Swallows and Pheasants

Hello Friends!

Today turned out much better than the forecast said it would be.  You really can't rely on it, and it's better to look out the window and make an educated guess, bring a brolly along if you think it might be needed.

What a wonderful walk I had today!  I went out around five~ish, and had the presence of mind to take my medication with me.  I have to make sure the Madopar is taken to a very strict routine or else it won't do it's job and then what's the point of taking it? 

As I shared with you yesterday, my route is varied and I try to make it a little bit longer each day.  Today, I sort of got lost in all the beauty of a delicious spring afternoon and found I had walked a few hundred yards further than I had planned!  All was well, I took my time coming back, and it's easy to disguise multiple rest stops under the guise of needing to take a photo!

I have yet to master the fine art of taking a selfie, so here's a lovely photo of my gardening hat.

I bumped into my neighbour who was on her way home from the same walk I was on, we had a lovely chat and more sponsorship was promised!

A short while and a few more images to identify later

I found myself in old, familiar territory

I tried to do a Facebook Live, but it was an epic fail!

FB Live

Maybe that link will work, maybe it won't.

By this time, I realised how much further than planned I had actually walked, and if I maintain this pace I will be down on the cliffs by the end of the week.  However, the weather might have different ideas. Have you seen the forecast?

My heart sang, my spirits soared along with the sightings {for me} of the first swallows of summer!  The swooped gracefully as they fed upon the thousands of gnats swarming on this grand afternoon. Then I heard the old, familiar crake crake of the pheasant!  What joy that brought to me! My heart was full!  I looked across the field and there he was, his head popping up above the grass, then back down and up again!  You can't see him, but I could!

Time to turn and wend my weary way homeward 

As I wandered along, I took some more photos of plants and flowers for my records

The Hawthorn is quite beautiful

Silverleaf, soon there will be the tiny, yellow flower

Plantain

Cow Parsley, such a pretty, frothy picture 

Buttercups in profusion

and finally, the cheeky little Cleavers or Goosegrass will sow its seed anywhere!  Not quite as bad as the drain I saw with several well-established Sycamore saplings growing well therein!

I hope the weather isn't as bad as the forecast implies, with thunder and lightning, for that will put a serious dent in all my plans.

Until next time

💙🌷💙

A Target Is Set.

Hello Friends!

I am so happy to tell you that, so far, the weather has been kind, if a tad still on the windy and chilly side, it has remained dry, although the forecast for the coming week does not look promising one jot.  Not knowing if the rain might arrive at any moment, I left the cottage for my daily walk around mid morning and was back shortly after midday.

Today, I walked further than I have been in long time. Instead of looping back, when I got to what I call the Pony Field {sometimes there are ponies and horses here} where there is this stunning view over the fields and farms of the Shire . . . 

I kept on a few short yards to the "main" road {not a main road, but most likely unclassified} which leads to St Non's overlooking St Brides Bay.  The walk down to the coast path was my "go to" early morning or evening walk which I often did in the company of my dear friend, Mary, who sadly passed away just over a year ago.

It was like visiting an old friend, the road not seen for years, but familiar as if I had been there just yesterday.  Little has changed, although there used to be a gate in the corner of this field, you can see the concrete posts, the only hint, and the memory that remains.

I carried on.  Evidence of the winter winds with a tree rent in half.

The fields, all so familiar now, trees shaped by the endless winds that blow across the land, and verges line the road with delicate Cow Parsley blooms that whip and dance so sprightly in the breeze . . .

The creamy Hawthorn blooms are breaking bud

I longed to carry on, towards the bay, but I must learn my limits and not overdo things too soon! It was here that I decided to set my target that I will make it to the coast by the end of the month of May.  Little by little, I can build up the distance I walk each day.

So, I turned and walked back with this most pleasant view to guide my way . . .

Walking in countryside like this, I feel truly blessed indeed!

Along the way, I am noticing more and more changes in the hedgerows!  Something new has sprung up, or changes to the plants as they grow and start to flower.  Turning back and retracing the path I have come I see things I missed on the way out!

There is Bracken

and ferns 

Evening Primrose

Plantain

Vetch {one of several types I've spotted}

Herb Robert and Cleavers

and many, many more.

As I turned into the homeward stretch, the bells peel out with the midday Angelus call to the faithful.

The weather forecast is looking grim, I may well be having a few days off mid week!

Until next time 💙🌷💙

And The North Wind Doth Blow

Hello Friends!

and we shall have snow rain 

or so it is forecast.  I shall have to plan my walks carefully, but it is not easy to just go out between showers when you have carers etc calling as you have to be in for them.

