small space? Well, the apples are doing well and I have more green beans growing in the tub. The pear and blueberries were a no-show, but under the hedge I have pink fir apples which are a small salad potato and they are well worth fitting in to any space :)


Another giant courgette, which is now the base for a scrummy ratatouille.


Finally some of my herbs, basil and coriander, which I use almost every day in the Summer and it's good to have my own fresh supply. These pots will come into the house in the Autumn and I'll keep them going all Winter if possible.


Finally, my Buddha in the front garden. So peaceful and calming, a reminder to me to stop once in a while and be mindful of the moment.

Flying past.

The days are truly flying away at the moment. The children and I have made a list of holiday activities to make sure that we fill this Summer with lots of happy memories. Memories have become very important to me lately and making good ones to cherish deep in our hearts has become something of a priority. After my own health scare earlier in the year, and now going through difficult times with loved ones, I've come to believe that strength comes to us in so many different forms. Cherished moments are one of them as are kind words and deeds. I told someone special just last week, that I cannot walk their path for them, but I could hold their hand along the way.

Still, this isn't to be a maudlin post, so I've posted another picture of my funny hen, Tao, whose name conicidentally means the Way or Journey! She is so sweet and affectionate, as is my other black rock hen Tiger. Tiger will run as fast as she can and take off to get to me when she sees me walking through the long grass at the field. It makes me feel great that these funny birds look on me as their mama :)




We have planned a few days out for the holidays and I've just discovered that Jane Austen's house is only a 40 minute drive from us. Moomin is totally in love with the TV versions of Jane Austen's work and so we've decided to take a drive over and spend some time absorbing the atmosphere.

There will of course be the annual pilgrimage to Glastonbury plus a few trips to nearby beaches, I also would like to go to Dorset and visit Durdle Door, which featured at the beginning of Prince Caspian.

I love the holidays and hope to take lots of pictures to share with you all.