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 💙🌷💙

It's Addictive

 Hello Friends!

Thank you for your kind comments on my previous entry.  I have not replied individually as I'm having a few issues with the laptop.  Consequently, I'm forced into minimising my activity on line.  Thank you, also, for your support over my health issues.  Our NHS is a wonderful thing, but when it lets you down it generally does so with a bang.  I am still waiting.

So without further ado, here are my tangles and ICAD's for the first week.

This first tile is not part of ICAD, but create as part of an online tuition hosted by Sandra Rushton of Sanntangle.

As is this second tile, which I confess was torturously difficult, especially at 2:00 a.m. when sleep was the enemy.  However, once it fell into place I understood it!

Day 1/61 Prompt "Sapling"

Day 2/61 Prompt "Polka Dots"

Day 3/61 prompt "map" I went off prompt with a compass rose, a loosely connected subject.

Day 4/61 prompt "espresso"

Day 5/61 "zebra or stripes"

So, my lovely friends, this wraps up the first week.  I'll be updating every Monday, so I do hope you'll drop by and let me know which, if any, you like.

Here are a few more photos from the garden.  We have not had rain now for a month.  Top to bottom: Papaver Orientalis "Coral Sea", Pink Valerian, Teasel, Native Mullein, and finally Lavender.

Every one of those plants will make the pollinating insects very happy indeed.  Some will provide valuable seeds in the winter for foraging garden birds.

It looks as if there will be a fine crop of long stemmed lavender, and I hope to make a good collection of Lavender Wands this Summer.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xo

Over the Garden Wall

Hello Friends!

Yes, most of my contact with the outside world these days is over the garden wall, snatched chats with neighbours if we happen to be outside together.

While clearing an overgrown area the other evening, I spotted a bright yellow tennis ball.  It belonged to the little boy next door.  Two months ago I would have gently thrown it back.  Now, I called to his Mum to ask if it was okay to throw it back. How our lives have changed! She was happy so I carefully pitched it over the shrubbery.

I pondered upon this for a while, a little glimmer of what was once a normal behaviour, now changed forever.  Even when we are able to relax a little, in all likelihood Coronavirus Covid-19 will still dictate our lifestyle to us.  Unless a successful vaccine is found, like other diseases, in time it may be eradicated, but otherwise it's here for the duration.  For people with certain medical conditions {me, for example, with asthma} this means the current adaptations may be permanent. Whoa boy! Endless disinfection and hand washing.

Which got me to thinking: I hear the news channels speaking about "returning to normal", but what if you are like me and you don't want to return to that old normal, that which at the turn of the year we took for granted.  What, if like me, you can see the benefits of our situation?  The sky is bluer, the air is clearer, the silence is oh! so welcome and I am hearing birds sing, bees buzzing all day long. I am trying, arthritis permitting, to clear my garden in preparedness to grow fruit and vegetables again. If you try not to think about the dreadful and dire situation of the virus, everything else is so calm and peaceful.  As an introvert, the joy of not having to go out and socially interact is a huge relief and I am calmer and more content with my life. The planet is healing and beginning to breathe again.  She will relish this time to heal the devastating wounds we have inflicted.

I have seen a huge change in even my most basic day to day activities, and other than the endless disinfecting and cleaning processes, I am settling into the new routine well, and happily. How I cook and eat has changed; how I shop has changed; my focus on what is, and what isn't, important has changed; how much rubbish I am throwing out has decreased unbelievably {and I didn't throw that much out in the first instance}.  I don't want to go back to the normal that was before. I want this new normal, without the virus hanging over us.  If we don't all learn from this, then do we really deserve to be the custodians of the planet?

Okay, I won't go on any more about the virus, but I wanted to share my feelings. Thank you for indulging me and listening!

I am not yet happy to start walking about along the roads, but that time is coming, so for now all my photos are taken in my garden, and here's a few things currently blooming and growing in my cottage garden.

I could preface each of these with "it's my favourite flower", for I love them all!

Arum Lily in bud

Violets along a wall

Now, two Christmases ago, the first Christmas after my darling Mum died, I did not feel like doing anything to celebrate.  I did not decorate, but ended up buying a living tree which I garlanded with fruit and nuts, and birdseed, placed outside my cottage door.  The tree did not do well, and despite repotting it has not thrived.  The other day I decided to tip it out and use the giant pot it is in for something else, so imagine my delight to find it is suddenly sprouting tiny green buds all over!

Native fern

Aquilegia or Grannies' Bonnet

Libertia peregrinans or Wandering iris

offshoot! Free plants!

Aquilegia

I just adore the delicate colouring on this pansy

London Pride {I can just hear Noel Coward singing}

Pennywort or Navelwort

Native fern

Pennywort flower

There will be many pictures of flowers and probably very little else on my blog in the coming months, but with each new bloom comes a promise of hope, a promise of a future that we must not mess up. We're being given a second chance, let's not let nature, or ourselves, down.

Until next time
Deborah xoxo