This evening's walk was somewhat rushed and hurried too.  I don't do "rushed and hurried" very well these days.  Not wanting to sound like a broken record, I overdid it yesterday.  I think if I'd only gone up to get my prescription and come home, I would have been okay, but no, I had to do everything and then some. So, I slept all day today until 5:00 p.m. Mind, the brisk, northerly wind didn't make it a welcoming prospect to go out, so I held off in the hopes it would ease up.  Well, it didn't, and I went with the wind behind me going out but blowing hard and cold in my face on the way back.

On top of that, my phone battery was nearly flat so my photos are thin in the ground tonight too.  I had to save it for photos for my WWHM course.

It's a busy day tomorrow, so I don't know what time I will be able to get out, but if it is raining, I doubt I will go as I don't have suitable gear for heavy rain.  I do have a very good raincoat but nothing suitable for my feet.

Yesterday I made a quiche, it's the first baking of any kind I have done in a long time, having not been eating properly and relying on popty ping and ready meals.  It's Chickpea, Leek and Fresh Garden Herbs.

Here are the few photos I took this evening.

the Hawthorn is starting to open up

and shortly this stone hedge will be full of the pink spires of Foxgloves

Evening Primrose escaped from a garden?

A Vetch {need to identify it correctly}

Well, short and sweet tonight, I've got to do the blog housekeeping with yesterday's comments, run the dishwasher, put in a load of overnight laundry and then I can get some rest!

Until next time 💙🌷💙

Oh! What A Day!

Hello Friends!

I was absolutely gutted yesterday to be unable to do a walk, but I nearly ended up calling a doctor.  I had a very nasty time of nightmares the night before, waking up screaming several times through the night, and yesterday morning I was still very shaken and not feeling at all well. Exhausted, I slept all day, and by evening was feeling much better, but decided not to push it and possibly make myself ill again, so I decided I will make it up by doing two consecutive laps at some point before the end of the challenge.  I had intended to do so today, but is it bitterly cold and very windy, and rain is threatening to arrive at any moment.

Seeing what is happening with the weather, I did today's walk quite early on this morning.  Today, as well as a few photos, I thought I'd also share some video clips so you can see how bouncy the wind is today.

This one is especially for my friend Caroline of Ragged Robin's Nature Notes, because it is her favourite plant {and one of mine too} I hope you like it, my friend!

and a couple more that I took for my WhatsApp group for the WWHM course

The weather couldn't make up it's mind, would it, wouldn't it rain or blow over.  I went no further, I didn't have a coat so didn't want to risk being caught out in a sudden sharp shower.  I came home and tried to putter in the garden a little.  I can't do much, but I am able to do a few small things if I take my time and apply the Laws of Physics!  Yesterday, a good friend, Tetiana, very kindly brought me some lovely, healthy tomato plants as she knew I had been looking for some but had not found any.  I have made, like Baldrick, a Cunning Plan!  I have a four tier, twelve section stacking tower that I bought a while back for strawberries.  The strawberries went long ago as slug fodder, so earlier this year I decided I would make a small tower of herbs to keep by the front door.  I bought some "growing herbs" from the supermarket, having found they do very well and at £1.25 each are a fraction of similar ones at the garden centres at £4.95 each.  I'm not going to say too much more as I think that might be a subject for a future blog.  Suffice to say, it all has relevance to my Cunning Plan.  

Then came the surprise of the day.  

Actually, no.  Then came the surprise of the week.  

Rather, then came the surprise of the year.

Are you sitting down?

I did something that I haven't done for a very long time.  I gathered all my courage and resolve and went up into the "village" {city} and went shopping!!!  

I will give you a moment.

Due in the most part to the attitude of some people toward me since I have become ill, I stopped going out some time ago and had become housebound.  Other factors that have stopped me venturing out are that I am slow{and in our weather, slow is not good}, I struggle to open the outward opening front door against the strong wind that prevails, and it is difficult trying to keep the door open while pushing my rollator through.  I am unable to have a proper ramp to aid access. The wind picks up my rollator like a sail and I can topple over very easily.  Due to the physical stiffness of joints that is one of the many symptoms of Parkinson's, I cannot put my coat on without help. Whichever route I take, I will have to navigate hills, narrow pavements, potholes, badly parked vehicles, etc. and there are very few shops with a good disabled access entrance. 

Last Friday I started the fundraiser activity Walk For Parkinson's 100 mile challenge, please see previous blogs for more information, and since then I can already see a big improvement in my mobility and well being! In just a week, I am a different person.  It's not going to cure my condition, but it is most certainly help me improve my quality of life.  Here's what happened.

I had a prescription to collect.  I thought, "I can do this" it's no further than the walks I've done this week.  So, I planned to go mid to late afternoon.  That way, I would hopefully find that most of the visitors were either still out in the wilds and not milling about waiting to go out for dinner, and most of the locals would be watching the football or Women's Six Nations Rugby.  I was right, the streets were deserted! I went to the Chemist, then got some {very overpriced} local new potatoes at the butcher's shop, stopped in to a local shop that supports women's enterprises in Nepal and bought some incense, and then a bar of chocolate {which I am currently nibbling} in a local deli.  Here's the photographic evidence

Tonight, I am tired but very pleased with myself.  It will take time, but a corner may have been turned! And all because I decided to try to do some good for charity!

Until next time

Footpaths, Flowers, and Fisherman's Smocks

Hello Friends!

Day Seven of Walk 100 Miles For Parkinson's challenge under my belt, and I broke the £500 fundraising barrier this morning!  I am still quite side swiped by the generosity of everyone!  

Evening seems to be my optimum time to go, and this evening my friend Charlene came with me. We are both taking Wild Welsh Herbalism Foundation in Botanical Wisdom {and my friend, Julie is taking her second year . . . it's a small world} and now that I have planted the It's A Small World earworm for you, I shall move on . . . 

From the path we trod, on the distant horizon across Saint Bride's Bay, the dark sliver of silver grey is Skomer Island, famous worldwide for it's Puffin and Manx Shearwater colonies.

Despite the unseasonably chill of this day in May, we had a lovely walk, taking a bit longer than I normally would, but we took every careful step {I nearly went over twice tonight} recording many of the countless plants along the way.  Memories of Sunday walks with my Nanna came flooding back!  She taught me more about the flora of Wales than I can remember now.  Bounded by high, Pembrokeshire stone hedges, we had a magical hour, and just in time for supper, we went to our separate homes to scroll through our photos on this journey of discovery into the wonders of the byways of the Shire we call home.

Here are some of the flowers and trees that we discovered, some of which we will be studying and learning about with Salena on our course.  I cannot wait, for, as those of you who know me well, I am at heart a wild Welsh woman of the western shores, and am like a little sponge, waiting to absorb all the information, and in particular, the Welsh folklore that surrounds these herbs and magic that lies therein.

Previously, I have spoken about the resurfacing of the once uneven bridle paths that circumnavigate the village {which is a city, as we know, but I always say if I wanted to live in a city I would have moved to Cardiff} This now gives a lovely, even surface for people with mobility issues, from those who are just a little unsteady on their pins, to people such as myself who use a rollator, or wheelchair and scooter users.

So, come with me, my Faerie Friends, and we shall while away the hours, here amongst the hedgerows high, in the kingdom of the Flowers 

Campion pink and Borage blue, with Buttercups of yellow hue

Germander Speedwell shines like tiny stars of brightest Peter Rabbit blue

Hawthorn flowers tightly wrapped up in their swaddling buds.  My mother taught me that the seeds were known as Bread and Cheese, but oh! there is a massive seed so many must be eaten if you are a tiny, hungry bird!

The ancient Elder tree, revered, most sacred of all trees, yields palm sized sprays of tiny florets that make the most amazing Elderflower Champagne in Spring, and a perfect drink to quaff on a balmy Summer's evening . . . followed by the shiny, tiny, darkest purple berries make an excellent cordial to ward of Winter chills and colds . . .

Did you hear the soft pad, pad of Mr Tod, as he stately strutted by last night? No, I didn't think you did, for his paws were wrapped in soft pink gloves.  The hedges are now full of the leafy rosettes that will soon be sending spikes of deepest pink towards the cotton candy cloud filled sky of Spring

The Bracken Dragon bares it's gnarly teeth, enough to scare away the snakes that long to lurk beneath it's shady canopy

Sow Thistle, Prickly or Common, my guess as good as yours, but such a statuesque stem of many flowering buds, it is a sight to behold

Sweet Cicely, a Summer treat, will give you something sweet to eat

Torpedo shaped, those lime green seeds will soon be turning black, and then in jars of honey, steeping slowly, will impart their liquorice sweetness to enhance my warming winter drinks

My friends, the day is done, 'tis dark outside, the moon behind the clouds her silver smile does hide. The candles are lit, and warming chamomile tea, sweetened with honey from the hive of a thousand bees, sits on my table waiting for me to take a pleasing sip.

For those who liked my plum coloured Fisherman's Smock, with which I am most pleased, I have another one, this time in teal, and look what was found in the pocket, dear Lucy Locket . . . 

It's one of those 

LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE

BIG!!!

In other news, Vinted is still one of my latest obsessions and I am looking out each day now for more of these Fisherman's Smocks in as many colours as I can find, for I am smitten with them, and love them over my other "smitten with" find, Llama Leggings {and before you ask, no, I don't wear the shorts!} as the quality is second to none, and they come in many lovely, quirky colourful prints!

Until next time

💙🌷💙